The Microbiome Data Congress 2021 brought together leaders from academia and industry to discuss biostatistical methods and cutting-edge bioinformatic tools for advancing microbiome research. This year's event also featured a session on the 'dark matter' of the gut microbiome and the importance of precise measurements which could lead to diagnostic and therapeutic discovery from the gut. Leading Australian bioinformatician, Dr David Wood of Microba Life Sciences, spoke about the importance of precision microbiome analysis and the potential of the gut microbiome in future diagnostic and therapeutics in clinical practice. | shorturl.at/grCM3
If you could do a saliva test by mail to know if you are at risk of serious illness or death from covid19 based on your genes, what might that mean for vaccination strategies and international border controls?Just such a test has been launched in the US produced by Melbourne company Genetic Technologies Limited.Genomics and AI are part of the technology stack heralding in the era of personalised medicine.The fraught dragnet strategies in public health are set for disruption but privacy issues will need to be overcome.With pinpoint accuracy around risk shouldn't Governments be scrambling?
A new biomaterial has been developed by researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to aid in bone repair. The biomaterial uses discarded bullfrog skin and fish scales from local aquaculture farms, with experiments finding human bone-forming cells seeded onto the material successfully. They also multiplied which is a sign of growth, with low risk of triggering an inflammatory response. The applications are vast, meaning the biomaterial could be used to help regenerate bone tissue lost to disease or injury or around surgical implants. It provides a great alternative to using a patient's own tissue. | shorturl.at/clqOP
Queensland researchers and a US team have developed an antiviral therapy that has killed off the COVID-19 viral load in infected mice by 99.9 per cent.They used a "next-generation" viral approach using gene-silencing RNA technology to attack the virus genome directly, which stops the virus spreading.The treatment could be available as early as 2023, depending on the next phase of clinical trials.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-17/queensland-coronavirus-antiviral-treatment-covid-19/100144370
