BMC series blog

An Emirates hat-trick for BMC Biology authors

This week saw the annual BMC Research Awards presentations, in the Emirates Stadium and with a sports science theme, to acknowledge the forthcoming London Olympics. BMC Biology is very happy to be able to congratulate the authors of three BMC Biology papers that won awards reflecting the diversity of interesting topics on which we publish:-

Alexei Korennykh and colleagues won the General Biology award for their research on how ADP binding can tune the kinase in the activation of Ire, the remarkable bifunctional kinase-RNase whose activity directs the alternative splicing of a key transcription factor in the rescue program in response to the toxic accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum.

The Molecular and Cellular Science award was taken by Judith Goodship and colleagues with an article examining the molecular details behind Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, a genetic disorder with distinctive growth defects caused by migration in the Evc protein. The authors identified a novel binding partner for Evc – Evc2 – and identify that both bind together within the basal body of the cilia, activating the hedgehog signaling pathway.

Felipe Vilas-Boas, Rita Fior, Kate Storey and colleagues were the recipients of the prize for Neuroscience, Neurology and Psychiatry for their article detailing a new reporter for detecting the activity of the Notch signaling pathway, which is involved in specification of neural cell fates. This reporter is based on a downstream promoter from a Notch target gene, Hes5-1, coupled with instability elements and a new fluorescent protein (VNP), and provides a reliable readout of Notch activity. The advantage is that the authors can now achieve single cell resolution and real time imaging, enabling more dynamic analysis of Notch activity.

Congratulations again to all our winners.

Posted by Kester Jarvis at 17:34    Comments (0)

 

Highlights of the 1st IEEE Symposium on Biological Data Visualization (BioVis 2011)

We are happy to announce the publication of the Highlights from the 1st IEEE Symposium on Biological Data Visualization (BioVis 2011, http://www.biovis.net/2011/index.html) in BMC Bioinformatics.

The BioVis 2011 Highlights are a collection of papers addressing important visualization and exploration challenges in the areas of sequence alignments, metabolomics, biochemical simulations and screens, networks, pedigrees and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL). By making these highlights available in the open-access BMC Bioinformatics journal, we hope to foster the knowledge transfer between the bioinformatics, biology and visualization communities.

Heinrich et al. describe the interactive Hierarchical Aggregation Table (iHAT), which facilitates the visualization of multiple sequence alignments, associated metadata, and hierarchical clusterings. Smith et al. present RuleBender, a novel visualization system for the integrated visualization, modeling and simulation of rule-based intracellular biochemistry. In the same spirit, Strobelt et al. present HiTSEE (High-Throughput Screening Exploration Environment), a visualization tool for the analysis of large chemical screens used to examine biochemical processes.  Paterson et al. describe VIPER (Visual Pedigree Explorer), a software tool for pedigree genotype visualization that integrates an inheritance-checking algorithm with a novel space-efficient pedigree visualization. Livengood et al. present a system that enables interactive comparative visualization and analytics of metabolomics data obtained by two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Mayerich et al. introduce NetMets, a method for quantifying and visualizing errors in biological network segmentation. Finally, Bartlett et al. present and discuss the eQTL biological data visualization challenge conducted as the BioVis 2011 contest. This is a tremendously important biological grand challenge domain with no extant solutions. The authors provide a thought-provoking perspective on the complex relations between the biology, bioinformatics, and visualization domains. They discuss the contest entries submitted to BioVis 2011, present the lessons learned, and conclude with open questions for the future.

Given the growing need for visualization tools to gain insight into large and complex data sets that are becoming increasingly common in biology, the papers included in this collection will be relevant to scientists in bioinformatics, biology and data visualization.

If data visualization is relevant to your work, you should plan to attend BioVis 2012. The symposium will be taking place on October 14-15 in Seattle, WA and is co-located with the IEEE VisWeek meeting. Poster and contest submissions will be accepted until 27 June 2012. BioVis is an interdisciplinary event and we strongly encourage the participation of experts in bioinformatics, biology and data visualization to establish an ongoing dialog between these communities.

BioVis is sponsored by the IEEE Technical Committee on Visualization and Computer Graphics and affiliated with the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB), the ACM SIG Bioinformatics as well as the IEEE Technical Committee on Computational Life Sciences (TCCLS). Significant registration discounts are offered to members of those societies.

