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Category Archives: Transhuman News

Academic Self-Censorship Is a ‘Brain Drag’ on Arab Universities and Societies – Al-Fanar Media

Posted: April 19, 2021 at 7:22 am

Why do we care? For one thing, these restrictions on free inquiry and expression cost Arab economies money. Recent estimates say brain drain costs Arab economies $1.5 billion annually. And among those leaving, academic professionals and students are among the most costly, due to the societal and personal investment in getting them to university and the profession in the first place, and to the multiplier return on those investments that would have been incurred over the course of a 30- or 40-year career.

Not included in these loss estimates are the perhaps equal or greater losses attributable to academic self-censorship by those who never leave. The 76 percent of researchers who report self-censoring their work represent a direct tax on intellectual output and creativity. If not brain drain, consider this brain dragthe lost personal, professional, and creative productivity that would have been, but for the rational fear of retaliation; fear that does not exist in places where academic freedom is well protected.

Beyond these considerable economic costs, academic self-censorship erodes the quality of research and teaching in Arab universities. This is because academic freedomthe freedom of teaching faculty and researchers to set the research agenda based on evidence, truth and reason and to communicate findings to colleagues, students and the publicis a guarantor of quality. Without academic freedom, teaching curricula and research agendas are subject to narrow interests, often political, sometimes commercial or communal.

Most broadly, academic freedom empowers the higher education community to serve the public good. When researchers and teaching faculty are free to share their knowledge and expertise, the public benefits. When they are free to ask questions about major challenges, wherever those questions lead, they can help to understand and address major issues like climate change, public health, economic development and disparity, legacies of discrimination, and more.

Asking such questions may be painful, but it can be good for society, if not for those in power who may benefit from the status quo.

Academic self-censorship is a brain drag on expertise, creativity and innovation within Arab higher education, and Arab societies generally. We must remove this drag by combatting the isolation and fear that fuels it, and by insisting that Arab states, higher education leaders and the public demand greater protection for academic freedom not just on paper, but in practice, and not just for the benefit of academics, but for the benefit of everyone.

Robert Quinn is the founding executive director of Scholars at Risk, an international network of higher education institutions and individuals dedicated to protecting the freedom to think, question and share ideas. All views expressed are the authors alone and do not represent the views of Scholars at Risk, its member institutions, staff or others.

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Academic Self-Censorship Is a 'Brain Drag' on Arab Universities and Societies - Al-Fanar Media

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Diarmaid Ferriter: We should not minimise the censoring of Lee Dunne – The Irish Times

Posted: at 7:22 am

Irish author Lee Dunne, who died earlier this week, came to prominence after the publication of his book Goodbye to the Hill, published in 1965, an account of teenage sexual awakening in working class Dublin.

It caused a stir with its frank depiction of lust and a sexuality that seemed at odds with the idea of cowering obedience to Catholic stricture: in the privacy of a cinema with only a thousand people in it they forget exactly what it was the priest has said and they remember only that they want to touch and be touched and to get as much out of it as they can.

Although Dunnes book was not banned, and the stage version of it became one of Irelands longest running plays, the film version of it Paddy was banned in 1970 and was not issued with a certificate by the Irish film censor until August 2006.

A measure of the changed times was that at that stage the film was given a 12A rating by the censor John Kelleher who noted: By todays standards, there is nothing shocking in it. It is charmingly old-fashioned. But you have to remember it was banned in a different era, a very different time.

Almost all Dunnes 1970s novels were also banned in Ireland; what he called the cabbie books . . . about a team of randy cab drivers in England that were more interested in getting laid than in making money on the cab. The banning of them did not affect him as deeply; he acknowledged himself they were rubbish; written to order in 10 days each because the money was good.

With the passage of time there was a tendency to euphemise or make light of the censoriousness of that era. The same year that Dunnes first book was published, John McGaherns second novel The Dark was banned, and he lost his teaching job as a result. His writing sins were compounded by his marrying of divorced Finnish theatre director Annikki Laaksi in a registry office.

Later in life, McGahern preferred to highlight some of the humorous or farcical aspects of the furore. He liked to tell the story of the encounter he had with Dave Kelleher, the general secretary of the Into who, fortified with whiskey, told him: If it was just the auld book, maybe maybe we might have been able to do something for you, but with marrying this foreign woman you have turned yourself into a hopeless case entirely . . . and what anyway entered your head to go and marry this foreign woman when there are hundreds of thousands of Irish girls going around with their tongues out for a husband?

