Category Archives: Genetics

Our Extra Crunch Live series continues with some heavy hitters in August, including Jen Nwankwo, founder and CEO at 1910 Genetics, and Playground Global general partner Jory Bell. Theyll be with us live on August 11 at 12 p.m. PT (3 p.m. ET) to tell us all about how Nwankwo and her startup won over Bell and Playground as an investor, and as we do every week on Extra Crunch Live, well conduct a live pitch feedback session featuring you, the members of our audience.

Extra Crunch Live gives you the chance to hear live from entrepreneurs who have successfully raised significant rounds of venture capital and from the investors who believed in them. We go into detail about how the deal got done, and youll hear from both about what it takes to pitch VCs and what industry-leading VCs look for in prospective portfolio companies.

Were thrilled to have Nwankwo and Bell joining us for this episode. Nwankwo founded and leads 1910 Genetics, which takes advantage of AI to accelerate the discovery and development of new drug therapies across a wide range of disease and condition categories. She has a Ph.D. in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics from Tufts University School of Medicine and participated in drug discovery development that led to the creation of Type 2 diabetes drug Trulicity prior to her graduate school work.

Bells career includes designing and building autonomous robots for deep-sea exploration, as well as a six-year stint at Apple designing notebooks for the consumer technology leader. Bells venture investment work began at Playground Global in 2015; he focuses on deep tech investments, including in aerospace, genomics, synthetic biology, and AI-assisted drug discovery, as in the case of 1910 Genetics.

Extra Crunch Live also features the ECL Pitch-off, where startups in the audience can virtually raise their hand to pitch their startup live on our stream. Our expert guests will give their feedback on each pitch. If you want to throw your hat in the ring, you have to show up.

Extra Crunch Live is accessible to everyone, but only Extra Crunch members can access the content on demand. We do these every week, so there are scores of episodes across a wide variety of startup sectors in the ECL Library. Its but one of many reasons to become an Extra Crunch member. Join here.

Interested in hanging with us for this upcoming episode? Register here for free!

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Join us today for Extra Crunch Live, as we speak with 1910 Genetics Jen Nwankwo and Playground Globals Jory Bell - TechCrunch

By Express News Service

KOCHI:Rare genetic diseases can shatter families, as demonstrated recently by the crowdfunding appeals to meet the exorbitant cost of medicine for the treatment of children affected by spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). According to doctors, with improved medical technology, genetic disorders can be treated. Lifeline Hospital, Adoor, offers In Vitro Fertilisation with Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD).

The birth of an affected child can be prevented by prenatal diagnosis and PGD. Prenatal diagnosis is possible by Chorionic Villus Sampling/Amniocentesis followed by continuation/termination of pregnancy. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis is a clinically feasible technology to prevent the transmission of monogenic inherited disorders in families afflicted by the diseases to the future offspring, said Dr Mathews John, medical director and general and laparoscopic surgeon at the hospital.

Individuals who are blood relatives are more likely to be silent carriers for the same recessive conditions, hence the risk of autosomal recessive genetic disorders is higher in children born from consanguineous parents, Dr Sreelatha Nair, consultant Geneticist and Head, Department of Genetics at the hospital.

The genetic department of the Lifeline Hospital, Advance Fertility and Gynaecology Centre, is one of the very few centres in India to provide Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening to needed couples. PGD would provide new reproductive options for families at risk for SMA and other similarly inherited autosomal recessive disorders, Dr Cyriac Pappachan, director and infertility specialist and laparoscopic surgeon, Lifeline Hospital.

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Lifeline Hospital offers solution for genetic diseases with advanced tech - The New Indian Express

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People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin have some of the highest rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and poor health in the UK.Social Action for Health (SAfH), a health inequality and community development charity, wants people to act to change this.

SAfH are working with Queen Mary University of London to promote the biggest study in the world researching genetics in people of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage. With the tagline #OurGenesOurHealth, they hope that British Bangladeshi and Pakistani people can be part of the movement making medical studies representative of those that will benefit most.

The research study, Genes & Health, aims to help fight against major diseases and SAfH are raising awareness of the study and encouraging people to take part. Genes & Health are hoping to get the attention of British Pakistanis and Bangladeshis by sharing a video they have produced with the help of members of the local Pakistani, Bangladeshi communities and Centre of the Cell Youth Membership Forum.

