How Journalists Explore (and Sometimes Get Lost In)

Tales from the Genome Beat:
How Journalists Explore
(and Sometimes Get Lost In)
Our DNA
Carl Zimmer
Festival of Genomics
June 29, 2016
@carlzimmer
GENES
Woody Guthrie
Wikipedia
articles.latimes.com/1993-03-24/news/mn-14582_1_gene-discovery
articles.latimes.com/1993-03-24/news/mn-14582_1_gene-discovery
articles.latimes.com/1993-03-24/news/mn-14582_1_gene-discovery
articles.latimes.com/1993-03-24/news/mn-14582_1_gene-discovery
“These findings may be used not only for prenatal and
postnatal diagnosis of defective gene carriers but may also
eventually lead to therapeutic gene transfer strategies for
replacement or repair of the ‘Huntington’ protein.”
JAMA Arch Neurol 1993 50:1252 (Emphasis mine)
articles.latimes.com/1993-03-24/news/mn-14582_1_gene-discovery
predictivetestingforhd.com/testing-for-hd/
Nature Reviews Disease Primers 2015
“The normal functions of huntingtin are still being defined.”
Nature Reviews Disease Primers 2015
Wikipedia
Red: Huntingtin
Sadou & Humbert 2016 Neuron 89:910
Haemophilus
influenzae
Haemophilus
Science 28 July 1995:
Vol. 269 no. 5223 pp. 496-512
nytimes.com/1995/05/26/us/bacterium-s-full-gene-makeup-is-decoded.html
bu.edu
First Plant Genome
First Animal Genome
Image: http://www.nematode.net/Images/c_elegans.jpg
First Vertebrate Genome
huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/08/14/scientists-say-octopuses-are-aliens-dna-mollusc_n_7986562.htm
YAGS: Yet Another
Genome Syndrome
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
“Scientist at Work: Francis S. Collins
Unlocking the Secrets of the Genome”
The New York Times, November 30, 1993
“Dr. Collins predicts that within
10 years everyone will have the
opportunity to find out his or her
own genetic risks, to know if
cancer or heart attacks or
diabetes or Alzheimer's disease,
for example, lies in the future.”
nytimes.com/1993/11/30/science/scientist-at-work-francis-s-collinsunlocking-the-secrets-of-the-genome.html
nih.gov
newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/21/one-of-a-kind-2
today.com/health/should-you-get-sequenced-notall-bad-genes-predict-disease-8C11017154
medpagetoday.com/Genetics/G
eneticTesting/53088
“I have looked into my
genome and seen ... nothing
much to worry about.”
medpagetoday.com/Genetics/G
eneticTesting/53088
Meg Tirrell, CNBC
“Unlocking My Genome:
Was It Worth It?”
cnbc.com/2015/12/10/unlocking-my-genome-was-it-worth-it.html
Meg Tirrell, CNBC
“Unlocking My Genome:
Was It Worth It?”
cnbc.com/2015/12/10/unlocking-my-genome-was-it-worth-it.html
Wikipedia
BGS:
BORING GENOME
SYNDROME
Wikipedia
Craig Venter
statnews.com/2015/11/05/
geneticist-craig-venterhelped-sequence-thehuman-genome-now-hewants-yours/
The Human Genome
Should Not Be Boring
Image: Viktor Deak
Svante Paabo
Max Planck Institute for Paleoanthropology
http://www.eva.mpg.de/neandertal/press/presskit-neandertal/images/Image12_highRes.jpg
Nature, February 17, 2016
Analysis courtesy of Joshua
Akey & Selina Vattathil,
University of Washington
Vertical lines=Neanderthal segments
Circles=centromeres
My genome series at
statnews.com starts July 11
Image: Viktor Deak
Analysis courtesy of Joshua
Akey & Selina Vattathil,
University of Washington
My genome series at
statnews.com starts July 11
Image: Viktor Deak
Thanks to Joshua Akey, Robert Green, Laura
Hercher, Illumina, Konrad Karczewski, Sheila
Sutti, Selina Vattathil & Craig Venter
For more information, please visit carlzimmer.com