But in truth, it was a horrible episode and McGahern was ashamed that our own independent country was making a fool of itself yet again. He was publicly humiliated in his own land for writing about his own people and in particular, of physical and sexual abuse familial, societal and clerical and the torment of the confused teenager with sexual longings and an obsession with confession and damnation, torn between the possibility of a religious vocation or the lay alternative of the world, the flesh and the devil.

McGahern harboured no hatred of religion The Catholic Church in its origins is such a beautiful and great vision of truth and is big enough to contain us all but he did resent that the Church had surrounded sexuality with such a sense of sin, shame and fear. Lee Dunne felt likewise; interviewed by Julia Carlson in 1987 about censorship Dunne insisted the censorship mentality stemmed from shame relating to sex, guilt relating to sex, fear relating to sex. Censorship was engendered in us on a personal level Dont let people know your business.

Even in the year Dunne was interviewed, Alex Comforts The Joy of Sex, originally banned in Ireland in 1972 was re-banned, as according to Dunne, to openly admit that sex is wonderful and that it can be joyous and beautiful and affirming is really regarded with a great degree of suspicion, distaste and repugnance. As for the church, as Dunne saw it, its about control rather than love.

We have had no shortage of vindications of that assertion in recent decades; the level of control and lack of love in the historic treatment of perceived transgressors that has been laid bare is almost overwhelming.

As the playwright John Millington Synge, born 150 years ago today, was to discover, to even allude to the flesh his play The Playboy of the Western World in 1907 included the line, Its Pegeen Im seeking only, and whatd I care if you brought me a drift of chosen females, standing in their shifts [underwear] itself could generate menacing outrage that in the words of W B Yeats from the Abbey stage in response, would mar very greatly . . . the reputation of the country for fair play.

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Diarmaid Ferriter: We should not minimise the censoring of Lee Dunne - The Irish Times

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SIFF 2021, WTF Division: Censor, Strawberry Mansion, Too Late, Get the Hell Out!, and the Horror Shorts program – The SunBreak

Posted: at 7:22 am

SIFFs midnight screenings comprise some of my favorite experiences in a movie theater (usually The Egyptian) over the last two decades. That made looking at the 2021 Fests crop of WTF (Weird! Terrifying! Fantastic!) entries a bit of a bittersweet experience.

But glass half full, the WTF selections for SIFF 2021 offered an abject lesson in how much savvy and deep love SIFFs Curatorial Staff puts into their cult and midnight movie screenings. And all the strange upsides of a virtual festivalexercising complete control of your viewing environment, freedom to pause if needed, being able to watch festival films more than once without having to wait for the second screeningapply, in spades.

Censor (2021 | United Kingdom | 84 minutes| Prano Bailey-Bond)

One movie Im sure as hell going to watch more than once if possible is Censor, British director Prano Bailey-Bonds feature film debut. It isnt just that it cannily mines the 1980s Video Nasties witch hunt, one of the strangest, scariest chapters in British film and censorship history. Bailey-Bonds arresting cinematic eye and confident directorial hand incorporate elements of Argento, Cronenberg, and Polanski into something that pulses with its own strange life. It also indulges a pinch of noted Italian degenerate Ruggero Deodatos pointed snuff-film aesthetic, to chilling effect. If you need easy exposition and answers in your horror, stay away. Me, I kinda loved it.

Phantasmagorias (2021| Various Countries | 106 minutes | Various Directors)

The chills, and the WTF moments, came in bursts and slow burns alike in Phantasmagorias, SIFF 2021s WTF Short Film Program. This formats especially well-suited for home viewing, of course, with most of the shorts clocking in at about 10-15 minutes each. Couple this with the fact that the overall quality was good-to-amazing, and it genuinely felt like an embarrassment of riches.

Amidst an already strong package overall, three Phantasmagorias selections really stood out: Look What You Have Done!, a genuinely unnerving and nightmarish French-language psychological chiller; a gloppy, gory, unabashedly odd bit of body horror out of China called Bubble; Dar-Dar, a visually mesmerizing dark fairy tale from Errementari director Paul Urkijo Alijo; and The Haunted Swordsman, American filmmaker Kevin McTurks remarkable Japanese fable dramatized by a cast of detailed marionette puppets.

