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Turning to liquid biopsy for early cancer detection

Nasibo Kabale

May 29, 2018 |

Business Daily |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Kenya, Eldoret

A new liquid biopsy is able to detect all types of cancer via a blood test. This new technology will allow physicians to diagnose cancer and monitor cancer treatments without invasive tissue biopsies.

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Poachers vs. Poop

John Platt

April 11, 2018 |

The Revelator |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: South Africa

After 15 years of collecting dung and DNA from elephants, conservation biologist Samuel Wasser and his team were able to create a map documenting nearly all of the African elephant populations. With this in place, the information can be used to help law enforcement identify poaching hotspots and arrest ivory traffickers. Now this same process is being applied to other endangered species.

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A Double Murder From 1987 Was Just Solved Thanks To The Genealogy Website Used For The Golden State Killer

Peter Aldhous

March 18, 2018 |

Buzzfeed |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

By loading DNA from crime scenes into a public genealogy database that was also recently used to catch an elusive serial killer in California, officials were able to match DNA from a 1987 crime scene in Washington to a man living in Seattle. Police arrested him nearly 30 years after the unsolved murder of a Canadian couple. A genealogist worked to draw family trees to the great-grandparents of people who were matches for the DNA profile and following the descendants down to one man.

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Colonoscopy? How About a Blood Test?

Paul Tullis

January 11, 2018 |

Bloomberg |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Israel

A company called Medial EarlySign is using machine learning to predict when a patient is at higher risk for having colon cancer. Results from a simple blood test are entered into a database that looks at several factors and compares the results to anonymous results from thousands of people all over the world. This method is less expensive and less invasive than undergoing a colonoscopy and could also be used to detect risk factors for other diseases.

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As emerging diseases spread from wildlife to humans, can we predict the next big pandemic?

Karl Gruber

December 07, 2017 |

Ensia |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Zoonotic outbreaks are increasingly a threat to human populations and other species as they spatially converge in the same environments. In preparation, the project PREDICT has discovered over 1000 distinct diseases and helped guide the development of infrastructure to help protect against outbreaks, while the Global Virome Project is identifying and sequencing the DNA of viruses.

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'Super beans' raise hopes in hunger-prone parts of Africa

Rodney Muhumuza

December 03, 2017 |

Associated Press |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Uganda, Nwoya

Food security due to land degradation is a growing concern in Uganda, especially in light of the massive influx of South Sudanese refugees streaming into the country and the instability of food donations to support them. A new, high-yield "super bean," specially bred by 'gene banks' in Africa for its rapid maturation rate, is helping Ugandan farmers to grow more of their own food with fewer resources and break the dependency on aid to feed their families.

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Renegades Join Forces for Affordable Insulin

Rob Waters

November 09, 2017 |

NEO.LIFE |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

Even though millions of people around the world rely on drugs like insulin to live, the big pharmaceutical companies often seem to value profit over people, and the costs of critical medications can be prohibitive. A small group of dedicated experts is working to change that, combining their expertise in science, law, and business to manufacture small-scale, generic versions of drugs like insulin that are accessible and affordable to all that need them.

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Code for Cancer

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

October 25, 2017 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Launched in September 2017, Cognoma is a database of information regarding the genetic makeup of cancerous tumors developed in collaboration between University of Pennsylvania researchers and Philadelphia’s tech community. Looking for a way to help their community and convinced of the value of the project, people donated their time and coding talents and built the database piece by piece. The database—as well as the programming behind it—are publicly available for researchers to utilize and adapt to other ends.

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The Impossible Burger: Inside the Strange Science of the Fake Meat That 'Bleeds'

Matt Simon

September 20, 2017 |

Wired |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Silicon Valley, California

A genetically engineered fake meat that smells, tastes and has the same texture as a regular beef burger? Sounds impossible, but it's not for the Impossible Burger. Made from ingredients such as wheat and potato protein and coconut, it's the tactic of extracting heme (the ingredient found in the hemoglobin of cows) from leghemoglobin (a the plant alternative) that really helps the Impossible Burger succeed. This success is also a success for the environment by using less land, a quarter of the water and emitting an eighth of the greenhouse gases than is reported for livestock rearing.

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The Sex Life Of Coral: Why Scientists Think It Could Save Us All

Nathan Eagle

September 11, 2017 |

Honolulu Civil Beat |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kaneohe, Hawaii

Climate change is destroying coral reefs at a startling rate - threatening the livelihoods of millions of people, increasing the damage caused by storm surges, and affecting the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Scientists are now exploring revolutionary - and sometimes controversial - methods to learn more about and preserve coral reefs, including selective breeding of those species proven to survive conditions such as high toxicity and heat, and cultivating the regrowth of colonies one centimeter at a time.

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