Everyone in the world is familiar with cancer. It is hardly possible to journey through life and not encounter a story of someone who knows someone with cancer. We all identify emotionally with it to various degrees, ranging from fear to empathy. So this is a serious and important subject to be analyzed. And in this study, we are looking at the mortality rates within 30 days of breast or lung cancer treatment initiation. You may think, hey, this should be big news, and it was, but not for the reasons you might expect.

The word value is tricky as it can have very different meanings to different people. It can be monetary, but it can also have a deeply personal value. In this post, we will look at value from multiple angles. How does the public see the medical utility value of genome sequencing? How does the public see the personal utility value of genome sequencing? How does the public see the cost value of genome sequencing? 

Which one of these values would be most important to you: medical, personal utility, or cost? It is not a trivial question to answer!

"Actionable" genes are the genes that if mutated can lead to serious health complications, but where something can actually be done about it for a patient if discovered. So being able to determine what constitutes a gene with beneficial treatment or intervention to take place is definitely important! This is particularly timely work in light of emerging evidence of genetic testing leading to bad decisions with no benefit to patients.

What has changed, quite recently, is how pregnant women have started applying genomic technologies to assess the health risks of their babies, even prior to being born. Colloquially known as NIPT test, which stands for a non-invasive prenatal test, it is a term that is rapidly becoming familiar to pregnant women.

The new year is in full swing, resolutions have been almost all forgotten, and perhaps it is time to unwind to a social media biggest buzz of 2016 on topics of genome and DNA sequencing. And there is a lot to choose from, ranging from strange to curious to fascinating and always to the latest science.

Life can be seemingly normal, as everything is working fine, until a clot is formed and leads to plugged blood vessel. I probably do not have to tell you that plugging any pipe is usually not a desired event in any typical context, so when it happens in your body, it can be outright dangerous! Thrombophilia is a serious condition that might not even be suspected until a family history is revealed, or a serious condition develops.

Do you ever wonder what paramount events might be taking place behind the scenes that will shape your life and yet you never even know about it? One such event took place in Vancouver city not that long ago.