Nils Gehlenborg

Posted by Catherine Rice at 17:00    Comments (0)

 

BMC Structural Biology gets some SAXS appeal

Despite their name, biological macromolecules are actually pretty small, and it can be tough determining their structure. Many techniques have been developed over the last century to bypass the limits of conventional light microscopy, to peer deeper  into the shapes and functions of key molecules like proteins and nucleic acids.

Determining with accuracy the exact shapes of these molecules is crucial if we are to gain an understanding of just how interactions in this giant molecular jigsaw maintain the essential biological processes of life.

One promising approach is Small-Angle Scattering (SAS). This technique of low-resolution analysis utilises high-powered X-ray or neutron beams fired at samples from a synchrotron source (similar to the Large Hadron Collider) or nuclear reactor to reconstruct the shape of molecules from the shadow left behind after the beam passes through.

Unlike long-established high-resolution techniques like crystallography, SAS is able to probe the shapes of macromolecules in solution, rather than requiring fixation within a solid crystal. This means that molecules can be studied in more biologically realistic conditions, and without having to wait for samples to crystallize.

However, until now SAS has yet to establish a publication framework emphasising quality assurance to help guide researchers—something that was crucial to the scientific development of these other fields.

In a Commentary article published today in BMC Structural Biology, Professor Jill Trewhella and colleagues outline the guidelines recently drawn up by The International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) for the reporting of data derived from SAS studies, and discuss why such a framework is necessary for the development and establishment of this emerging technique. This compliments nicely a recent exposition of these guidelines from the same group, and an accompanying piece by Edward Baker and Zbigniew Dauter on the future of the field.

This is the first of a number of articles to be published in BMC Structural Biology focusing on developments in the analysis of biological macromolecules using SAS techniques, co-ordinated by Section Editor Paul Ramsland and deputy Section Editor Cy Jeffries. A forthcoming Review from the lab of Andrej Sali highlights recent advances in the development of computational methods using SAXS profiles (from an X-ray source), and how these can be integrated into theoretical models for enhanced accuracy in structure prediction.

BMC Structural Biology would like to issue an open invitation to all researchers working in the field of structure determination using SAS techniques to get in touch and get involved– we would be delighted to consider your contribution to this exciting field.

Posted by Simon Harold at 10:27    Comments (0)

 

The future of evolutionary epidemiology

The impending age of big data has been inescapable in recent discourse, both scientific and otherwise. The prevailing metaphors cast big data as a tsunami or an avalanche, suggesting natural disaster poised to dash hapless researchers against the rocks. They are, of course, no such thing, and offer many opportunities provided that one is prepared. Some of these opportunities were on show at the Royal Society discussion meeting on “Next-generation molecular and evolutionary epidemiology of infectious disease”.

One focus, inevitably, was next-generation sequencing, with Paul Kellam speaking about its importance in tracking the spread of the three waves of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic at a population level; but also for following the rapid spread of polymorphisms though the virus population within a single patient. Bill Hanage discussed the use of whole-genome data to investigate phylogenetic relationships within highly recombinogenic bacteria like Streptococcus pneumoniae, for which traditional genetic methods simply can’t cut it.

Some notes of restraint were sounded too. Dan Haydon told a cautionary tale about the current inability of deep sequencing to separate foot-and-mouth virus variation within an individual from technical noise, and suggested that in evolutionary studies of this virus, variation between individuals is the highest resolution at which we can currently make reliable inferences (the resulting graphs using "1 cow" as a basic unit of time amused, although we don’t imagine it shall become an SI unit any time soon). Contrary to the “sequence everything” school of thought, Sharon Peacock of the Health Protection Agency made the case for sparing use of whole-genome sequencing in clinical microbiology, where phenotypic tests still offer good effectiveness for their cost and in the majority of cases sequencing is an unnecessary expense.

Epidemiologists are perhaps uniquely interested in co-mapping phylogenetic and spatial data, given the power of explicitly tracking the recent history of disease spread, and there were a number of talks on the potential for spatial phylodynamics in modelling the spread of diseases including rabies and influenza. Perhaps the most striking example of the efficacy of this approach was given by Sharon Peacock, who showed how whole genome sequencing of MRSA allowed spatial mapping of its spread at the resolution of wards within a single hospital.

However, collecting spatial data is no straightforward task, and the future of surveillance was a popular subject. Simon Hay discussed a project to update global risk maps for disease, which are “often diabolical”, through careful curation via survey of the existing data and literature – but this is very costly in time and resources, and the future of this kind of curation might be driven by automated data-mining of resources such as PubMed and GenBank. Larry Brilliant spoke about Google.org’s Flu Trends, which tracks outbreaks through users’ flu-related search terms with surprising success – often reporting peaks in flu activity a week or two ahead of the CDC’s GP-reported data – and went on to give an overview and endorsement of  the current trend for web-based crowd-sourcing of reports through sites like HealthMap and ProMED.