Get the Hell Out! (2021 | Taiwan | 96 minutes | I-Fan Wang)

The closest thing to a disappointment among the WTF entries was Get the Hell Out!, which played like a jittery sorta-spoof of Train to Busan. This Taiwanese rom-zom-com buzzes along with an infectious sense of fun and a slew of cant-miss ingredientssome great laughs and throwaway gags, a fun and likable cast, and some hilariously excessive gore and gut-munching. Alas, director I-Fan Wang navigates the shenanigans with the hyperactivity of a sugar-stoked grade schooler, an approach that exhausted the hell out of me, even as it undercut the character development.

Too Late (2021 | USA | 80 minutes | D.W. Thomas)

Theres just something about the metaphoric richness of Faust and its symbolic progeny that endures, and Too Late served up a genuinely funny variation on the oft-told story. Ron Lynch of Bobs Burgers fame plays Ron Devore, a legendary standup comic/comedy show host who periodically transforms into a grotesque, carnivorous monster. His assistant Violet (Alyssa Limperis) fills in for Faust here, waiting on Devore hand and foot and procuring him the odd standup comic snack in the hopes of furthering her career. Too Late doesnt bring anything revelatory to the table, but its a sometimes hysterical and surprisingly sweet horror-comedy thanks to Limperiss winning presence and an ensemble brimming with comedy talent (Fred Armisen, SNL alum Brooks Whelan, standup Barbara Gray, etc.).

Strawberry Mansion (2021 | USA | 91 minutes | Albert Birney, Kentucker Audley )

Last but most definitely not least, Strawberry Mansion offered a fanciful, odd, and unashamedly romantic contrast to the gore, darkness, and scares that dominated most of SIFFs 2021 WTF iteration. Kentucker Audley (who also co-directed with Albert Birney) plays James Preble, a government auditor charged with surveying, and taxing, the dreams of elderly Isabella (Penny Fuller). True to its subject matter, its a dreamlike little fable that draws from bits of Kurt Vonnegut, Charlie Kaufman, and Philip K. Dick, with visual style and vivid imagination that transcend its modest indie budget. Films that wear their quirkiness and heart-on-sleeve sentiment with this kind of affecting ease have a way of acquiring fervent cults. Sign me up as a member hereand yes, Im kinda aching to see it again.

Keep up with us during the festival on Twitter (@thesunbreak) and follow all of our ongoing coverage via our SIFF 2021 page.

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SIFF 2021, WTF Division: Censor, Strawberry Mansion, Too Late, Get the Hell Out!, and the Horror Shorts program - The SunBreak

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China Censors the Oscars To Block a Hong Kong Protest Film – Reason

Posted: at 7:22 am

In 2019, Norwegian director Anders Hammer traveled to Hong Kong to document the demonstrations that erupted after a bill was introduced allowing criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China.

It was the beginning of the end for Hong Kong's political independence.

Hammer's documentary short, Do Not Split, takes viewers into the streets as protesters go head to head with the police in a desperate fight to preserve their freedoms.

Do Not Split, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, has garnered glowing reviews and an Academy Award nomination. The film is also one reason why the Oscars won't be broadcast live in Hong Kongfor the first time in more than half a century.

"The Communist Party's propaganda department issued the order to all media outlets" not to broadcast the Oscars in real time, according to anonymous sourcescited by Bloomberg. Along with Do Not Split, censors object to the nomination of Beijing-born director Chloe Zhao, who is up for best director for her film Nomadland, and was once hailed as "the pride of China." But then it came out that in a 2013 interview with Filmmaker magazine, Zhao recalled the China of her youth as "a place where there are lies everywhere."

"Beijing is known to react," explains Hammer. "They will take action in many different ways if they feel that something is going against their plan."

Ironically, Beijing's actions are having the opposite of their intended effect.

"We have had so many more media requests after this became a news story," says Hammer. "In that sense, I think that Beijing is helping the aim of this movie, which is to bring attention to the critical situation in Hong Kong."

Produced by Meredith Bragg.

