August 23, 2018
We don’t handle DNA profiles, and protected health information is stripped from specimen records up front Although DNA analysis of large populations holds enormous promise for the future of medicine, privacy concerns are growing. Headlines in recent weeks have recounted both the sharing of DNA data collected by 23andMe with a pharma company and the opening of […]
August 16, 2018
“I think I carry the gene for ___.” This colloquial explanation for myriad traits and behaviors belies the fact that many conditions are believed to arise not from single genetic variations but combinations of thousands or millions. That’s the crux of “polygenic risk scoring,” the subject of new research that accounts for the genetic complexity […]
August 8, 2018
A biopsy is a snapshot of a single potentially cancerous tissue sample in a body that may host a number of different tumors as disease progresses. To understand more about how cancer takes hold, spreads and changes – it’s heterogeneity – a few healthcare organizations have established rapid autopsy programs dedicated to cancer study. Within […]
August 2, 2018
August Specimen Spotlight Most any cancer is curable if diagnosed at its very onset. Unfortunately, that’s difficult to impossible – for now, anyway. Medicine is making great strides in earlier detection, however, as illustrated in the quest for “liquid biopsies.” These emerging diagnostic tools detect biomarkers in a blood sample rather than through a traditional […]
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