Readers will, of course, be wondering about the privacy issues related to these new kinds of data-collection methods, and this was on attendees’ minds too. Nowhere is the discord between the need for patient privacy and the public health benefits of data release more apparent than epidemiology, where the geographic location of a patient – a key piece of information – goes a considerable way to revealing their identity. One unsavoury possibility is the future prospect of using a combination of genetic and epidemiological data to personally identify a key patient; say, “patient zero” for a particular pandemic, or an infection-multiplying “superspreader” for HIV – although it is important to emphasise that neither of these is likely at present. The discussion of these issues was only one aspect of a lively panel discussion to close the meeting, which also took in issues of data quality and accessibility, and how encouraging data citability might be one way to solve them. (Those interested in data citation might like to read the recent blog post and associated BMC Research Notes article on the current gold standard).

For those whose interest in evolutionary epidemiology has been piqued, suggested further reading in BMC Biology comes from Trevor Bedford and colleagues’ recent research modelling the evolutionary reasons for strikingly low standing diversity in the H3N2 flu virus; and Nobel laureate Peter Doherty and colleague Paul Thomas's comment on why knowing which mutations to look for in natural H5N1 flu reservoirs is more important than the perceived dangers which lead to the redaction – now reversed – of the description of particularly virulent laboratory strains.

Posted by Kester Jarvis at 14:19    Comments (0)

 

Could biophysics help Novak Djokovic?

Last year, ATP World Tennis Number 1 Novak Djokovic cut out all wheat products from his diet. According to his nutritionist—who “discovered” an intolerance to gluten—It was this drastic change in eating habits that led directly to his current dominance of the game.

Unfortunately, this approach is currently the only effective treatment available for sufferers of the condition, and can feel far from a grand-slam solution to the problem. The widespread use of cereals in the global food industry, especially in the routine use of “hidden” wheat-derived ingredients in processed food, can often make adherence to such restrictive regimes a dispiriting experience.

What if there was an alternative?

In a Correspondence article published today in BMC Biophysics, Stephen Harding and colleagues propose an exciting new way of looking at this issue, through the use of techniques developed in the field of molecular biophysics—and issue a challenge to researchers working in the field to test their idea.

Protein prevention

Gluten intolerance is an autoimmune condition affecting individuals with genetic susceptibility, and occurs as a result of inflammation of the gut in response to exposure to cereal proteins known as gliadins. Although some previous research has looked into the possibility of genetically modifying these proteins in order to prevent this response, this new approach instead focuses on asking whether it would be possible to add a naturally occurring ingredient into the mix that might block this exposure in the first instance.

The candidate ingredients for this are dietary fibre polysaccharides—complex, indigestible carbohydrates that are nevertheless essential for digestion. When consumed, these fibre molecules compete directly with the cereal proteins for exposure to the bowel tissue, forming larger complexes that might be much less able to illicit the harmful inflammatory response. 

Biophysical techniques

One major issue with making this approach a success is identifying suitable polysaccharides that would interact strongly enough with these cereal proteins to prevent inflammation. This is where biophysics can help.

The authors reason that such candidate molecules can be found using a technique known as analytical ultracentrifugation. Senior author Stephen Harding from the University of Nottingham UK explains: “The analytical ultracentrifuge is a high speed centrifuge with an optical system which allows the detection of macromolecules as they sediment under high g-force. It has an inherent separation ability and is highly resolving. It is a free solution technique not requiring immobilisation of macromolecules onto a surface, giving it a major advantage over (other) techniques”

He continued “We use primarily the sedimentation velocity method and use the principle of co-sedimentation: gliadins, particularly digested gliadins have a very small sedimentation coefficient, whereas fibre polysaccharides are generally higher.  From appropriate comparison of mixtures with controls, we can see if the gliadin is picked up by the polysaccharide”

Although the technique itself is not a new one—the Swedish chemist Theodor Svedberg won the Nobel prize for its invention in 1926—modern developments now mean that these interactions can be analysed in exquisite detail.

What next?

Although only a fledgling idea at present, Harding is excited about how future research might tackle this challenge “A complete range of fibre needs to be investigated in a systematic way to see if there are any fibre polysaccharides providing interactions that are strong and robust enough. If this is the case then the particular gliadins and peptide sequences binding to the different polysaccharides would then need to be determined.”