Photo Credits:Li Gang / Xinhua News Agency/Newscom;Winson Wong/SCMP/Newscom;John Angelillo/UPI/Newscom;WENN / WENN English Top Features/Newscom;Hahn Lionel/ZUMA Press/Newscom;ABA/Newscom; Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Newscom;WENN / WENN English Top Features/Newscom;Winson Wong/SCMP/Newscom;Rafael Ben-Ari/Rafael Ben Ari/Newscom;Chinee Nouvelle/SIPA/Newscom;Matthias Balk/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom

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China Censors the Oscars To Block a Hong Kong Protest Film - Reason

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Scientists are on a path to sequencing 1 million human genomes and use big data to unlock genetic secrets – GCN.com

Posted: at 7:18 am

Scientists are on a path to sequencing 1 million human genomes and use big data to unlock genetic secrets

The first draft of the human genome waspublished 20 years agoin2001, took nearly three years and costbetween US$500 million and $1 billion. TheHuman Genome Projecthas allowed scientists to read, almost end to end, the 3 billion pairs of DNA bases or letters that biologically define a human being.

That project has allowed a new generation ofresearchers like me, currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute, to identifynovel targets for cancer treatments, engineermice with human immune systemsand even build awebpage where anyone can navigate the entire human genomewith the same ease with which you use Google Maps.

The first complete genome was generated from a handful of anonymous donors to try to produce a reference genome that represented more than just one single individual. But this fell far short of encompassingthe wide diversity of human populations in the world. No two people are the same and no two genomes are the same, either. If researchers wanted to understand humanity in all its diversity, it would take sequencing thousands or millions of complete genomes. Now, a project like that is underway.

Understanding genetic diversity

The wealth of genetic variation among people is what makes each person unique. But genetic changes also cause many disorders and make some groups of people more susceptible to certain diseases than others.

Around the time of the Human Genome Project, researchers were also sequencing the complete genomes of organisms such asmice,fruit flies,yeastsandsome plants. The huge effort made to generate these first genomes led to a revolution in the technology required to read genomes. Thanks to these advances, instead of taking years and costing hundreds of millions of dollars to sequence a whole human genome, it now takesa few days and costs merely a thousand dollars. Genome sequencing is very different from genotyping services like 23 and Me or Ancestry, which look at only a tiny fraction of locations in a persons genome.

Advances in technology have allowed scientists to sequence the complete genomes of thousands of individuals from around the world. Initiatives such as theGenome Aggregation Consortiaare currently making efforts to collect and organize this scattered data. So far, that group has been able to gather nearly150,000 genomesthat show an incredible amount of human genetic diversity. Within that set, researchers have found more than 241 million differences in peoples genomes,with an average of one variant for every eight base pairs.

Most of these variations are very rare and will have no effect on a person. However, hidden among them are variants with important physiological and medical consequences. For example, certain variants in the BRCA1 gene predispose some groups of woman, like Ashkenazi Jews, toovarian and breast cancer. Other variants in that gene lead someNigerian women to experience higher-than-normal mortalityfrom breast cancer.

The best way researchers can identify these types of population-level variants is throughgenomewide association studiesthat compare the genomes of large groups of people with a control group. But diseases are complicated. An individuals lifestyle, symptoms and time of onset can vary greatly, and the effect of genetics on many diseases is hard to distinguish. The predictive power of current genomic research is too low to tease out many of these effects becausethere isnt enough genomic data.

Understanding the genetics of complex diseases, especially those related to the genetic differences among ethnic groups, is essentially a big data problem. And researchers need more data.

1,000,000 genomes

To address the need for more data, the National Institutes of Health has started a program calledAll of Us. The project aims to collect genetic information, medical records and health habits from surveys and wearables of more than a million people in the U.S. over the course of 10 years. It also has a goal of gathering more data from underrepresented minority groups to facilitate the study of health disparities. TheAll of Us projectopened to public enrollment in 2018, and more than 270,000 people have contributed samples since. The project is continuing to recruit participants from all 50 states. Participating in this effort are many academic laboratories and private companies.

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Agiomix is selected as the Official Operator for the Egyptian Genome Project – PRNewswire

Posted: at 7:18 am

Agiomix has been selected by the project as the Official Operator; under its roles Agiomix will provide technical and operational support for the project as per the signed contract with the Egyptian Center for Research and Regenerative Medicine, that will be entrusted to run the project.

Dr. Walaa Allam, Associate Director of Business development at Agiomix, commented on the news: "We take great pride in being part of the 'Egyptian Genome Project' family; we believe that our expertise with Genomics in the region will enable us to provide the necessary support to this ambitious project."

