If youve ever been treated for depression, your saliva sample and survey responses could help inform the worlds biggest genetic investigation into the illness.

The Australian Genetics of Depression Study has been launched as part of an international collaboration aiming to identify genes that predispose people to depression.

The results of the research will eventually help eliminate the guesswork involved in treatment, according to the countrys lead investigator Professor Nick Martin from the Q-I-M-R Berghofer Medical Research Institute.

At the moment if somebody goes to their doctor with depression they get put on one of the standard drugs and it works for some people, but doesnt work for a lot of them, he told Hack.

Professor Martin said many need to experiment with different medications and struggle to find the right fit.

What we need to do is try and take the hit-and-miss out of treatment and try to make a predictive test which will be based upon genetics."

Previous research has identified particular genetic regions of DNA associated with depression and shown the illness can run in families.

While environmental factors also play a part, the aim of this research is to create more targeted treatment by using genetics to predict which medications will work for which people.

To get the data they need, researchers require about 20,000 adult participants across Australia.

19-year-old Kayla Gonzalez is a forensic science student and musician from Victoria.

She has been treated for depression since she was 16 and was an early participant of the study.

Kayla told Hack research like this is crucial.

My family - two to three generations back - has a history of either depression or bipolar.So for me, if I could do this study and I could have kids and be able to stop them from having to go through [depression] that is fantastic.

She added she was lucky she didnt have to mess around with meds too much, but saw her how laborious it was for her mother.

Just having to go through that constant guess work can trigger so many more issues. I think if we can eradicate that mismatched part of it and figure out what works well for [individuals] it would have such a good impact, she said.

She said it would also help prevent teen suicide.

Researchers have called for more people like Kayla to take part.

Were at a stage now of medicine where the biggest aid we can get is not even people giving us government money - although thats necessary its actually volunteers from the community who are willing to go a little bit out of their way to help medical research, Professor Martin said.

The number of antidepressant subscriptions in Australia has increased massively over the past 10 years.

Professor Martin said the research will also look side effects of antidepressants, including how they impact libido.

The idea would be to design to new drugs that are efficacious and that dont come with these undesirable side effects, he said.

I would hope within 10 years were seeing the fruits of this in new medications.

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Australian scientists begin world's largest genetic study into depression - ABC Online

What happened

After reporting that a mid-stage clinical trial stumbled,NewLink Genetics Corporation (NASDAQ:NLNK)shares lost 10.3% of their value today.

Last year, attention shifted to NewLink's IDO-inhibiting cancer drug pipeline after its once-promising algenpantucel-L failed to achieve its primary endpoint in phase 3 trials.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

This morning, investors got a closer look at interim data from a phase 2 trial evaluating its IDO-inhibitor indoximod, and despite arguably competitive response rates, investors were disappointed.

In its trial, indoximod was used alongside Merck & Co. checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda in 60 patients diagnosed with advanced melanoma. The objective response rate to the combination was 52%, and the disease control rate was 73%. For reference, the disease control rate includes patients determined to have a complete response, a partial response, or stable disease.

These were solid rates, but investors appear worried that they might not match up as competitively to Incyte's competing IDO-inhibitor,epacadostat. In smaller phase 1 trials involving 19 patients, the ORR for epacadostat plus Keytruda was 58%.

Indoximod development is continuing as planned, and earlier this year, management reported that its spending on indoximod's R&D will increase substantially as trials expand to include more patients and cancer indications.

Investors should also see initial results for another IDO-inhibitor later this year. The company's GDC-0919 attempts to inhibit IDO in a way that's more similar to Incyte's drug than indoximod, and collaboration partnerRoche Holdings is expected to report some phase 1b data in the second half of 2017.

Overall, there's a lot going on at this company, and while the data might not have been as robust as hoped to justify the uptick in development expenses, it seems to me like today's drop was more "sell the news" than anything else.