After identification of these molecules, clinical trials could then be considered in patients with the condition. However, despite the potential this might offer for sufferers, the researchers are urging caution at this early stage “We must stress we do not want to give false hope to people who have gluten intolerance problems. This is very much a first stage process and it is possible that no fibre can be found affording an interaction suitable enough… If we can do so this it might provide a useful first step in identifying which fibre merits further investigation”

For researchers in the field, it seems the ball is now in their court.

This Correspondence piece will appear as a guest article as part of the “Advances in Food Allergy 2012” series, further details of which can be found here.

 

Posted by Simon Harold at 10:32    Comments (0)

 

BMC series journals win at the 6th Annual BioMed Central Research Awards

Since 2006, BioMed Central has been running its annual Research Awards, celebrating the excellence in scientific research that is published in our portfolio of over 200 open access journals. 2012 marks an exciting change to the Research Awards, as it is the first year that the awards have been divided into 15 separate categories, giving a larger number of high quality articles the chance to win in their specific subject discipline. The judging panels consist of experts in the respective fields, including but not limited to members of our Editorial boards. These awards also recognise outstanding individual or institutional efforts made to support open access to research.

The winners have recently been announced and we are delighted to say that authors in the subject-specific BMC-series journals have made a strong showing!

For the General Medicine award we are thrilled that Jian Zou and colleagues have won with their article in BMC Cancer on the effect of coffee consumption on cancer incidence. Their research showed that overall an increase in consumption of 1 cup of coffee per day was associated with a 3% reduced risk of 11 different measured types of cancers. The article was published in March this year and has been accessed over 4000 times already, indicating its key importance to the field and its recognition amongst the community and the wider audience.

Coffee consumption and risk of cancers: a meta-analysis of cohort studies
BMC Cancer 2011, 11:96 (15 March 2011)
Xiaofeng Yu, Zhijun Bao, Jian Zou and Jie Dong

BMC Ecology, with authors Volker Witte, Christoph von Beeren and colleagues, also achieved gold by winning the Plant, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Research award with their article on the chemical mimicry employed by the parasitic silverfish when trying to integrate into and exploit ant communities. The silverfish acquire cuticular hydrocarbon signatures directly from the ants cuticles, making them invisible as parasites and accepted (most of the time) as members of the colony. BMC Ecology is a rapidly growing journal, currently being tracked for an Impact Factor, and we look forward to receiving many more high quality articles such as this.

Acquisition of chemical recognition cues facilitates integration into ant societies
BMC Ecology 2011, 11:30 (1 December 2011)
Christoph von Beeren, Stefan Schulz, Rosli Hashim and Volker Witte

Last but by no means least, Eric B Loucks and his colleagues were the winners in the Public Health category with their fascinating article published in BMC Public Health on the inverse relationship between education and high blood pressure, highlighting that this relationship was more marked in females.

Associations of education with 30 year life course blood pressure trajectories: Framingham Offspring Study
BMC Public Health 2011, 11:139 (28 February 2011)
Eric B Loucks, Michal Abrahamowicz, Yongling Xiao and John W Lynch
 
Big congratulations to all of our winners! The awards will be presented tonight at a prestigious ceremony at the Emirates Stadium in London, and we look forward to congratulating the winners in person on both their achievements, and also their support of BioMed Central and open access publishing.  

Posted by Genevieve Horne at 10:22    Comments (0)

 

IRCIMH 2012

 

 

 

 

Stephanie Harriman, Deputy Medical Editor will be attending third International Research Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health (IRCIMH) in Portland, Oregon on behalf of BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

The four day congress takes place from 15th-18th May and will showcase original research in the field of Integrative Medicine, the practice of medicine which focuses on the patient as a whole and makes use of all evidence based therapeutic approaches. Research presented at the congress will cover a board range of topics and includes basic science, clinical trials, lifestyle and prevention, methodology, health services, cost effectiveness, and education and will be attended by researchers and clinicians from around the world.

We look forward to meeting you there.

Posted by Tom Rowles at 16:12    Comments (0)

 

Join us at the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Annual Congress

BMC Ophthalmology will be attending this year’s The Royal College of Ophthalmologists Annual Congress in Liverpool. The three day conference is the UK’s largest ophthalmology conference and will feature various poster sessions and workshops, plus a wide array of talks from world renowned experts in their fields highlighting the newest and most exciting developments in clinical research based ophthalmology.

From retinal imaging to inflammatory eye disease, strabismus to glaucoma and beyond, all areas of ophthalmology will be covered.