The video features children filmed in their own homes highlighting the diseases they are more at risk of developing and making a plea to their community to give five minutes of their time to provide a once in a lifetime saliva sample and fill in a short form to help change their future. This will contribute to breaking the cycle of health inequality, improving medications and treatment and increasing representation of these groups in medical research improving health and life chances for future generations.

Resarch made possible by Genes & Health volunteers is already making a difference. For example, data from Genes & Health hashelped show that one of the reasons some British Bangladeshi and British Pakistani people have very severe covid-19 is because an inherited genetic risk factor is 4 times more common in the South Asian community.

By volunteering this Eid and beyond, British Pakistani and Bangladeshi can join almost 50,000 people already signed up to give the gift (#GiveAGiftForEid) of a saliva sample to improve their communitys representation in a health research.

A further 50,000 people are needed, so the team is asking people 16 and over, who are of Bangladeshi, British-Bangladeshi, Pakistani or British-Pakistani heritage, to donate a saliva sample. For more information, or to take part, click here.

Dr Sarah Finer at Queen Mary University of London, said: As a doctor and researcher working in east London, I see the huge impact of conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and depression have on British Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. There is an urgent need to better understand the causes and consequences of ill health in these communities who are disproportionately affected by health conditions and under-represented in many research studies.

Genes & Health is a unique programme of research, focusing on health and disease in British Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. It brings together a network of world-class researchers who are making important new discoveries, including on COVID-19, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and the development of new medicines. Genes & Health research will have a big impact on health and disease in the long-term, and will help redress inequalities that exist currently. Genes & Health thanks the almost 50,000 volunteers who have helped make it a success so far and looks forward to many new volunteers joining us this Eid.

CeriDurham, CEO at SAFH, said: Social Action for Healths mission is to work alongside diverse communities in East London and inspire them to take action to live healthier lives. We believe that by people engaging with this research, not only will health inequalities be addressed, but it will inspire more medical studies to engage with a more diverse and representative group of beneficiaries.

The parents of these children wanted to be involved in making this video because they want a better, healthier future for themselves and their communities. They have something important to say and we should all be listening. We've had very positive feedback from parents, who are committed to tackling health inequalities as much as we are.

Farah, a parent of two children who took part in the video, said: Its heart-breaking to see that from one generation to the next we are carrying conditions like diabetes with us. This needs to stop. This impactful video shows how our innocent children may in the future suffer from these medical conditions when they can be prevented.

We hope that the shock tactic our video has will wake up the South Asian community into taking positive action and this is why my children agreed to take part and why I wanted them to be in this campaign. This isnt all about us, its about the future of our children and grandchildren."

The study is funded by the Wellcome Trust and Barts Charity, sponsored by Queen Mary University of London, and reviewed and approved by London South East National Research Ethics Service Committee.

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SMD - Genetics study in Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities will take action on health inequality - QMUL

What happened

Shares of Fulgent Genetics (NASDAQ:FLGT) climbed 77% through the first half of 2021, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The rise was due to the incredible numbers of COVID tests the company was able to run and the customers it was able to line up.

FLGT data by YCharts.

Prior to a broad market sell-off in February, shares of Fulgent had been up more than 250% for the year. As vaccination rates climbed and the need for testing seemed to be waning, the stock collapsed almost 65%. Now that the delta variant of the coronavirus is taking hold, it appears investors are once again jumping on the bandwagon.

Image source: Getty Images.

The volatility obscures a business that has been consistently growing its revenue while demonstrating amazing operating leverage since early in the pandemic. Its core business -- genetic testing -- suffered when doctors' offices and clinics were closing last year, but it has more than fully recovered. Management expects that segment to grow 174% in 2021. Some of the recovery is thanks to being awarded a contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track COVID through genome sequencing. Still, COVID testing volume is likely to drive the stock price for the remainder of this year.

That's good news for shareholders as cases of the virus have more than doubled in the past two weeks and are up close to 300% over the last month. The company has plenty of capacity. In 2020, Fulgent did 230 times more tests than in the prior year. It managed that increase while still delivering rapid turnaround times to several large counties including Los Angeles and Miami-Dade, as well as the New York City public school system. To top it off, the company's profit margins expanded much faster than revenue, and it has guided for $12 in earnings per share this year on the back of 97% sales growth.

