Tag: genetics

A ferret is the first North American endangered animal to be cloned

Animal cloning might just become a valuable tool in preserving species that might otherwise go extinct. BBC News says US Fish and Wildlife Service has successfully cloned a black-footed ferret — the first genetic copy of a North American endangered s… Source

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23andMe raises $82.5 million in new funding

DNA testing technology company 23andMe has raised just shy of $82.5 million in new funding, from an offering of $85 million in total equity shares, according to a new SEC filing. The funding, confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, comes from investors including Sequoia Capital and NewView Capital. It brings…

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Emerging from stealth, Octant is bringing the tools of synthetic biology to large scale drug discovery

Octant, a company backed by Andreessen Horowitz just now unveiling itself publicly to the world, is using the tools of synthetic biology to buck the latest trends in drug discovery. As the pharmaceuticals industry turns its attention to precision medicine — the search for ever more tailored treatments for specific…

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California Senator proposes tighter regulations on direct-to-consumer genetics testing companies

A state senator in California is introducing legislation designed to provide more direct oversight over direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies. The new regulations, introduced by Santa Ana’s Democratic Senator Thomas Umberg, builds on attempts in the California Consumer Privacy Act to regulate the ways data collected from genetic testing can be…

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Ancestry lays off 6% of staff as consumer genetic testing market continues to decline

Excitement in the consumer genetic testing market continues to show signs of slowing down. In the past two weeks layoffs have hit two of the biggest consumer genetic testing services — 23andme and Ancestry — with the latter announcing that it would slash its staff by 6% earlier today, in…

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Ancestry.com rejected a police warrant to access user DNA records on a technicality

DNA profiling company Ancestry.com has narrowly avoided complying with a search warrant in Pennsylvania after a search warrant was rejected on technical grounds, a move that is likely to help law enforcement refine their efforts to obtain user information despite the company’s efforts to keep the data private. Little is…

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