We’re looking forward to the congress. Please do get in touch if you’re also attending on emilie.aime@biomedcentral.com – it would be great to see you there.

Emilie Aimé
Executive Editor
BMC Ophthalmology

 

Posted by Genevieve Horne at 14:27    Comments (0)

 

Interventions given during pregnancy improve outcome for obese women

The incidence of maternal obesity is on the rise, with one in five pregnant women estimated to be obese. This poses great risk for both mother and baby; obese women are more likely to develop gestational diabetes and gestational hypertension than mothers of normal weight, and pregnant women with extreme obesity are at 1.6 times greater risk of suffering a premature birth. Maternal obesity is also associated with  increased risk of miscarriage, congenital abnormalities and long-term health risks for the baby, including autism and obesity in future generations.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance recommending that healthcare professionals educate women on the health risks of obesity during pregnancy. Guidance is mainly focused on weight loss when planning a pregnancy, and it is recommended that women have a balanced diet combined with an active lifestyle. However, around 50% of pregnancies are unplanned, highlighting the importance of weight-loss interventions during pregnancy.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis published in BMC Medicine, Oteng-Ntim and colleagues show that lifestyle interventions during pregnancy are associated with improved pregnancy outcome. The study analysed published randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs including individual and group-based dietary and exercise interventions. The authors found that interventions are associated with a reduction in maternal weight gain and prevalence of gestational diabetes, suggesting that interventions during pregnancy are beneficial. However, there were no significant effects on other outcomes, including caesarean delivery and birth weight. 

The study by Oteng-Ntim and colleagues shows that lifestyle interventions during pregnancy can be used to reduce adverse maternal outcomes, and highlights that more high-quality trials are needed to assess the effect on infant outcomes.  Following this insightful study, future research should address whether following diet and exercise recommendations during pregnancy reduces birth weight and caesarean delivery; Oteng-Ntim and colleagues showed that studies investigating these outcomes were of low quality. If future research yields positive results, interventions targeting obesity in pregnant women could be offered routinely to improve both maternal and infant pregnancy outcomes.

Posted by Lin Lee at 13:09    Comments (0)

 

BMC Infectious Diseases publishes its first supplement

Posted by Philippa Harris at 15:43    Comments (0)

 

Cancer bioinformatics: bioinformatic methods, network biomarkers and precision medicine

Cancer bioinformatics: bioinformatic methods, network biomarkers and precision medicine, a collaborative series involving BMC Bioinformatics, BMC Cancer, BMC Medicine, Genome Medicine and Journal of Clinical Bioinformatics (JCBi) has published its first set of articles on May 1st 2012.

Edited by Xiangdong Wang, Editor in Chief for Journal of Clinical Bioinformatics (Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Biomedical Research Center, Fudan University), this thematic series combines a plethora of approaches and disciplines in cancer research, bioinformatics and medicine.  In the Editorial by Wang et al. the expectations and focus of the series is described, namely to show novel research in cancer bioinformatics and systems biology and to investigate the potential  for translation of the results into the care of patients with cancer.

Silvia von der Heyde and Tim Beissbarth discuss in their Commentary new methods of analysis of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)  pathway, suspected to be involved in the progression and development of a number of cancer types. These approaches do not focus on the individual players of the pathways and instead provide a more global view on the signaling pathways.

Investigation of the behaviours of cancer in patient cohorts, as well as individuals, is essential for providing appropriate care to each person with cancer.

With all the exciting developments in high throughput methods for understanding individual genomes, a fascinating and essential step now underway is bringing that knowledge into the clinic. By applying a combination of clinical, medical and bioinformatics expertise to the understanding of cancer and its development, outcomes for patients can only be improved.

Submissions to this special collection are welcomed until 1^st November 2012 and new articles will be added continuously to the series homepage. Please join the discussions by using the ‘comment’ option below each individual article.

 

 

Posted by Catherine Rice at 12:02    Comments (0)

 

Recognition of ant chemical cues research

BMC Ecology is celebrating after having recently published research recognized for its excellence at the 2011 BioMed Central Research Awards.

The study by Christoph von Beeren and colleagues from the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Technical University Braunschweig and University Malaya, won the category award  for “Plant, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Research”, judged by a leading panel of experts in the field.

Winning articles were chosen for their innovation and high-quality execution, with this work representing an elegant investigation into how kleptoparasitic silverfish are able to evade detection in the ant colonies they inhabit, by stealing their unwitting host’s odor—as well as their food.