If its partnerships with corporations, large school districts, counties, and the CDC can keep testing volume high, shareholders could get a second half of the year that mirrors the first. Add in potential deals with insurance companies to cover testing and growth for the $2.5 billion company could just be getting started.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Why Shares of Fulgent Genetics Rose 77% in the First Half of 2021 - Motley Fool

A total of 243 fetal growth variants are reported and 141 of them were grouped into four main clusters based on separating the effect of the variant on birth weight though the maternal versus fetal genome. The majority of variants show an effect only in the fetus and a quarter of those show evidence of a parent-of-origin specific effect on birth weight i.e. the effect on the fetus differs depending on whether the child inherited the variant from the mother or the father. Some variants have an effect only in the mother but around 30% affect birth weight both through the maternal and fetal genomes, where for some the effect is in the same direction, no matter whether from mother or father, while for others the effect is in opposite directions.

Polygenic risk score analysis of disease-associated variants revealed that variants associating with blood pressure do not associate with birth weight when in the maternal genome but in the fetal genome the blood pressure raising allele correlates with lower birth weight. Variants that associate with risk of type 2 diabetes associate with birth weight through both the maternal and fetal genomes but in opposite directions. In the mother, the risk alleles correlate with higher birth weight but when in the fetus they correlate with lower birth weight.

"The ability to analyse directly the effect of each of the transmitted alleles and the maternal non-transmitted allele allows us to separate what happens through the mother from a direct effect on birth weight through the fetal genome," says Valgerdur Steinthorsdottir scientist atdeCODE Geneticsandauthor on the paper.

The study reports an expanded GWAS meta-analysis of 400,000 children, 270,000 mothers and 60,000 fathers, combining data from the Icelandic Birth Register for 125,000 newborns and their parents with public summary level fetal growth data on children and mothers from the Early Growth Genetics Consortium and UK Biobank. The effects of the fetal, maternal and paternal genomes on birth weight were analysed and the study further includes analysis of birth length and ponderal index.

"It is clear from these results that in our beginnings we are not only shaped by the half of our maternal genome that is transmitted to us but also the untransmitted half," says Kari Stefansson CEO of deCODE genetics. "Here we show how the influence of the two halves can be separated."

Based inReykjavik, Iceland, deCODE is a global leader in analyzing and understanding the human genome. Using its unique expertise in human genetics combined with growing expertise in transcriptomics and population proteomics and vast amount of phenotypic data, deCODE has discovered risk factors for dozens of common diseases and provided key insights into their pathogenesis. The purpose of understanding the genetics of disease is to use that information to create new means of diagnosing, treating and preventing disease. deCODE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN).

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1557521/Birth_Weight.mp4Photo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1557444/Authors_on_the_paper.jpgLogo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1535464/deCODE_genetics_Amgen_Logo.jpg

SOURCE deCODE genetics

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deCODE genetics - New study on inheritance and fetal growth USA - PRNewswire

This article by Hernan Panessi was originally published on El Planteo, and appears here with permission.

Late 1990s. Asturias, the northern coast of Spain. Young Mariano was succumbing to family dilemmas, melting from anxiety and suffering from chronic pain caused by a colon condition.

He was still a kid when Chali, a friend 10 years older, invited him a few puffs of marijuana. After a few hits the young man burst out laughing. Suddenly, his nerves calmed, his dilemmas took the back seat and his pain magically disappeared.

"What is this?" Mariano asked Chali, and laughed again. He began smoking weed regularly and gained an interest in a know-how that, at the time, was quite unusual for young people: cannabis seeds and genetics.

His friend Chali shared with him strains from Afghanistan, India and Holland, countries that already had a strong cannabis culture.

One day, his friend Chali told him about Asturjaya, the first seed bank in Asturias. "They had pure strains, they brought seeds and stabilized them. They sold regular varieties," recalls Mariano Duque, breeder and creator of BSF Seeds, proclaimed as "the best seed bank in the world."

"We are crazy for this plant. The necessity of not having seeds made us make them. It used to be impossible to get seeds, so when we got a hold on them, we kept them like gold," he says, standing in the present, stirring his past.

That fast-paced summer

Back then, there were no social networks and no forums. Information was really scarce and Chali, his friend, took him to discover his small farm in the mountains. There, he showed him crosses, told him about sativas, indicas and various genetics.