About Agiomix

Agiomix is a leading Clinical Genetics and Specialty Diagnostics Laboratory, serving patients, healthcare providers and partner laboratories across the globe, with focus on the Middle East, Africa and Asia markets. Agiomix is both CAP and ISO 15189 accredited. For more information, please visit http://www.agiomix.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1490403/Agiomix_Labs_Dubai.jpg

Contact: Sonam Khandelwal+971 800-GENOMICS[emailprotected]

SOURCE AGIOMIX

Medical Laboratory in Dubai

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Agiomix is selected as the Official Operator for the Egyptian Genome Project - PRNewswire

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What we can learn from sequencing 1 million human genomes with big data – The Next Web

Posted: at 7:18 am

The first draft of the human genome was published 20 years ago in 2001, took nearly three years and cost between US$500 million and $1 billion. The Human Genome Project has allowed scientists to read, almost end to end, the 3 billion pairs of DNA bases or letters that biologically define a human being.

That project has allowed a new generation of researchers like me, currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute, to identify novel targets for cancer treatments, engineer mice with human immune systems and even build a webpage where anyone can navigate the entire human genome with the same ease with which you use Google Maps.

The first complete genome was generated from a handful of anonymous donors to try to produce a reference genome that represented more than just one single individual. But this fell far short of encompassing the wide diversity of human populations in the world. No two people are the same and no two genomes are the same, either. If researchers wanted to understand humanity in all its diversity, it would take sequencing thousands or millions of complete genomes. Now, a project like that is underway.

Around the time of the Human Genome Project, researchers were also sequencing the complete genomes of organisms such as mice, fruit flies, yeasts and some plants. The huge effort made to generate these first genomes led to a revolution in the technology required to read genomes. Thanks to these advances, instead of taking years and costing hundreds of millions of dollars to sequence a whole human genome, it now takes a few days and costs merely a thousand dollars. Genome sequencing is very different from genotyping services like 23 and Me or Ancestry, which look at only a tiny fraction of locations in a persons genome.

Advances in technology have allowed scientists to sequence the complete genomes of thousands of individuals from around the world. Initiatives such as the Genome Aggregation Consortia are currently making efforts to collect and organize this scattered data. So far, that group has been able to gather nearly 150,000 genomes that show an incredible amount of human genetic diversity. Within that set, researchers have found more than 241 million differences in peoples genomes, with an average of one variant for every eight base pairs.

Most of these variations are very rare and will have no effect on a person. However, hidden among them are variants with important physiological and medical consequences. For example, certain variants in the BRCA1 gene predispose some groups of woman, like Ashkenazi Jews, to ovarian and breast cancer. Other variants in that gene lead some Nigerian women to experience higher-than-normal mortality from breast cancer.

The best way researchers can identify these types of population-level variants is through genomewide association studies that compare the genomes of large groups of people with a control group. But diseases are complicated. An individuals lifestyle, symptoms and time of onset can vary greatly, and the effect of genetics on many diseases is hard to distinguish. The predictive power of current genomic research is too low to tease out many of these effects because there isnt enough genomic data.

Understanding the genetics of complex diseases, especially those related to the genetic differences among ethnic groups, is essentially a big data problem. And researchers need more data.

The link between genetics and disease is nuanced, but the more genomes you can study, the easier it is to find those links. Image via brian0918/Wikimedia Commons

To address the need for more data, the National Institutes of Health has started a program called All of Us. The project aims to collect genetic information, medical records and health habits from surveys and wearables of more than a million people in the U.S. over the course of 10 years. It also has a goal of gathering more data from underrepresented minority groups to facilitate the study of health disparities. The All of Us project opened to public enrollment in 2018, and more than 270,000 people have contributed samples since. The project is continuing to recruit participants from all 50 states. Participating in this effort are many academic laboratories and private companies.

This effort could benefit scientists from a wide range of fields. For instance, a neuroscientist could look for genetic variations associated with depression while taking into account exercise levels. An oncologist could search for variants that correlate with reduced risk of skin cancer while exploring the influence of ethnic background.

A million genomes and the accompanying health and lifestyle information will provide an extraordinary wealth of data that should allow researchers to discover the effects of genetic variation on diseases, not only for individuals, but also within different groups of people.

[Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.Subscribe to The Conversations science newsletter.]

Another benefit of this project is that it will allow scientists to learn about parts of the human genome that are currently very hard to study. Most genetic research has been on the parts of the genome that encode for proteins. However, these represent only 1.5% of the human genome.

