edward_collantes

Precision Medicine for the Ophthalmologist: Next-generation genetic tools in approaching eye disease

The identification of disease-causing genes provides information about the pathogenesis of heritable eye diseases at the most basic level. Finding the causative gene of a disease helps the patient move beyond the unknown into the world of knowing what they have, what the future might hold, recurrence risk assessment, identification of at risk family members, contact with appropriate support groups, knowledge of what else to look for, and appropriate surveillance screening, and most importantly, the new possibility of gene based treatment.

mark_petalcorin

CRISPR/Cas9 Targeted Genome Editing: Tips and Considerations

The genome found in every cell of our body contains over 20 thousand genes and over 3 billion letters of DNA that sustains life, shapes who we are and determines our risks of having a disease. CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats) is a recently discovered antiviral defence system in bacteria that has become the favorite set of tools to edit and correct any diseased genome and change any sequence of DNA in precisely chosen genomic location performed not in a test tube but within the nucleus of our living cell.

marvin_altamia

Comparative genomics of cellulolytic shipworm symbionts

Shipworms are marine bivalves that live and feed on wood. These bivalves, like most xylophagous and herbivorous animals, rely on bacterial symbionts to digest the recalcitrant lignocellulose component of plants. What’s unusual about shipworms is that bacterial symbionts are housed intracellularly in the specialized cells in the gills, therefore are not in direct contact with the ingested food particles.