It was 2001 and Mariano, who at that time was working delivering pizzas on a motorcycle, quickly knew that this was his true passion.

"I would leave work and go to the mountains every day," he says. And it was during that fast-paced summer, while visiting Asturjaya and learning from his friend that Mariano shaped his worldview . "It opened up the world to me, he asserts.

Story continues

BSF Seeds

With the first seeds and harvests came a new form of socialization: you could smoke better and now Mariano had the password on how to do it.

He stumbled with the store Mi Mara, in Oviedo, 100 kilometers from his home, another important piece for this green fable.

See also: Lion Rolling Circus: The Independent Argentine Brand That Revolutionized The Cannabis Accessories Market In LatAm - And Is Coming For The US Now

"That's where it all started. I was crazy about seeds. 'I have to make them,' I thought. I gave them away. It was my form of activism. I told everyone: 'Don't smoke hashish, smoke marijuana," he recalls.

He bought four bulbs, set up a room and grew some crosses.

The Dutch catalog

By 2003, fate put an opportunity in his hands: as the stores had seeds at ridiculous prices, Mariano decided to invest some 500 pesetas (less than USD 4) in a Dutch seed catalog that had some contact addresses.

"In Holland it was already legal. Spain had a legal vacuum. As long as it was for consumption and not for sale, it was not illegal."

He continued growing (summers outdoors, winters indoors), continued giving away seeds and here and there, until one day, an enthusiastic Mariano showed up at Spannabis 2008 to meet in person with the leaders of all the Dutch seed banks. "It was my dream," he recalls.

"My business was very small. I went around all the stands giving away seeds and asking for information. Almost begging. Mariano recognizes that now all those brands are his competition. They bear no taboos about information that they release and consider that if people know more, they will have better cannabis and it will be legal all over the world.

Suddenly, Asturias became too small for him and he moved to Tenerife, the island of eternal spring. Within months, he opened his own grow shop, which he called THC Canarias.

"It went very well. I won some cannabis cups and banks started calling me.

And, the business grew so much that he even organized his own cannabis cup.

The young promise of the breeders

By 2011, Mariano opened the Asociacin Club Medical THC, his own cannabis association and the first of its kind in the Canary Islands. "They gave me legal permission to grow, it was a dream come true."

In that raid, he began to recover seeds and reached the Super Sativa Seed Bank in California, one of the pioneering banks in the world. He recovered some seeds that were thought to be extinct and, from that point and on, a media rush started and never stopped spreading.

Suddenly, his name began to circulate among the great experts in the community and even Jorge Cervantes himself, author of Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible, wrote to congratulate him. "I thought it was a prank. I learned everything from his books," he assures.

But it was true: Mariano Duque's work had grown so much that Cervantes and even the Soft Secrets magazine were surprised by his story and highlighted his work. "They put my face on the cover, in a crop. They were saying that the Canary Islands were full of THC. That was a boom. They said that I was the young promise of breeders."

Thus, his association went from grouping four scared friends to employing more than 1,500 people.

He networked with other banks, continued to develop professionally. And, suddenly, the dream was over: the police started to chase him, he was tapped and accused of being a little less than a drug dealer. They took everything from him, absolutely everything. His case ended up in court and is still open.

See also: Argentina Presents Cannabis, Hemp Industry Bill: Here's Everything You Need To Know

"They persecuted me in my country just for doing what I like, in a legal way and paying taxes."

Uruguay: the connection

At that time, in South America, Uruguay was legalizing the production, commercialization, possession of all uses of marijuana. Emboldened by this context, Mariano traveled to Uruguay like a whirlwind.

After a few months living in Uruguay, he showed up at every cannabis-related event. And of course, he was there when the first Expocannabis took place.

"One night, during a party I met a Chilean. We became friends and I started telling him my story. That's when we sparked the seed-bank project," he says.

That Chilean was none other than Tarek Jury, a marketing expert who teamed up with him, became his partner and became the co-creator of BSF Seeds.

"They created the brand based on the information they needed. What characteristics were they looking for? They wanted them to be bigger, stronger, faster," adds Felix Hadad Rivas, the CMO of BSF Seeds.

He continues: "They were creating everything with a small team of people. The business became increasingly profitable. They gave value to the seeds. The bank started to grow and became more professional. As an important observation, we always advocate responsible consumption. It is one of the brand values. And we always respect the user and are based on a human-centered perspective."