Todd Campbell has no position in any stocks mentioned.His clients may have positions in the companies mentioned.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Continued here:
Why NewLink Genetics Shares Fell 10.3% Today - Motley Fool

In BriefPhysicians disclosed more about how they implanted a 3-parentfertilized egg into a 36-year-old woman with a history of geneticillness and failed pregnancies. The procedure resulted in the birthof a healthy baby boy in 2016. When Three People Make a Baby

The long-held belief that we get half our genes from our father and the other half from our mother may not be as accurate as we once thought. In fact, scientistshave discovered that your mothers genes might actually have a few inches on that of your fathers in the genetic tug-of-war involving your genetic makeup.

The culprit is the mitochondria, which, thanks to memes, we all know is the powerhouse of the cell butthe mitochondria ismuch more than that when it comes to fertilization. Sometimes, in the case of genetic diseases, its function can be deadly. But thanks to pioneer physicianJohn Zhangand his team, families with a known history of genetic diseases may have the opportunity to raise a healthy child through the conception ofa 3-parent-baby.

Zhangs team has provided more details about a healthyconception they helped bring about in a paper published on 3 April in Reproductive Biomedicine Online. Zhang used mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) to helpa 36-year-old woman to conceive a child. While the womanis asymptomatic of Leigh syndrome, she had already hadfour pregnancy losses, and herfamily history was marked with the disease. Leigh syndrome is a severe neurobiological disorder that impairs the central nervous system and becomes apparent in the first year of life, often leading to death several years later.

Twenty percent of all Leigh syndrome cases are linked to mitochondrial inheritance from the mother, which is why Zhangs method of collecting donor immature egg cells(from the third person) is provingto be an effective gene therapy. In his case study, Zhangs team collected 28healthy donor immature egg cells and verified if the mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) was safe from pathogenic mutations for insertion. A doctor collected 29 eggs from the mother, but only five were suitable for the procedure.

Usingan electrofusion technique, which combines different cells with an electric current, the team transferred the mothers genome into a donated egg with healthy mitochondria. The hybrid egg was then fertilized by the fathers sperm and transferred to the mothers womb.

The MRT technique proved successful with the birth of a healthy male child in 2016. While 25percent of themothers total mitochondria was affected by Leigh syndrome, the disease affected only two to nine percent of the childsmitochondria.

In accordance with current U.S. federal law, the fertilized egg with the mothers genome and donors cytoplasm was implanted in the mother in a fertility clinic in Mexico. The previousprocedures, including egg collection, mitochondrial replacement, and fertilization, were conducted in a private fertility clinic in New York.

While the U.K. leads the world in providing MRT, the U.S. has a difficult history with the technique.As of last year, the FDA greenlighted MRT with male embryos only. This is because any family history of mitochondrial disease would end with themale, as he cannot significantly pass on harmful mitochondrial DNA to any of his potential offspring. Even with the FDAs approval, the 2016congressional budgetprohibits the implantation of modified embryos into any woman, which is why Zhangs team went to Mexico.

While many are terrified that MRT will evolveinto eugenics and designer babies, its obvious that without MRT, Zhangs patient may have never had her little boy.

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Genetics 2.0: Scientists Have Officially Created New Kind of Child - Futurism

WHILE most Australian dairy farms are bull-free zones relying entirely on artificial insemination to impregnate their cows, AI in beef herds is also growing in both seedstock and commercial herds.

Despite a significant seedstock operation like Lawsons Angus leading the way by being 100 percent AI and ET reliant in conceptions, bulls remain dominant for calf getting in many stud and commercial beef herds.

Beef breed organisations are encouraging use of AI and embryo transfer to fast-track genetic improvement and improve linkages between herds to enhance selection intensity.

When superior genetics are identified, artificial breeding can replicate them at a much faster rate than by natural service where a bull may leave 50 calves a year. Through AI, a bull of superior genetic merit can produce thousands of offspring.

Thehumorous old adage, No one has ever been gored by an inseminator highlights the differences between natural and artificial mating.

