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So how do animals play a role in this research? Well, in a couple of ways. First, the chlorotoxin in Tumor Paint was derived from scorpion venom. Second, researchers worked with dogs before moving into human trials to determine the likelihood of success. After promising results in canines, human trials are now underway at Cedars Sinai Medical Center! Right now, the study is aimed at proving that Tumor Paint is able to reach the brain tumor successfully. If all goes well, it's possible that this could lead to more successful surgical outcomes.

A British researcher has received permission to use a powerful new genome editing technique on human embryos, even though researchers throughout the world are observing a voluntary moratorium on making changes to DNA that could be passed down to subsequent generations.

Lyme disease, Ebola and malaria all developed in animals before making the leap to infect humans. Predicting when such a 'zoonotic' disease will spark an outbreak remains difficult, but a new study suggests that artificial intelligence could give these efforts a boost. A computer model that incorporates machine learning can pinpoint, with 90% accuracy, rodent species that are known to harbour pathogens that can spread to humans, researchers report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1. The model also identified more than 150 species that are likely to be disease reservoirs but have yet to be confirmed as such.

Washington, D.C. - April 10, 2015 - Human norovirus may infect our canine companions, according to research published online April 1 in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. That raises the possibility of dog-to-human transmission, said first author Sarah Caddy, VetMB, PhD, MRCVS, a veterinarian and PhD student at the University of Cambridge, and Imperial College, London, UK. Norovirus is the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A dynamic 3D computer animated video takes you "inside" for a close-up look at how we're made. Watch as the mysteries of the Human Genome are literally "unraveled." 3D modeling and animation created by Bill Baker, Bakedmedia, Inc. and Mike Fisher for the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Researchers have made dramatic inroads into the study of polygenic and other complex human diseases, due in large part to knowledge of the human genome sequence, the generation of widespread markers of genetic variation, and the development of new technologies that allow investigators to associate disease phenotypes with genetic loci. Although polygenic diseases are more common than single-gene disorders, studies of monogenic diseases provide an invaluable opportunity to learn about underlying molecular mechanisms, thereby contributing a great deal to our understanding of all forms of genetic disease.

WASHINGTON - The National Institutes of Health is sending its last remaining research chimpanzees into retirement - as soon as a federal sanctuary has room for them. The government already had declared that the use of humans' closest relative as a test subject was coming to an end. In 2013, the NIH said it would retire most of the several hundred government-owned chimps still living at research laboratories. But it set aside 50 animals to be on standby just in case they still were needed for a public-health emergency or some other extreme situation. Wednesday, the agency said those chimps' lab days are over, too.

In a unique twist on human genomics studies that seek to identify genetic variants linked to human disease, researchers have combined whole-exome sequencing of 50,726 adults with the individuals' long-term electronic health record (EHR) data. The effort, by researchers at the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania and Regeneron Genetics Center, a subsidiary of New York-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, has yielded novel disease-linked variants, including loss-of-function alleles. The team behind the project, called DiscovEHR, has also found that about one in 30 of the individuals harbors a deleterious genetic variant for which a screen or treatment already exists. The group's analysis is described in two papers published today (December 22) in Science.

A soft brush that feels like prickly thorns. A vibrating tuning fork that produces no vibration. Not being able to tell which direction body joints are moving without looking at them. Those are some of the bizarre sensations reported by a 9-year-old girl and 19-year-old woman in a new study. The duo, researchers say, shares an extremely rare genetic mutation that may shed light on a so-called "sixth sense" in humans: proprioception, or the body's awareness of where it is in space. The new work may even explain why some of us are klutzier than others.

While humans and mice look and act very differently, 85 to 90 percent of our genes are the same or similar. So if scientists can understand the instructions in every mouse gene, people will get a good idea of the instructions in virtually every human gene as well.

Dr. Carolyn Henry, a veterinary oncologist at the University of Missouri veterinary school, says that, unlike lab mice, dogs get cancer naturally, just like humans. So their cancers are more likely to behave like human cancer when treated. "It's the same disease, it really doesn't matter what the species is," Henry says. "It's the same disease if it occurs naturally. And so, answers in one species should translate to answers in other species in many cases."