On their neck, BSF holds some 89 distinctions from various cannabis cups around the world. "That speaks highly of the product," Hadad Rivas adds.

BSF Seedverse

One of the brand's main aims is to train its users through its BSF School. In addition, they have a solidarity component, BSF Solidarity, a program through which they give away seeds for medical treatments for folks in need.

"We don't stop at just selling a seed," Duque confesses.

"We consider ourselves one of the most professional banks. We have alliances all over the world. And we even have the backing of Mike Angelotti, the organizer of The Emerald Cup. Our facilities are as professional as they can be. We take the plant to its maximum splendor," says Mariano.

BSF Seeds

Felix dixit: "Every employee considers himself a Bsfinian. Part of a culture that grew organically. It was not a marketing plan. It was constructed naturally and it has a tremendous value.

These days, there are Bsfinians on every continent and the messages of support, affection and closeness assure: "The plant is going to be free."

Inspiration in the basketball world

Duque explained that "BSF is the league of seeds. It 's like the NBA."

See also: The Benefits Of Using Hemp In The Construction And Textile Industries

In their catalog, they have "mixes" (they call them "teams") with different themes. They also feature "star players", which are consecrated varieties of the bank. And, as in the NBA, they go through "drafts" in which a handful of varieties compete to stay in the catalog.

-How did you design this referential universe linked to basketball?

-We spent a year and a half working on it. Until we came up with the idea of making the league, of making it a game. With BSF Seeds we deliver something extra: we have collectible packs and a "hall of fame" reserved for influential people. We have rappers like Original Juan and Akapellah. Soon Nitro is going to enter that league, too.

-And where does your connection to rap come from?

-I'm a rapper. I've been rapping and listening to freestyle since I was 13. Rap and weed. All rappers like to smoke. And all the rappers wanted to smoke with Mariano. Friendships were created with many artists. The first one was Supernafamacho from El Club de Los Poetas Violentos. He was into cannabis associations and I helped him with his club. He introduced me to everyone and we had an idea: to take a seed to Jota Mayscula, which was the first seed of a rapper in Spain. That's where the alliance with rap comes from.

Smokers, growers, breeders and freestylers.

"My brother Mariano gets a really good hash," spits Original Juan on "I Don't Give a Fuck."

"Shout-out BSF who sponsors me," Duki tosses in "Volando Bajito," a track from his new album Desde el fin del mundo.

With this push, came BSF Arena, a tournament in which international MCs competed via digital. An event that had jurors of the stature of Trueno, Duki and Original Juan and received the support of Urban Roosters, the brand behind the Freestyle Master Series, the most relevant freestyle leagues on Earth.

Undoubtedly, Mariano Duque is part of the international rapper imaginary. "We are the bank of rappers," he says.

"In the middle of the pandemic, I got the crazy idea to do all this. I talked it over with Juan Ortelli, who is a Bsfinian, and we gave it a green light. This was done so that people in pandemic would have rap," Duque confesses .

These days, BSF Seeds also plans to get into music production and will collaborate with artists Jaloner and Sudakillah.

-How much more innovation is possible in the world of genetics?

-The truth is that there is no end to it. Genetics in cannabis is a world to be built. With the current situation, with the legality advancing in the world, research is just beginning. We don't sell seeds, we sell dreams. It was the first thing I received when I entered this world.

Photos courtesy of BSF Seeds

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Cannabis, Genetics, Basketball And Rap: BSF Seeds, The Weed Seed Bank That Took Over Latin America And Spain - Yahoo Finance

Voter turnout is an important factorperhaps the most important factorin ensuring that the democratic process properly represents a population. Despite this, governments around the world are constantly faced with poor turnout. Understanding how individual differences predict this is important to building meaningful interventions.

While it is known that education and intelligence correlate with voter turnout, the precise mechanism of this relation is unknown. The same goes for the well-established relation between genetics and voter turnout (between 40-50%, according to some studies). The authors of a recent study published in Human Behaviour decided to examine the two factors together, to see to what extent genetic influence on voter turnout was mediated by education and intelligence.

The authors also wanted to create a more robust study than previous experiments which have relied on reared-together twin studies (making it difficult to separate nurture from nature) and voter self-reporting, known to be particularly unreliable. Instead, the present study used a large (Danish) genetic dataset comprising roughly 47 000 individuals, in correlation with actual voter registration records.