Angus leads the way in artificial breeding in the Australian seedstock industry, with around 55 percent of its 75,000 calves recorded in all registers last year the product of AI and ET breeding.

Based on an average price of $50/straw for semen and $20/cow for fixed-time sychronised inseminations and a 60pc conception rate, Australias stud Angus breeders spent $5 million last year on AI programs, and sold more than 8000 artificially-bred bulls for around $56 million.

Semen companies in Australia market imported and domestic beef sire semen on 50-50 ratio from Angus-dominated catalogues.

While some artificial breeding companies buy bulls, many are leased from their breeders, health checked and collected under registered conditions and often returned to the owners when sufficient straws are in the can.

One instance of a company buying into a top bull was ABS, as a member of a syndicate that spent $150,000 on a highly-credentialed bull at the 2015 Millah Murrah Angus sale.

Industry veteran Bill Cornell of ABS said that 60pc of ABSs Angus semen sales were to seedstock producers, while 40pc went to commercial Angus breeders.

There is money to be made in the semen industry.

Last month Reiland Angus and a commercial producer sold a semen share in Reiland Hilary H874 to New Zealand for $25,000. At the 2016 Wagyu conference, a package of 10 straws of semen from a Mayura Fullblood Wagyu bull sold for $30,500 or $3050.straw to a United Kingdom buyer. The doner sire sits in the top 1pc of Wagyus Fullblood terminal Index (FTI).

Other breeds have not utilised AI as much as Angus, with the average registrations of AI calves in the Wagyu herd book for the past three years has been 18pc AI, 8pc ET and 74pc natural. In the Hereford breed in 2016, 19pc of calves were the results of AI while 2pc were from ET.

Hereford Australias CEO Dr Alex Ball said increased use of AI and ET would bring more selection intensity to the breed, and pointed to the imminent introduction of Single Step Genomics as a great move for the industry. Earlier and more accurate EBVs will result.

While widespread use of AI can potentially magnify recessive conditions in bulls, if they exist, DNA testing for these conditions has dramatically lowered that risk.

All Angus semen donor sires are tested free or free by pedigree of known recessive conditions, according to Angus Australias Andrew Byrne.

A trend has been towards more expensive sexed semen. In the beef industrys current herd rebuilding stage, female sexed semen is the most popular.

An 87pc heifer drop can be expected from female sexed semen, service providers suggest. An added benefit is the ease of calving when sexed female semen is used over maiden heifers.

The beef industry is still playing catch-up with the dairy industry in genetic discovery and herd improvement.

In the Holstein Australia herd book, around 75pc of the calves are by AI. The use of genomics in the Holstein population means that an eight weeks old calf can have high accuracy performance figures.

Alta Genetics has made an innovative move to provide tropical breed genetics to the world by breeding bos Indicus semen in Canada, where cattle live in snow for parts of the year.

Alta identified a demand for South American bos Indicus cattle which cant be exported directly from those countries. As a result, they have imported South American embryos into Canada and bred bulls to produce semen which is now exported to tropical countries world-wide.

Next week: We explore more issues surrounding the use of artificial breeding in beef.

More:
Weekly genetics review: Artificial breeding gathering momentum - Beef Central

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) Cancer Genetics and Mendel Health announced today that they have formed a strategic alliance to combine their respective cancer clinical trial matching platforms.

Under the terms of the deal, the companies will incorporate Mendel's deep-learning engine called Mendel.ai in CGI's disease-focused reports and testing results. An initial version of the system is expected to be available to early-access partners in the second quarter of this year, with a wider rollout later in 2017, they said.

