Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche’s new book, The Inescapable Immune Escape Pandemic , is reviewed. See how he makes predictions of the impending but catastrophic end to the pandemic.

We review the intricate genetics of the immune system that could contribute to the development of endometriosis including the different stages of progression as well as factors that might protect against the disease development. This article highlights how complex conditions such as endometriosis can have complex genetic contributions involved in its development.

Predictions of outcomes for the ongoing pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 are scarce. One notable exception is Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche who early on warned that mass vaccination during a pandemic would have dire consequences on the population immunity. Here Merogenomics provides a simple graphical chart along with detailed explanations of his thoughts on the complex interplay between viral infection and the effect on the immune system in vaccinated versus unvaccinated individuals.

Mitochondrial donation is an emerging reproductive technology applicable to women who suffer from mitochondrial disease. In this blog, we firstly summarize what mitochondrial donation is and how it is being regulated. Secondly, we explore ethical issues that arise beyond the scope of traditional artificial reproductive technologies as a result of the unique features of mitochondrial donation.

We struggled to find a good summary of the Omicron mutations especially as to why the authorities were so concerned about originally. So, we did bit of our own research. This post looks at different predictive models of what might be expected from the Omicron, and the possibility that Omicron could be an early example of immune escape from vaccines.

This post is about possible unusual findings in a human genome of a presence of what is referred to as supernumerary marker chromosome - an independent fragment of a chromosome derived from any of our naturally occurring chromosomes. In essence, a person ends up having an additional tiny chromosome, and the clinical consequences of this can be quite varied.

Polycystic kidney disease is a genetic disorder that can affect the kidneys. It causes cysts in the organs and makes them swell up, which over time could lead to renal failure if untreated. Polycystic kidney disease can be caused by mutations to different genes, some of which will be discussed in this post.

Everyone in the world probably knows by now that if someone gets infected by SARS-CoV-2 virus, the resulting impact can range from a complete lack of symptoms to severe respiratory failure leading to death. Obviously, one possible contributing factor that would be worth investigating is the role of our personal genetics. So, what have we learned so far?

This post explains the different DNA testing options available to patients/consumers who seek to discover potential genetic causes of an already existing condition. The testing also applies to a person who wants to screen before any clinical symptoms of a condition become apparent.

With all the attention of the COVID-19 causing virus (SARS-CoV-2), we have been bumping into lots of literature related to viruses in general and one virus in particular grabbed our attention as it has been reported to be the leading cause of birth defects in newborns worldwide. The virus of interest is the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) which belongs in the herpes viruses family.

There are 1 million caregivers in Alberta! That means the non-paid, non-professional people often are working, are raising children, have their own lives while taking on this additional role to help someone else live, people with disabilities, with health challenges and with aging-related needs. A lot of the caregiving role leads to emotional burnout. Caregivers Alberta was created by caregivers to support caregivers, working with clients on increasing their resiliency and their ability to bounce back from stressful situations and crises.

Everyone knows how the incidence of autism has been on a constant rise over the years (currently approximately one in 54 children in the US and one in 66 in Canada). But what is not broadly understood in the general public is that genetics play a massive contribution in autism spectrum disorders. In turn, it is also not widely known that identifying the genetic factors in an affected autistic individual can help to more specifically discriminate the condition.

This is the second post of a two part series dedicated to analyzing the conspiracy theories regarding the SARS-CoV-2 origins that are different from the widely accepted “natural origin”, where we offer a contradictory, equally controversial viewpoint to a synthetic origin theory, and review the authors’ “smoking gun” evidence of why the SARS-CoV-2 was engineered.

In this post we wanted to recount the story of a family with children that presented with hearing loss with no prior family history. It turned out to be very unique account of unsuspected genetics - a paradigm that will continue to happen with greater frequency as more people chose to analyze their DNA. This story demonstrates the potential power of proactive screening of one’s genetic state, and even hints at when it might become a necessity with regards to planning a family.

We naturally build antibodies against infectious agents that we come into contact with. Thus if someone gets infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus then they will produce antibodies against it. But now imagine, it would be pretty handy if you could have access to such antibodies without the need of infection. So how do we get our hands on such antibodies that we could use for treatment?

Perhaps this article is massively overdue. It is in fact a continuation of what we touched upon in our very first foray into studying the structure of SARS-CoV-2, when we mentioned one study which looked into potential compounds that could inhibit viral infection. The need for this story has since massively expanded, so in this post we will take you so deep that we peer into atomic structures and traverse the landscapes of biological molecules and list some our favourite chemicals that we found that might have protective capabilities against COVID-19!

One of the more compelling questions that has been asked around with regards to the Wuhan coronavirus is whether it infects different ethnic groups to a different extent. One paper was published recently that attempted to answer that question, and showed that indeed there could be racial differences for coronavirus infection based on what type of genetic mutations different populations might have. So let’s break it down.

The origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has not been conclusively demonstrated. Meaning we do not know how it started to infect humans. There has been a tremendous amount of confusion and rumours with regards to whether this virus was human engineered rather than originating from nature. So let’s pose the nasty question: could the virus be synthesized by humans? To answer this we will dive deep into current scientific understanding of the architecture of this virus, and find out what makes SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus unique enough to have stirred so many controversies so quickly.

To commemorate international Rare Disease Day 2020, we have a story of two boys growing up together, one with a rare disease, one without. A story that teaches us to appreciate the beauty that is gifted to us sometimes in most unexpected manner.

The world of genetics and genomics is vast both in private access to medical genetics as well as public. But how vast is it here in Alberta? We catalogued all of the different tests available in the Alberta Health Care Genetics and Genomics program.