The results of the study seem to agree with the authors hypothesis. That is, genotypes that predicted individual differences in education and performance on intelligence tests also predicted differences in voter turnout.

Its important to note, however, that these relations are correlational in nature (not causal), and that their mechanisms are not yet understood. The authors allude to previous studies, for example, which suggest that the influence of genetics on education attainment may be exerted via personality traits or, indirectly, through the family environment.

Nonetheless, the correlation is clear and robust. Individuals with a greater genetic disposition to obtain a degree of education one standard deviation higher than the mean were 2.66 times more likely to vote in municipal elections. Similarly, scoring one standard deviation higher on intelligence testing was correlated with a 1.85x greater likelihood to vote in national elections.

There are some limitations, including the fact that the data is limited to a single nation. Nonetheless, the studys large size and its robust correlational measures obtained through actual voter registration make this a particularly significant study statistically speaking, and lay the groundwork for interventions that will help increase voter turnout, buoying the democratic process.

The article, Genetic predictors of educational attainment and intelligence test performance predict voter turnout, was authored by Lene Aare, Vivek Appadurai, Kasper M. Hansen, Andrew J. Schork, Thomas Werge, Ole Mors, Anders D. Brglum, David M. Hougaard, Merete Nordentoft, Preben B. Mortensen, Wesley Kurt Thompson, Alfonso Buil, Esben Agerbo, and Michael Bang Petersen.

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Genetics may play a role in the link between education, intelligence, and voter turnout - PsyPost

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fulgent Genetics (NASDAQ:FLGT) was in the right place at the right time. Fulgent became a key provider of COVID-19 testing in 2020 and saw its revenue explode by almost 1,300% over the prior year. Few companies benefited more during the pandemic -- and few have a bigger cloud of uncertainty hanging over them as investors worry about what comes next.

The good news is that Fulgent isn't a one-trick pony. The company is going through a metamorphosis, strengthened by a reinforced balance sheet and a growing core business in an attractive genetic testing market. Investors should prepare to shift their perspective.

Image source: Getty Images.

Before the COVID-19 testing opportunity came along, Fulgent's core business was a small but fast-growing next generation sequencing (NGS) genetic testing service primarily focused on pediatric rare diseases.

That segment is still expanding fast. In the first quarter ended March 31, NGS volume grew 185% year over year from 13,000 to 38,000 tests, while corresponding revenue grew 115% to $16.7 million. Management is projecting NGS revenue of over $100 million in 2021, representing 170% year-over-year growth.

Fulgent has an efficient technology and operating platform generating gross margins of about 80% and operating margins above 70%. As a result, liquidity is a real bright spot for Fulgent. At the end of Q1, it reported $697 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. Management expects to close the year with more than $1 billion in short-term liquidity, excluding any merger- and acquisition-related activity.

The encouraging growth in the core business is understandably offset by a rapid reduction in COVID-19 testing revenue. Unless there is a flare-up of infections from virus variants, COVID-19 testing revenue will continue to fall dramatically. Management is projecting $418 million in COVID-19 testing revenue for the remainder of the year, compared with $312 million in Q1 alone.

This precipitous revenue falloff is an operational challenge, but Fulgent has an experienced management team that over the past year has proven to be strong operators in building and scaling the business.

Fulgent will report quarterly earnings in early August. Smart investors will keep an eye on these three areas for signs management is executing on the long-term growth potential:

1. Continued COVID-19 testing

While testing volumes are declining, the endpoint is not zero. Fulgent has proven to be a high-quality, low-cost, fast-turnaround provider of gold-standard RT-PCR tests. Many screening programs are not allowing less sensitive antigen or rapid molecular tests to be used. As a result, Fulgent has been able to secure contracts for "return to normalcy" testing, particularly with school systems and the government.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced it will invest $12 billion in COVID-19 testing through the American Rescue Plan, with $10 billion going to schools. Fulgent management estimates that more than 1 million tests per day will be needed with this new program. Look for contract wins and continued testing volume in the near term.

2. Growth catalysts

Fulgent is expanding into additional genetic testing areas, including hereditary cancer, which is a high-growth area. There are more than 550 ongoing clinical trials for oncology genetic therapies, which will drive the need for more genetic testing and higher reimbursement over the coming years. Pharma companies are advocating and paying for genetic testing, since it will drive demand for their therapies. Fulgent has also established FF Gene Biotech, a joint venture focused on oncology in China, which is expected to be a $45 billion market. Stay tuned to these critical long-term developments.