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Cancer Genetics, Mendel Health Partner on Clinical Trial Matching Tech - GenomeWeb

Market Summary Follow

NewLink Genetics Corporation is a A biopharmaceutical company

NLNK - Market Data & News

NLNK - Stock Valuation Report

NewLink Genetics Corporation (NLNK) had a rough trading day for Tuesday April 04 as shares tumbled 9.96%, or a loss of $-2.3 per share, to close at $20.79. After opening the day at $19.46, shares of NewLink Genetics Corporation traded as high as $21.60 and as low as $16.39. Volume was 4.55 million shares over 25,830 trades, against an average daily volume of 322,298 shares and a total float of 29.22 million.

As a result of the decline, NewLink Genetics Corporation now has a market cap of $607.47 million. In the last year, shares of NewLink Genetics Corporation have traded between a range of $25.17 and $9.23, and its 50-day SMA is currently $17.14 and 200-day SMA is $13.04.

For a complete fundamental analysis of NewLink Genetics Corporation, check out Equities.coms Stock Valuation Analysis report for NLNK.

Want to invest with the experts? Subscribe to Equities Premium newsletters today! Visit http://www.equitiespremium.com/ to learn more about Guild Investments Market Commentary and Adam Sarhans Find Leading Stocks today.

NewLink Genetics Corp is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on discovering, developing and commercializing immunotherapeutic products to improve treatment options for patients with cancer.

NewLink Genetics Corporation is based out of Ames, IA and has some 122 employees. Its CEO is Charles J. Link.

NewLink Genetics Corporation is a component of the Russell 2000. The Russell 2000 is one of the leading indices tracking small-cap companies in the United States. It's maintained by Russell Investments, an industry leader in creating and maintaining indices, and consists of the smallest 2000 stocks from the broader Russell 3000 index.

Russell's indices differ from traditional indices like the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) or S&P 500, whose members are selected by committee, because they base membership entirely on an objective, rules based methodology. The 3,000 largest companies by market cap make up the Russell 3000, with the 2,000 smaller companies making up the Russell 2000. It's a simple approach that gives a broad, unbiased look at the small-cap market as a whole.

To get more information on NewLink Genetics Corporation and to follow the companys latest updates, you can visit the companys profile page here: NLNKs Profile. For more news on the financial markets and emerging growth companies, be sure to visit Equities.coms Newsdesk. Also, dont forget to sign-up for our daily email newsletter to ensure you dont miss out on any of our best stories.

All data provided by QuoteMedia and was accurate as of 4:30PM ET.

DISCLOSURE: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors, and do not represent the views of equities.com. Readers should not consider statements made by the author as formal recommendations and should consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. To read our full disclosure, please go to: http://www.equities.com/disclaimer

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NewLink Genetics Corporation (NLNK) Plunges 9.96% on April 04 - Equities.com

BRIEF-Casella Waste says invited prospective lenders for considering potential repricing of term loan B facility of $350 million

* Casella Waste says invited prospective lenders to meeting scheduled for April 3 for considering potential repricing of term loan B facility of $350 million Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

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BRIEF-Cancer Genetics and Mendel.ai announce strategic partnership - Reuters

HOUSTON A small group of U.S. oil producers has been trying to exploit advances in DNA science to wring more crude from shale rock, as the domestic energy industry keeps pushing relentlessly to cut costs and compete with the world's top exporters.

Shale producers have slashed production costs as much as 50 percent over two years, waging a price war with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Now, U.S. shale producers can compete in a $50-per-barrel oil market, and about a dozen shale companies are seeking to cut costs further by analyzing DNA samples extracted from oil wells to identify promising spots to drill.

The technique involves testing DNA extracts from microbes found in rock samples and comparing them to DNA extracted from oil. Similarities or differences can pinpoint areas with the biggest potential. The process can help cut the time needed to begin pumping, shaving production costs as much as 10 percent, said Ajay Kshatriya, chief executive and co-founder of Biota Technology, the company that developed this application of DNA science for use in oilfields.

The information can help drillers avoid missteps that prevent maximum production, such as applying insufficient pressure to reach oil trapped in rocks, or drilling wells too closely together, Kshatriya said.

"This is a whole new way of measuring these wells and, by extension, sucking out more oil for less," he said.

