At first, ancient squirrel poop may not sound like an important scientific discovery. However, frozen droppings from Arctic ground squirrels in the Yukon are giving researchers a surprisingly detailed look into ecosystems that existed up to 700,000 years ago. Preserved in deep permafrost, these droppings, called coprolites, contain ancient environmental DNA from plants, insects, microbes, and large Ice Age animals. Researchers studied frozen ground squirrel burrows from the Y

Did you know hemophilia B is also called Christmas disease? Despite the name, it has nothing to do with Christmas. Stephen Christmas a 5-year old boy, born in England in 1947, used to get bruised easily and had been hospitalized nine times for hematomas i.e. his blood would collect outside a blood vessel. Initially he was diagnosed with classic hemophilia amongst variety of other conditions. But researchers looking into his case found that he lacked the clotting factor IX n

In our modern society, we have come to take technology, and the materials that make it up, for granted. Despite our marvelous inventions as a species, there are many occasions when we forget what we might define as biological nature, and more than just a metaphor, what I mean by this is that it is curious that many things we use daily without a second thought are the result of highly complex industrial processes that clearly involve raw materials; in the case of our electroni

What is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy? Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive genetic neuromuscular disorder primarily affects males. It is the most common type of muscular dystrophy with one in 3,500 new born males developing DMD worldwide. Females inherit the defective gene and pass it on, thereby serving as carriers. The average age of diagnosis is 5 years. Cause of DMD: The missing muscle protein DMD is causes by a genetic mutation in the DMD gene, located

What is Scarring Alopecia? The term scarring alopecia, or (cicatricial alopecia), refers to a group of disorders that cause destruction of the hair follicles, resulting in permanent hair loss. The hair follicle becomes the main target of an inflammatory process, which often becomes a clinical and therapeutic challenge. (1) There are numerous types of cicatricial alopecias; however, the three most common afflicting women are: lichen planopilaris, frontal fibrosing alopecia, an

Introduction Nutrigenomics is the scientific study of how an individual’s genes influence their response to nutrients, and how nutrients in turn can affect gene expression (2). This emerging field explores the biological relationship between diet and the genome, aiming to explain why people may respond differently to the same foods (2). Traditional dietary guidelines are often designed as universal recommendations (5). However, genetic variation means that individuals metabol

Neurological diseases are disorders that are specially difficult for the general population to understand, but they are often even more complicated to explain for scientists and treating physicians. In general, we can make two broad distinctions between these diseases: inherited and acquired. The former has genetic and epigenetic causes and are the result of one or more pathological variations and SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms, small “mutations” that everybody has and

Introduction In the early 2010s, CRISPR transformed genetic research and quickly became a dominant tool in life sciences. As research progressed, newer techniques emerged to address some of its limitations. Two major developments, base editing and prime editing, were pioneered in the lab of David Liu. These approaches aim to make gene editing more precise while avoiding some of the challenges associated with traditional CRISPR methods. Base Editing First described in 2016, ba

Pharmacology is the auxiliary science of medicine that has helped us fight disease, pain and all kind of problems, but it has always encountered a problem: every person is quite unique from a genetic point of view, and that usually don’t represent a problem at all, most of the truly important differences are well known by physicians and are extremely rare from a statistical point of view; but in the last years we have got to know something we were previously ignoring complete

Crohn's disease (CD) represents a complex, chronic, and progressive inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract. It is a subtype of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes chronic inflammation throughout the digestive tract. Unlike ulcerative colitis, CD can affect any segment from the mouth to the anus and often penetrates the deeper layers of the bowel wall. Because inflammation can penetrate deep into the bowel wall, it can lead to complications like strictur

Fatal Familial Insomnia is a rare, fatal, autosomal dominant neurodegenerative prion disease. FFI is caused by mutation in PRNP gene, causing misfolded proteins (prions) in the brain, particularly in thalamus, where sleep-wake cycle is controlled.

Why the Same Chemotherapy Can Help One Patient and Harm Another? Introduction Chemotherapy remains a cornerstone of cancer treatment across many malignancies, yet patient responses vary dramatically. Two individuals receiving the same regimen can experience entirely different outcomes, ranging from excellent tumour control to severe, life-threatening toxicity. For decades, these differences were largely attributed to age, organ function, or chance. Pharmacogenomics has reveal

By: Nesredin Hassen Yesuf LinkedIn | Email Introduction Acromegaly is a rare, chronic endocrine disorder caused by sustained overproduction of growth hormone (GH), typically due to a benign pituitary adenoma. The excess GH stimulates hepatic synthesis of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), resulting in widespread tissue overgrowth and systemic complications [1]. Although distinct facial and skeletal changes eventually develop, the onset is gradual, and diagnosis often lags

By Stephen Beesley What is Cell and Gene Therapy? Cell and gene therapy (CGT) are advanced medical approaches that can treat a variety of diseases that derive from an underlying genetic dysfunction (could be either DNA or RNA). Gene therapy delivers genetic material (DNA or RNA) into a patient’s cells to correct or compensate for faulty genes, often using viral vectors such as adeno-associated virus (AAV) and lipid nanoparticles (LNP). This kind of therapy aims for a one-and

Nowadays, medical approaches evolve quite fast, as many investments and efforts are put in place in biomedical sciences research to improve patients' health and therapies success. In recent years, an innovative approach called CRISPR-Cas9 had advanced our success in correcting the development of several genetic diseases. In this article it will be described what CRISPR-Cas9 is, how it works and a recent case study of how this lab technique has been used to remove the extra ch

The idea of correcting a genetic disorder before a child is born once seemed purely fictional. Today, advances in genetic engineering have made this possibility increasingly realistic. At the center of this scientific shift is CRISPR, a powerful gene-editing technology that has dramatically changed how researchers study and manipulate DNA. Gene-editing tools have progressed through three major stages of development. The earliest methods relied on zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs),

Introduction Despite the widespread success of statins and PCSK9 inhibitors in lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) remains the leading cause of death globally. A significant portion of this "residual risk" is driven by Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], a genetically determined lipoprotein that affects approximately 20% of the global population (>1.4 billion people). Unlike LDL-C, Lp(a) levels are resistant to diet, exerci

Harmon, R. M., Ayers, J. L., McCarthy, E. F., Kowalczyk, A. P., Green, K. J., & Simpson, C. L. (2025). Pumping the Breaks on Acantholytic Skin Disorders: Targeting Calcium Pumps, Desmosomes, and Downstream Signaling in Darier, Hailey-Hailey, and Grover Disease. The Journal of investigative dermatology , 145 (3), 494–508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jid.2024.06.1289 Pathology: Darier disease (DD), also known as dyskeratosis follicularis, is an inherited disease that is aut

Graphic illustration depicting sickle cell disease, retrieved from: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4579-sickle-cell-anemia In the United States alone, 100,000 individuals suffer from sickle cell anemia, more commonly known as sickle cell disease. Out of this population, around 90,000 are of African American Descent; it is hypothesized that the gene mutation responsible (HBB) was acquired due ot the environmental defense mechanism of fighting against malaria, m

Introduction DICER1 is a gene that plays a crucial role in microRNA (miRNA) processing and, by extension, the regulation of gene expression. Germline mutations in DICER1 cause DICER1 syndrome, a rare autosomal dominant hereditary cancer predisposition syndrome primarily affecting children and young adults. Recognizing the clinical spectrum of DICER1-related disorders is essential for early detection, surveillance, and genetic counseling. What is the DICER1 Gene? The DICER1 g