My research focuses on RNA a molecule that turns the messages encoded in a persons DNA into proteins. However, RNAs that come from the 98.5% of the human genome that doesnt make proteins have a myriad of functions by themselves. Some of these noncoding RNAs are involved in processes such as how cancer spreads, embryonic development or controlling the X chromosome in females. In particular, I study how genetic variations can influence the intricate folding that allows noncoding RNAs to do their jobs. Since the All of Us project includes all coding and noncoding parts of the genome, it is going to be by far the largest dataset relevant to my work and will hopefully shed light on these mysterious RNAs.

The first human genome sparked 20 years of incredible scientific progress. I think it is almost certain that a huge dataset of genomic variations will unlock clues about complex diseases. Thanks to large-scale population studies and big-data projects such as All of Us, researchers are paving the way to answering, in the next decade, how our individual genetics shape our health.

This article byXavier Bofill De Ros, Research Fellow in RNA biology, National Institutes of Health,is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The Nike Air Max Genome Receives A Sharp And Simple Black And White – Sneaker News

Posted: at 7:18 am

Previewed ahead of the Swooshs fictitious March 26th holiday, the Nike Air Max Genome is set to take over the casual footwear space as it delivers comfortable solutions clad in versatile colorways.

Unlike some of the inaugural options, a forthcoming pair indulges in a simple, but sharp Black/White color palette. The mix of synthetic, textile and fabric across the upper harkens back to the early 2000s, while simultaneously fitting into the current sneaker landscape. Branding throughout the shoe delivers stark White contrast, which is highlighted at the midsole. Full-length Air Max cushioning, however, opts into a semi-opaque arrangement. Lastly, tread reverts to an understated Black color.

An official Nike.com release date is unknown, but this Air Max Genome is likely to quietly launch soon. In the meantime, enjoy images of the pair here below.

For more styles from NIKE, Inc., check out the new Jordan Delta 2.

Where to Buy

Make sure to follow @kicksfinder for live tweets during the release date.

Mens: $170Style Code: CW1648-003

Images: Nike

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Second Genome to Present at the Jefferies Microbiome-Based Therapeutics Summit – PRNewswire

Posted: at 7:18 am

BRISBANE, Calif., April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Second Genome, a tech-enabled biotechnology company that extracts microbial genetic insights to make transformational precision therapies and biomarkers, today announced that Karim Dabbagh, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, will present and participate in a fireside chat at the virtual Jefferies Microbiome-Based Therapeutics Summit on April 22, 2021.

The prerecorded presentation and fireside chat will be available on Thursday, April 22, 2021, at 8:00 a.m. ET and can be accessed by visiting the "News" section of the Company's website at http://www.secondgenome.com and selecting the Events tab on the News page. A replay of the webcast will be archived there following the presentation date.

About Second Genome

Second Genome is a tech-enabled biotechnology company that extracts microbial genetic insights to make transformational precision therapies and biomarkers through clinical development and commercialization. We built a proprietary microbiome-based drug discovery and development platform with machine-learning analytics, customized protein engineering techniques, phage library screening, mass spec analysis and CRISPR, that we couple with traditional drug development approaches to progress the development of therapies and diagnostics for wide-ranging diseases. Second Genome is advancing deep drug discovery and biomarker pipelines with precision therapeutics and biomarker programs in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cancer, with the lead program SG-2-0776 in IBD expected to enter clinical development in 2022. We also collaborate with industry, academic and governmental partners to leverage our microbiome platform and data science. We hold a strategic collaboration with Gilead Sciences, Inc., utilizing our proprietary platform and comprehensive data sets to identify novel biomarkers associated with clinical response to Gilead's investigational medicines. For more information, please visit http://www.secondgenome.com.

Investor Contact:Argot Partners212-600-1902[emailprotected]

Media Contact:Argot Partners212-600-1902[emailprotected]

SOURCE Second Genome

secondgenome.com

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Second Genome to Present at the Jefferies Microbiome-Based Therapeutics Summit - PRNewswire

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Hankyung.com’s Introduces: COSMAX’s Skin Microbiome Research Becomes First of Its Kind to Be Published in International Scientific Journal -…

Posted: at 7:18 am

SEOUL, South Korea, April 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global cosmetics research, development, and ODM company, COSMAX (CEO Lee Byung-man), and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) have become the first in the world to reveal the correlation between the skin microbiome and skin aging.