Biota's customers include Statoil ASA, EP Energy Corp and more than a dozen other oil producers. Kshatriya would not detail Biota's cost, but said it amounts to less than 1 percent of the total cost to bring a well online.

A shale well can cost between $4 million and $8 million, depending on geology and other factors.

Independent petroleum engineers and chemists said Biota's process holds promise if the company can collect enough DNA samples along the length of a well so results are not skewed.

"I don't doubt that with enough information (Biota) could find a signature, a DNA fingerprint, of microbial genomes that can substantially improve the accuracy and speed of a number of diagnostic applications in the oil industry," said Preethi Gunaratne, a professor of biology and chemistry at the University of Houston.

Biota has applied its technology to about 80 wells across U.S. shale basins, including North Dakota's Bakken, and the Permian and Eagle Ford in Texas, Kshatriya said. That is a tiny slice of the more than 300,000 shale wells across the nation.

EP Energy, one of Biota's first customers, insisted on a blind test last year to gauge the technique's effectiveness, asking Biota to determine the origin of an oil sample from among dozens of wells in a 1,000-square foot zone.

Biota was able to find the wells from which the oil was taken and to recommend improvements for wells drilled in the same region, said Peter Lascelles, an EP Energy geologist.

"If you've been in the oilfield long enough, you've seen a lot of snake oil," said Lascelles, using slang for products or services that do not perform as advertised.

Lascelles said DNA testing helps EP Energy understand well performance better than existing oil field surveys such as seismic and chemical analysis. The testing gives insight into what happens underground when rock is fractured with high pressure mixtures of sand and water to release trapped oil.

Biota's process is just the latest technology pioneered to coax more oil from rock. Other techniques include microseismic studies, which examine how liquid moves in a reservoir, and tracers, which use some DNA elements to study fluid movement.

Venture capitalist George Coyle said his fund Energy Innovation Capital had invested in Biota because it expected the technique to yield big improvements in drilling efficiency. He declined to say how much the fund had invested.

"The correlations they're going to be able to find to improve a well, we think, are going to be big," he said.

-For graphic on 'DNA sequencing in the oil industry' click: tinyurl.com/ma8ypwd

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Gary McWilliams, Simon Webb and David Gregorio)

HOUSTON/CARACAS Venezuela is negotiating financial help from Russian oil major Rosneft to complete nearly $3 billion in PDVSA debt payments coming due to bondholders next month, two market sources and a government source familiar with the talks told Reuters on Friday.

WASHINGTON U.S. farmers plan to seed a record amount of soybean acreage this spring, even with supplies trending near all-time highs, but wheat seedings will fall to the lowest on record, the government said on Friday.

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The DNA of oil wells: U.S. shale enlists genetics to boost output ... - Reuters

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Studies have shown many times over that people with a family history of alcoholism may be predisposed to be at a greater risk of developing drinking problems. But what if genetics also impacts how you remember hangovers? At Keele University, psychologist Dr. Richard Stephens looked into exactly that.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has reported that people with a family history are four times more likely to develop a drinking problem. Stephens based his research on that statistic, but focusing more on whether hangovers have some sort of impact on this.

More:Dispatches From High School: Teens on Drinking Alcohol

Stephens and his team conducted two studies to test this theory. His first study included 142 people, with a small portion of them having a family history of problem drinking, where he had them complete a survey about their hangovers in the past year. This study found that those with alcoholism in their family background recalled more frequent hangover symptoms than those who didnt have any family history of problem drinking.

His second study was designed in the same way, except the participants were asked about hangover symptoms the morning directly after a night of drinking. The results showed that there were no greater signs of hangover symptoms in the participants with a family history of alcoholism than in those who did not.

More:Alcohol Is Never an Excuse For Sexual Assault Period

While the findings may seem cloudy, Stephens is relatively positive toward his research. To him, it seemed that people who [were] predisposed to develop problem drinking are no more susceptible to developing a hangover however, we found that such people appear to remember their hangovers more lucidly.

