Three Questions for J. Craig Venter

Gene research and Silicon Valley-style computing are starting to merge.

Genome scientist and entrepreneur J. Craig Venter is best known for being the first person to sequence his own genome, back in 2001.

This year, he started a new company, Human Longevity, which intends to sequence one million human genomes by 2020, and ultimately offer Web-based programs to help people store and understand their genetic data (see “Microbes and Metabolites Fuel an Ambitious Aging Project”).

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But that’s going to require some massive data crunching. To get these skills, Venter recruited Franz Och, the machine-learning specialist leading Google Translate. Now Och will apply similar methods to studying genomes in a data science and software shop that Venter is establishing in Mountain View, California.

The hire comes just as Google itself has launched a similar-sounding effort to start collecting biomedical data (see “What’s a Moon Shot Worth These Days”). Venter calls Google’s plans for a biomedical database “a baby step, a much smaller version of what we are doing.”

What’s clear is that genome research and data science are coming together in new ways, and at a much larger scale than ever before. We asked Venter why.

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Prototype Display Lets You Say Goodbye to Reading Glasses

Researchers are developing technology that can adjust an image on a display so you can see it clearly without corrective lenses.
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In addition to making it easier for people with simple vision problems to use all kinds of displays without glasses, the technique may help those with more serious vision problems caused by physical defects that can’t be corrected with glasses or contacts, researchers say. This includes spherical aberration, which causes different parts of the lens to refract light differently.
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Unexpected stem cell factories found inside teeth

Development is typically thought to be a one-way street. Stem cells produce cells that mature into specific types, such as the neurons and glia that compose nervous systems, but the reverse isn’t supposed to happen. Yet researchers have now discovered nervous system cells transforming back into stem cells in a very surprising place: inside teeth. 
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Retinal regeneration in zebrafish (w/ Video)

How is it that zebrafish can regenerate retinal cells and we can't?
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Primary Care is Not General Motors

http://acountrydoctorwrites.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/primary-care-is-not-general-motors/

LOVE OR LUST? THE EYES TELL ALL

Eye-tracking data shows that both men and women tend to visually fixate on the face, especially when they say an image elicits a feeling of romantic love. However, with images that evoke sexual desire, the subjects' eyes move from the face to fixate on the rest of the body. (Credit: Liana Skewes/Flickr)

People tended to visually fixate on the face, especially when they said an image elicited a feeling of romantic love. However, with images that evoked sexual desire, the subjects’ eyes moved from the face to fixate on the rest of the body. The effect was found for male and female participants.

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ORAL MED ‘WAKES UP’ RETINAL CELLS SO KIDS CAN SEE

Tests of a new oral medication show the drug can improve vision in children with an inherited disease that can cause complete blindness and is currently untreatable.

“This is the first time that an oral drug has improved the visual function of blind patients with LCA (Leber congenital amaurosis),” says Robert Koenekoop, professor of human genetics, pediatric surgery, and ophthalmology at McGill University. “It is giving hope to many patients who suffer from this devastating retinal degeneration.”

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“Contrary to what was previously thought, children with LCA and defects in RPE65 or LRAT are not born with dead retinal cells; the cells can simply go dormant, and they can remain dormant for years before they eventually die. The oral drug we tested awakened these cells and allowed patients to see.”

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Visually impaired Alexandria resident set to take on the Ironman world championship

“I still have light and shadow perception,” Ament said. “It’s sort of like running drunk.”

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It is grueling enough to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles, but imagine doing all of that when you can only see a blur of light ahead of you.

Kristina Ament, a 52-year-old federal prosecutor, has completed four Ironman triathlons under those exact conditions because of her Leber congenital amaurosis, a degenerative disease that causes acute vision loss.

Now the Alexandria resident is training for October’s world championshipin Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, as one of five winners of the Ironman lottery for physically challenged athletes.

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Like Plaskon, Ament relies on other athletes to guide her through the competition. Every stroke or stride she takes is done while tethered at the waist or arm to someone who can see. It means Ament must find a rhythm with her guide, create a game plan ahead of time to stay in sync.

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Google and Novartis Combine Expertise to Produce Smart Contact and Intraocular Lenses

Back in January of this year, Google unveiled an electronic contact lens that it’s been secretly developing by its X research group. The device is capable of measuring glucose levels in the wearer’s tears, a technology that may one day replace finger pricks for millions of diabetics. Additionally, there are plans to embed LED lights into the lens to automatically warn the user when glucose is outside of healthy levels. But Google is not a medical company, so it has partnered with Alcon, a division of Novartis, to turn the device into a real product.
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Key to Detecting Alzheimer's Early Could Be in the Eye

Scientists have found that certain biological changes in the retina and lens of the eye, and in the sense of smell, may help predict whether people with no or minor memory issues may go on to develop the progressive brain disease, according to findings presented here Sunday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.
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But amyloid plaques found in the brain also are known to be deposited in the eye. Two company-funded studies found that those deposits can be detected through noninvasive eye-imaging technology and are highly correlated with the amyloid results from brain imaging.

Cognoptix Inc., a closely held biotech company in Acton, Mass., focuses on amyloid detection in the lens of the eye. CSIRO Australia, the country's national science agency, and its Sacramento, Calif.-based partner, NeuroVision Imaging LLC, have been studying the retina, in the back of the eyes.

The retina is like a "piece of brain outside the brain," said Shaun Frost, a researcher at CSIRO Australia.

The first 40 patients in a 200-participant study showed that retina changes correlated strongly with amyloid plaque development in the brain. The full study will be completed this year, according to Dr. Frost.

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Why mosquitoes bite some people and not others

Science explains one of life's great mysteries. Plus! A natural remedy to keep you insect-free all summer

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