Closer to Creating New Hair Follicles?

Computational methods for cell Behavior, considerable healthcare advance?   Here suggested for hair regrowth.    Read link below to further  technical details from Yale School of Medicine.

 One Step Closer to Creating Hair Follicles

Yale School of Medicine,   Jess Collins, April 13, 2022

New therapies to regrow hair could arise from a study led by Yale University researchers into the molecular triggers for hair follicle formation and regeneration. The researchers investigated dermal condensates (DCs) that transmit signals to direct hair follicle production, engineering a computational approach for aligning single-cell profile "snapshots" to map the DC development cycle. Combining computational findings with in vivo genetic experiments enabled the team to specify molecular DC genesis signals. Yale's Peggy Myung said two signals in particular cooperate in the formation process, which the researchers could modulate to decelerate DC genesis. Myung cited the research for demonstrating "how computational methods can be used to understand signals and cell behaviors that were previously impossible to capture."

Control of Genetic Behavior

Interesting linking to specific group behavior.  What behavior would you want to influence?  Then, thinking about if further, looks rather dangerous.

Genetic Control of Collective Behavior
The Harvard Gazette     By Jessica Lau

Researchers at Harvard University and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany have developed a computer vision-reliant method to study how genes influence collective behavior. The team tested 90 different genes to see if they affect zebrafish social behavior, using gene editing to mutate one gene at a time. The researchers used computer vision to track individual fish and analyze their interactions, finding several genetic mutations that had a significant effect on fish group behavior. Said Institute director Iain Couzin, "We developed new computational tools for tracking and analyzing behavior among animals, which provide a powerful means to investigate how genetic factors influence collective behaviors."

Full Article at link.

Crime Matching with GEDMatch

Interesting this has just become apparent, genetic matching starts to work against increasing stored data and matching.  Shows the power of cowdsourced databases.  Other examples?    Technology Review Shows why and how:

Another arrest shows why no one can hide from the genetic detectives
For the second time this year, investigators used a public DNA database to solve a cold case and find a murderer.

The bust: A 55-year-old truck driver, William Talbott, was arrested today in Washington State after being fingered in a 30-year-old double murder.

How they found him: According to Buzzfeed, investigators located Talbott’s family members after uploading old crime scene DNA to GEDMatch, a crowdsourced database that genealogists use to compare DNA and build family trees.  ...  "

It further comes to mind that this is akin to:

 ' ...   "The Selfish Ledger,” was shared internally within Google. The video examines the possibility of a dystopian world where our use of devices such as smartphones creates a sort of digital DNA, which, like physical DNA, could exist within the context of future generations. ..."

More on that and links to the video on my post here.   Will the crimes of the past always match the crimes considered in the future?

Spotting Viruses with Machine Learning

A further indication of the value of pattern recognition ...

Machine Learning Spots Treasure Trove of Elusive Viruses 
In Nature  by Amy Maxmen

Researchers have applied artificial intelligence to the discovery of nearly 6,000 previously unknown species of virus. Simon Roux at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute trained computers to identify viral genetic sequences from the Inoviridae family. He gave a machine-learning algorithm two sets of data, including 805 genomic sequences from known Inoviridae viruses, and about 2,000 sequences from bacteria and other types of virus, so the program could learn to differentiate between them. The model was then fed metagenomic datasets, and the computer retrieved more than 10,000 Inoviridae genomes, clustering them into groups indicative of different species. A separate study conducted at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil used machine learning to identify viruses in compost piles at the city's zoo, by programming an algorithm to look for a few distinguishing characteristics of virus genomes. Following training, the computer recovered several genomes that appeared to be new. .... " 

Synthetic Biology

When we were more Pharma involved we took a look at what is called 'synthetic biology'.   and connected to neural models that could predict human behavior.  As data access brows there is more opportunity to suggest simulation and statistical models.  Reviewing the field.

From McKinsey: What do you get when you combine genetic engineering with big data analytics? A new technology for disruptive innovation.... 

Fairly broad definition in the WP:

Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering.
The subject combines disciplines from within these domains, such as biotechnology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, biophysics, electrical engineering, computer engineering, control engineering and evolutionary biology. Synthetic biology applies these disciplines to build artificial biological systems for research, engineering and medical applications. .... " 

Watson, Big Data and Genomics

More emphasis on health applications. " ... IBM Watson takes analytics prowess overseas: Supercomputer to work on big data and genomics in Italy .... Computing giant to invest up to $150M to create European Center of Excellence, with focus on personalized medicine and more. ... " 

Machine Intelligence and Genetic Codes

Addressing the recipe's that convert codes to tasks.

Machine Intelligence Cracks Genetic Controls

Every cell in your body reads the same genome, the DNA-encoded instruction set that builds proteins. But your cells couldn’t be more different. Neurons send electrical messages, liver cells break down chemicals, muscle cells move the body. How do cells employ the same basic set of genetic instructions to carry out their own specialized tasks? The answer lies in a complex, multilayered system that controls how proteins are made.

Most genetic research to date has focused on just 1 percent of the genome — the areas that code for proteins. But new research, published today in Science, provides an initial map for the sections of the genome that orchestrate this protein-building process. “It’s one thing to have the book — the big question is how you read the book,” said Brendan Frey, a computational biologist at the University of Toronto who led the new research. ... "

Turning Skin Cells into Stem Cells

Learning more.  Brought to my attention by Kilian Dill: A company that can make it happen: Stemgenics. " ... Stem cells can grow and develop into any cell type of the body. They are not rejected, but are accepted by the body as its own cells. In Stemgenics' breakthrough process, cells from a small patch of skin are placed in cell culture. Our patent-pending functionalized nanoparticles are added and the skin cells are reprogrammed into stem cells. ... ".  More background.

Genetically Tailored Beverages

More examples of personalization:

Coca-Cola CTO sees genetically-tailored beverages in the future
"It's not going to be that far out that we will talk about personalized beverages based on people's personal genes," said Guy Wollaert, Coca-Cola's chief technology officer. He pointed to current devices capable of tracking physical movement and body makeup and indicated that it won't be too long before people will be able to track whether they are dehydrated and how best to rehydrate ... "

Cheap Gene Machines

Simpler, cheaper gene analysis could revolutionize medicine.  In IEEE Spectrum.   " ... Soon, Rothberg says, everybody will be sequenced—probably as infants—and will be able to make diet, lifestyle, and medical choices based on specific information, rather than on hunches about vulnerabilities. Knowledge of a person’s genome will allow specialists to customize medical treatments and drugs for that patient, to maximize effectiveness while minimizing side effects. A routine checkup could start with the doctor checking for “updates” to a patient’s genomic file; if medical research has turned up new data about the patient’s particular set of genes, the doctor would get an alert. “Our goal,” Rothberg declares, “is to really transform medicine.” ...