So, while the amount of hangovers experienced did not change, the results showed that individuals who have a family history of problem drinking or alcoholism are more clearly able to remember their hangovers or what those hangovers felt like than those who do not have that kind of background. Stephens hopes that this information can be used to help curb excessive drinking and facilitate the means to create programs or plans for managing alcohol consumption.

More:My Spouse and I Quit Drinking and It Changed Our Relationship

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How You Remember This Weekend's Hangover Will Depend Genetics - SheKnows.com

March 30, 2017

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have successfully grown stem cells from children with a devastating neurological disease to help explain how different genetic backgrounds can cause common symptoms. The work sheds light on how certain brain disorders develop, and provides a framework for developing and testing new therapeutics. Medications that appear promising when exposed to the new cells could be precisely tailored to individual patients based on their genetic background.

In the new study, published in The American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers used stem cells in their laboratory to simultaneously model different genetic scenarios that underlie neurologic disease. They identified individual and shared defects in the cells that could inform treatment efforts.

The researchers developed programmable stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells, from 12 children with various forms of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease, or PMD. The rare but often fatal genetic disease can be caused by one of hundreds of mutations in a gene critical to the proper production of nerve cell insulation, or myelin. Some children with PMD have missing, partial, duplicate, or even triplicate copies of this gene, while others have only a small mutation. With so many potential causes, researchers have been in desperate need of a way to accurately and efficiently model genetic diseases like PMD in human cells.

By recapitulating multiple stages of the disease in their laboratory, the researchers established a broad platform for testing new therapeutics at the molecular and cellular level. They were also able to link defects in brain cell function to patient genetics.

"Stem cell technology allowed us to grow cells that make myelin in the laboratory directly from individual PMD patients. By studying a wide spectrum of patients, we found that there are distinct patient subgroups.

This suggests that individual PMD patients may require different clinical treatment approaches," said Paul Tesar, PhD, study lead, Dr. Donald and Ruth Weber Goodman Professor of Innovative Therapeutics, and Associate Professor of Genetics and Genome Sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

The researchers watched in real-time as the patients' stem cells matured in the laboratory. "We leveraged the ability to access patient-specific brain cells to understand why these cells are dysfunctional. We found that a subset of patients exhibited an overt dysfunction in certain cellular stress pathways," said Zachary Nevin, first author of the study and MD/PhD student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. "We used the cells to create a screening platform that can test medications for the ability to restore cell function and myelin. Encouragingly, we identified molecules that could reverse some of the deficits." The promising finding provides proof-of-concept that medications that mend a patient's cells in the laboratory could be advanced to clinical testing in the future.

The stem cell platform could also help other researchers study and classify genetic diseases with varied causes, particularly other neurologic disorders. Said Tesar, "Neurological conditions present a unique challenge, since the disease-causing cells are locked away in patients' brains and inaccessible to study. With these new patient-derived stem cells, we can now model disease symptoms in the laboratory and begin to understand ways to reverse them."

Explore further: Researchers turn urine into research tools

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Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have successfully grown stem cells from children with a devastating neurological disease to help explain how different genetic backgrounds can cause common ...

By inserting an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-linked human gene called TDP-43 into fruit flies, researchers at Stony Brook University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory discovered a potential role for 'transposons' in ...

A genetic trawl through the DNA of almost 100,000 people, including 17,000 patients with the most common type of ovarian cancer, has identified 12 new genetic variants that increase risk of developing the disease and confirmed ...

In a research effort that merged genetics, physics and information theory, a team at the schools of medicine and engineering at The Johns Hopkins University has added significantly to evidence that large regions of the human ...

An international consortium of researchers led by Dr. Melissa Bondy, professor of medicine, associate director for population sciences at the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center and McNair Scholar at Baylor College of ...

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Stem cells help explain varied genetics behind rare neurologic disease - Medical Xpress