By creating and manipulating mini-kidney organoids that contain a realistic micro-anatomy, UW Medicine researchers can now track the early stages of polycystic kidney disease. The organoids are grown from human stem cells. Polycystic kidney disease affects 12 million people. Until recently, scientists have been unable to recreate the progression of this human disease in a…
Tumor Gene Test Results Can Differ in Same Patients
A preliminary study comparing two commercially available, next-generation genetic sequencing tests in the same cancer patients shows results can differ widely. The findings are reported Dec. 15 in JAMA Oncology. Genetic testing is used in thousands of cancer patients each year. Clinical testing for cancer-associated genetic alterations is growing because of the need to better match…
Fast Driver Spotted on Evolutionary Tracks
Living things have long used a previously unrecognized method for diversifying and evolving. This strategy, as reported this week in Science, could account for some of the variation seen across species. The work was led by the labs of Pedro Beltrao of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) in the United Kingdom, and…