Prior to this work, it hadn’t been clear whether this chemical mimicry was generated by the silverfish themselves, or whether it was somehow being acquired directly from their host ants. By utilizing a technique called stable isotope analysis the team were able to track the movement of individual recognition chemicals from their source, and establish that those found on the parasitic silverfish had indeed originated from the host ants through direct contact (see how they do this here).

In an intriguing follow-up experiment, they then introduced individual silverfish that had not had any prior contact with the host ants, into experimental colonies. These individuals that hadn’t “pilfered” the ant’s scent were found to be subject to more frequent aggressive encounters than those that had been in prior contact with the hosts –not a particularly favorable outcome if you happen to be trying to sneak into a colony of army ants.

The work adds substantially to the field of chemical ecology, providing new insight into mechanisms underlying the arms race between social insects and their nest parasites.

This award adds to a successful year for the journal, which celebrated the United Nations International Year of Forests with a high-impact collection of articles in the thematic series Forests: Looking to the Future, as well as recently being accepted for Impact Factor tracking by Thomson Reuters.

Von Beeren’s research now progresses into the shortlist for Overall winner of the Awards, which will be announced on 17^th May.

Posted by Simon Harold at 16:26    Comments (0)

 

Digging up the past with ancient DNA

Historically, piecing together the puzzles of human cultural history has largely been the preserve of archaeology. However, recent advances in the retrieval of ancient samples of DNA from human remains has allowed researchers to peer into the past in unprecedented detail.

 A new study published in BMC Genetics now adds PCR alongside pickaxes in the archaeological toolbox, by delving into the cultural past of ancient Peru. Mateusz Baca and colleagues from the University of Warsaw and Universidad Católica de Santa Maria were able to isolate DNA from the remains of individuals buried in ceremonial burial mounds dating from the time prior to European colonization of the Americas.

By using a combination of sex-linked and autosomal genetic markers, the researchers were able to piece together a jigsaw of familial relations between individuals from this isolated Andean community living 4000m up, in the shadow of the Coropuna volcano. Until now, knowledge about how social groups were organized in this pastoral society of llama and alpaca herders was largely inferred from ethnographic and archaeological findings. However, by utilizing modern techniques of DNA extraction from fragments of bones and teeth found at the site, the team were able to confirm that this community were organized in a patriarchal society based around the traditional family unit of Native South Americans—the ayllu.

Although such genetic studies are prone to similar problems to their traditional archaeological counterparts – this site for example had been subject to extensive looting – the isolated nature of this high-altitude community fortunately meant that samples were extraordinarily well-preserved, a boon that would certainly be shared by both disciplines.

This study adds to a number of excellent recent studies published in BMC Genetics at the interface of science and cultural history since the launch of the Human Population Genetics section under Section Editor Guido Barbujani. These include studies on the evolution of language among ethnic groups in Thailand and the Philippines, the genetic structure of isolated modern-day ethnic groups, and the genetic impact of large scale human migrations into the Americas.

This new combination of Indiana Jones-meets-CSI promises to open a new window onto human cultural history as never before, even if a fluorescent band on an electrophoretic gel will never quite look as pretty on a museum shelf.

Posted by Simon Harold at 11:55    Comments (0)

 

BMC Pediatrics at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting

BMC Pediatrics looks forward to being a part of this purpose and hopes to see you at the Hynes Convention Center, April 28^th to May 1^st at booth 1132.

Posted by Natalie Pafitis at 10:09    Comments (0)

 

ECCMID's mass gathering

The year 2012 is an important year for London as host of the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. However, BMC Infectious Diseases was equally excited to attend 22nd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) at the ExCeL exhibition and convention centre also held in the east end of the capital.

The Olympics were a widely discussed event highlighted in a series of talks on infection control during mass gatherings. Valuable insight into the challenges London will face was presented by the Saudi Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Prof Ziad Memish as he discussed his country’s experience with the Hajj.

The debate sessions contained some lively discussion on diverse themes such as whether computer models can be used to predict disease outbreaks and the use of contact precautions to prevent the spread of multidrug resistance organisms (MDROs), such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

BMC Infectious Diseases Associate Editor Dr Shirish Huprikar also presented fascinating work on renal transplantation in HIV-positive patients which, together with other work presented during the conference, highlighted the vast progress that has been made in the treatment of patients infected with HIV in the 30 years since this disease was first discovered.

The 23rd ECCMID will be held in Berlin and we look forward to an equally packed and interesting schedule. 

Image credit: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH 

Posted by Philippa Harris at 17:45    Comments (0)