3. Mergers and acquisitions

Fulgent's large cash position and strong operating leverage could make acquisitions a way to rapidly generate revenue that is accretive to the bottom line. In last year's Q4 conference call, CEO Ming Hsieh called out his interest in acquisitions to expand the core diagnostic business in Asia and Europe. It's a big world, and billions of people will need the genetic tests Fulgent is developing.

The market doesn't like uncertainty, which has helped push Fulgent shares down 56% from their 52-week high. The share price may go even lower as investors struggle to understand the profit picture in the next few quarters.

For patient long-term buy-and-hold investors with a tolerance for some uncertainty, Fulgent Genetics may actually be the best value biotech stock out there and could be a great addition for your portfolio.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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3 Things About Fulgent Genetics That Smart Investors Know - Motley Fool

Its the rumour that wont go away that SARS-CoV-2 was accidentally leaked from a high biosecurity lab in Wuhan, China. The allegation is that the laboratory was conducting gain of function (GOF) research, and that this produced a potent version of coronavirus that led to the pandemic.

This has led to some scepticism and distrust of the field of research and whether it is necessary to conduct experiments using GOF techniques.

Essentially, GOF research is used to learn how viruses gain new functions through mutation and evolution.

A function is simply a property of an organism, such as plants that are more tolerant to drought or disease, or enzymes that evolved to make our bodies work.

The language about GOF has become loaded with negative connotations that associate this work with dangerous or risky research. But like rhetoric about genetic modification, these connections dont represent the diversity of the field or the security precautions that regulate the research. At its core, though, the research does exactly what the name suggests.

GOF research observes these mutations and sees how certain stimuli might affect evolutionary changes and properties of a virus or organism.

However, in our current climate its often spoken about in a much narrower context, as though its specifically about how a virus changes to move more easily between humans, or how viruses become more lethal. This just doesnt represent the full picture of GOF research.

Viruses evolve rapidly thats why there are so many new SARS-CoV-2 variants. GOF seeks to understand why and how these changes occur, and what environmental factors might influence the process.

In a sense, this is a know-your-enemy approach.

Beyond the benefit to fundamental biology research about the nature of viruses and evolution, GOF contributes to three clear areas: pandemic preparedness, vaccine development, and identification of new or potential pathogens.

GOF research can help us understand the rate at which mutations occur, and how many generations may be needed for a virus to change in a way that will require extra precautions in the community, which is information that is fed into epidemiological modelling.

This GOF information helps predict things such as how likely a virus is to become a nasty variant in a certain population size or density, during a certain season, or within a particular period or time. This informs how we react to a pandemic. Beyond this, it also informs how quickly a virus might mutate to overcome vaccines, and provides genetic information that may be useful in vaccine development. Specifically, GOF research can accumulate potential vaccine candidates in a database that can be accessed if an outbreak occurs because of natural evolution.

In turn, this means vaccine development can be sped up exponentially because candidates are already available.

For instance, a report from a 2015 GOF risk-assessment workshop for expert organisations revealed the genomics information from GOF research. This showed that bat-borne, SARS-like coronaviruses had many strains and mutations that had pandemic potential against which countermeasures need to be developed.

This information led to current pandemic responses and vaccine development the pandemic was already predicted because of a thorough understanding of the evolution of coronaviruses.

In another example, GOF experiments about influenza showed that the virus had the potential to be transmitted between different mammals with only a few changes to the genetic code, and has contributed to seasonal flu vaccines.

GOF research is based on observed evolution and changes to DNA or RNA.

The genome is the sum of all the genetic information in an organism. Some of this DNA or RNA is made up of genes, which often hold information on how to make a protein. These proteins perform functions in our body to make everything work.

These genes can naturally change a bit every generation. This happens because, to reproduce, the DNA of the parent must be replicated. The mechanisms that do this arent perfect, so little mistakes can be made when the DNA is copied.

Most of the time, the changes are tiny just a single unit of DNA (called a nucleotide) could be changed, and it may have no effect on the proteins made. At other times, the tiny change of a single nucleotide can make a gene gain a whole new function, which could be beneficial to an organism.