This interrupted case study for the flipped classroom introduces the human microbiome from the perspective of one of its occupants, Heidi Helicobacter (Helicobacter pylori).  Heidi lives in the gut of Kristen, a college student, and discusses her fellow microbial inhabitants, functions of these various microbes, and alludes to factors that can disrupt the healthy human microbiome. Students prepare for class by viewing several brief videos and then discuss in class whether Kristen should undergo a fecal microbiota transplant to treat her Clostridium difficile infection.  A lab component has students model, using colored beads, how antibiotics can act as a selective agent for drug-resistant microbes such as C. difficile. The case concludes with Kristen about to give birth to a new baby several years later.  Students listen in as Kristen's microbes discuss the formation of the new baby's microbiome. The case has been used successfully in a general biology class and could easily be adapted for a microbiology, human physiology, ecology, or evolution course.

A handful of scientists around the United States are trying to do something that some people find disturbing: make embryos that are part human, part animal. The researchers hope these embryos, known as chimeras, could eventually help save the lives of people with a wide range of diseases.

Scientists have genetically engineered monkeys so that they exhibit behaviors similar to autism, with a goal of testing potential therapies on the animals in hopes that their resemblance to humans will yield more answers about the disorder. The scientists found that the monkeys showed "very similar behaviors related to human autism patients, including repetitive behaviors, increased anxiety and, most importantly, defects in social interactions," said Zilong Qiu, a leader of the research at the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. The team is now imaging the brains of the monkeys, he said, "trying to identify the deficiency in the brain circuits that is responsible for the autism-like behavior."

Climate change and the human contribution to this change is sometimes denied or depicted as an uncertainty. However, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (see References and Further Reading), climate change is not controversial: 97 percent of climate scientists are certain that human-caused climate change is occurring. Climate research is continuing, with scientists and engineers working to predict the consequences of climate change and finding ways to overcome its negative impact.

Following on the achievements of Chinese researchers, scientists in the United States have used CRISPR to manipulate the genomes of viable human embryos, MIT Technology Review reported yesterday (July 26). The work, not yet published, reportedly corrected defective genes from sperm donors in dozens of embryos, which were allowed to grow for several days.

This case study challenges students to differentiate between anecdotal evidence and science-based evidence related to human health. The case uses a "flipped" approach in which students watch two preparatory videos prior to attending class. The first video defines anecdotal evidence while the second characterizes the different categories of scientific studies that generate evidence that is not anecdotal. Students watch the videos, analyze scenarios for anecdotal evidence, and think about what types of evidence they use to make health-related decisions. When students meet in class, they work in groups to compare and contrast these different categories of scientific studies and classify actual research studies aided by a dichotomous key for distinguishing between different types of studies related to human health. Primarily designed for students in introductory general biology courses, the activity could also be useful for lower division nutrition, physiology, or non-major biology courses or any course where students need to differentiate between science and pseudoscience.

Since 2003, the H5N1 influenza virus, more commonly known as the bird flu, has been responsible for the deaths of millions of chickens and ducks and has infected more than 650 people, leading to a 60 percent mortality rate for the latter. Luckily, this virus has yet to achieve human-to-human transmission, but a small number of mutations could change that, resulting in a pandemic. Now a team of investigators from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Stanford University Medical Center, and MacroGenics have developed an antibody which has proven 100 percent protective against the virus in two species of animal models.

Six years ago, Yale University's Stephen Stearns and colleagues took advantage of a long-running study in Framingham, Massachusetts, to assess whether the effects of natural selection could be discerned among the people in the multigenerational study population. Over the last seven decades, public-health researchers have been monitoring the residents of Framingham, noting their vital statistics as well as blood sugar and cholesterol levels to understand the factors that lead to heart disease. As the initial group of research subjects got older, the study started to include their children, and then their grandchildren. The records provide a unique view of the health of a segment of the American population since 1948.

AMA statement on human cloning

cloning its an interesting topic it has its pros and cons