COSMAX announced that its thesis titled, "Spermidine-induced Recovery of Dermal Structure and Barrier Function by Skin Microbiome," has been published by Nature Communications Biology.

In 2015, COSMAX identified that a person's skin flora directly regulates the skin, and the company began to carry out research related to anti-aging. After discovering that the number of microorganisms that live on the skin decreases with age, they hypothesized that it held an important key to anti-aging and started performing genetic analysis.

They named a newly-discovered microorganism "Strain-COXMAX," and together with GIST, they conducted a whole genome analysis that can trace the role of entire genomes to uncover the microorganism's anti-aging functions.

The results of the analysis revealed that the microorganism affects the aging process by regulating various metabolic functions of the skin. It was also discovered that spermidine, which is created during the metabolic process, directly impacts skin anti-aging. Furthermore, spermidine showed efficacy in improving skin moisture, elasticity, and anti-aging by activating collagenisis and lipid secretion.

"Discovering the correlation mechanism between the skin microbiome and aging is a feat that was achieved through six years of hard work," said R&I center director Park Myeong-sam. "The technology super gap will be used in the next generation of anti-aging cosmetics and biomaterials in the global market."

COXMAX is expected to expand the application of the skin microbiome to various products. Such products include:

"The publishing of skin microbiome technology in a global scientific journal creates an opportunity for the R&D status of K-beauty to be promulgated," said COSMAX CEO Lee Byung-man. "It will take center stage in the global health and beauty market by using innovative materials to develop products that don't yet exist in the world."

In 2019, COSMAX launched the world's first anti-aging cosmetics that utilize Strain-COXMAX, a culture medium with beneficial skin bacteria. By securing more than 20 beneficial microorganisms, the company has become a leader in the skin microbiome market.

https://img.hankyung.com/pdsdata/pr.hankyung.com/uploads/2021/04/20210413COSMAX.jpg< i>taken atx100000 magnification by SEM (scanning electronic microscope)>

Microbiome, which is a portmanteau of "microbe" and "biome," describes the microorganisms that inhabit the human body, as well as their genomes. The microbiome is so vast that it makes up 1 to 3 percent of the body's mass, and it has over 100 times more genes than our own genome. Called the "second genome," the microbiome could be seen as an ecosystem that holds a great deal of information about the body.

As it regulates immune functions and forms various kinds of metabolites, the microbiome is known to influence obesity, diabetes, atopic dermatitis, cancer, and autoimmune diseases. Thus, research on the exact role of the microbiome in disease and aging has greatly increased, and related markets have been experiencing rapid growth.

Since its establishment in 2015, Genome & Company has become a global leader in microbiome immuno-oncology. It focuses on developing the next waves of innovative therapeutics in immune-oncology through diverse modalities of microbiome and novel target immune checkpoint inhibitors.

SOURCE Hankyung.com

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Hankyung.com's Introduces: COSMAX's Skin Microbiome Research Becomes First of Its Kind to Be Published in International Scientific Journal -...

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Page 983«..10 20..982983984 985..990 1,000..»

Category Archives: Transhuman News

Academic Self-Censorship Is a ‘Brain Drag’ on Arab Universities and Societies – Al-Fanar Media

Diarmaid Ferriter: We should not minimise the censoring of Lee Dunne – The Irish Times

SIFF 2021, WTF Division: Censor, Strawberry Mansion, Too Late, Get the Hell Out!, and the Horror Shorts program – The SunBreak

China Censors the Oscars To Block a Hong Kong Protest Film – Reason

Scientists are on a path to sequencing 1 million human genomes and use big data to unlock genetic secrets – GCN.com

Agiomix is selected as the Official Operator for the Egyptian Genome Project – PRNewswire

What we can learn from sequencing 1 million human genomes with big data – The Next Web

The Nike Air Max Genome Receives A Sharp And Simple Black And White – Sneaker News

Second Genome to Present at the Jefferies Microbiome-Based Therapeutics Summit – PRNewswire

Hankyung.com’s Introduces: COSMAX’s Skin Microbiome Research Becomes First of Its Kind to Be Published in International Scientific Journal -…

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Library Books

Future Euvolution

Lucid Dreams from Childhood

Genetic Revolution

Speciation + Self-Directed Evolution