Natural mutations that occur during reproduction are one example of evolution in action.

These changes happen every generation, so organisms that can breed quickly, such as flies, can also evolve quickly as a species.

This process happens in essentially the same way with viruses, except that viruses have RNA instead of DNA and reproduce asexually. They still make proteins, and they still accumulate mutations, but the major difference is that they can reproduce very, very fast they can start reproducing within hours of being born and evolve at an exceptionally rapid rate.

This is why we have identified so many new variants of SARS-CoV-2 since the beginning of 2020. Every time the virus enters a new host, it reproduces rapidly, and mutations occur. Over time these mutations change the properties of the virus itself.

For example, new mutations may end up making the virus more virulent or cause worse symptoms because the proteins have changed their properties.

In these cases, we would say that the mutant strain has gained a function, and this is what GOF research aims to understand.

The viruses in a lab dont have a human host in which to grow, so researchers grow them in Petri dishes or animals instead.

There are two ways of using GOF in a lab: you can observe the virus mutate on its own (without intervention), or you can control small changes through genetic modification.

The first type of use involves putting the virus in different situations to see how it will evolve without intervention or aid.

This video is an example of GOF research with bacteria (not a virus, but the method is similar). The researchers put bacteria onto a giant petri dish with different concentrations of antibiotics. They leave the bacteria and watch how it naturally evolves to overcome the antibiotic.

The new strains of bacteria were able to be genetically sequenced to see what genetic changes had caused them to become antibiotic-resistant. This experiment can show how quickly the bacteria evolve, which can inform when or how often antibiotics are given, and whether there is a high-enough concentration of antibiotic that can halt the speed at which the antibiotic is overcome by resistance.

Similar experiments can be conducted with viruses to see how they might change to overcome human antibodies and other immune system protections.

Read more: What happens in a virology lab?

The second type of use is through small changes using genetic modification. This type of experiment occurs after a lot of other genetic information has already been gathered to identify which nucleotides in virus RNA might particularly contribute to a new function.

After these have been identified, a single or small nucleotide change will be made to the virus to confirm the predictions gained from genomic research. The modified virus will then be placed on a petri dish or inserted into an animal, such as a rabbit or a mouse, to see how the change affects the properties of the virus.

This type of research is done in specialised laboratories that are tightly controlled and heavily regulated under biosecurity laws that involve containment and decontamination processes.

Read more: How are dangerous viruses contained in Australia?

While the benefits of virus GOF research centre around pandemic preparedness, concerns have been raised about whether the research is ethical or safe.

In 2005, researchers used this technique for viruses when they reconstructed influenza (H1N1) from samples taken in 1918. The aim was to learn more about the properties of influenza and future pandemics, as influenza still circulates, but the controversial study sparked heavy debate about whether it should be acceptable.

The two major concerns are about whether this poses any threat to public health if a virus escapes the lab, or whether the techniques could be used for nefarious purposes.

In the past year, 16 years after the H1N1 study, there has been debate about whether SARS-CoV-2 had spontaneous zoonotic origins, or whether it was created in a lab in GOF experiments, and then escaped.

So now, 16 years after the first controversial H1N1 study, this speculation has pushed GOF research back into the public eye and led to many criticisms of the research field, and regulation of laboratories that use this technique.

In 2017, the US government lifted bans on GOF pathogen research after the National Institute of Health concluded that the risks of research into influenza and MERS were outweighed by the benefits, and that few posed significant threats to public health.

Following concerns about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, however, the rules surrounding GOF research, risk assessments and disclosure of experiments are now under review again, in order to clarify policy.

Read more: The COVID lab-leak hypothesis: what scientists do and dont know

Beyond this, the speculation has sparked further inquiries into the origin of SARS-CoV-2, although the World Health Organization concluded that viral escape from a laboratory was very unlikely.

Regardless, its never a bad thing to review biosafety, biosecurity and transparency policy as new evidence becomes available, and they have been frequently reviewed throughout history.

As for the concern that a government or private entity might abuse scientific techniques for malevolent purposes, scientists can, and do, support bans on research they deem ethically irresponsible, such as the controversial CRISPR babies.

Ultimately, the parameters around how scientific techniques like GOF are used and by whom is not a scientific question, but one that must be answered by ethicists.

Excerpt from:
What is gain of function research in genetics? - Cosmos Magazine

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