Ricki Lewis

As Thanksgiving approaches, thoughts turn to turkeys. This year, the holiday comes soon after announcement of the first steps in recreating dodo birds – could we breed "de-extincted" dodos for Thanksgiving?

Do the math.

The extinct birds grow up to 50 pounds, and people consume about 1.5 pounds of turkey for Thanksgiving, less if side dishes are plentiful. So a single dodo could feed perhaps 35 or so people, accounting for the inedible parts. Both birds grow to about three feet tall, but a modern turkey, especially a wild one, is trim compared to a dodo, which is basically an overgrown pigeon. A Dutch sailor in 1662 supposedly described the soon-to-be extinct bird as a "kind of very big goose."

To continue reading, go to DNA Science, where this post first appeared.

Genetics is a field rich in numbers and patterns, reaching back to Gregor Mendel's crosses of pea plants with distinguishing characteristics that revealed the two basic laws of inheritance.

At a microscopic level, genetics is informational, a series of languages: a DNA sequence is transcribed into an RNA sequence, which is then translated into a sequence of amino acids comprising a protein molecule. The suite of proteins, with abundances ebbing and flowing as patterns of gene expression change in response to the environment, provides our traits, our abilities, and the myriad metabolic reactions that keep us going.

Because genetics is so highly informational, it is a natural target for artificial intelligence. AI can speed, enhance, and extend what we know about the meanings in our genes, transcending what we deduce from far simpler data. It digests (trains on) massive amounts of data, stores and analyzes them, then makes connections and provides insights beyond what a human mind could do.

A Very Brief History of AI

To continue reading, go to DNA Science, where this post first appeared.

For the first time in 35 years of writing and revising my textbook Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, I'm happy to report good news – real progress, and not hype.

The strides in 2025 range from effective gene therapies and drugs for devastating neurological conditions to a novel new painkiller. Here's a closer look at the good news!

Gene Therapy for Sanfilippo Syndrome
DNA Science first covered the story of Eliza O'Neill in 2014, here, when the parents of four-year-old Eliza, a vivacious, active, and adorable little girl, learned that she had inherited the rare brain condition Sanfilippo syndrome type A.

Her dad Glenn O'Neill remembered:
"'We found out the terrible news today. For now, I want to focus on her wonderful personality and life every day. One of my goals is to keep her happy and smiling for as long as possible. I love her so much.'

To continue reading, go to DNA Science, where this post first appeared.

The toppling of health care in the US has begun, and I fear will reverberate for decades to come. It is beginning with vaccine refusal.

• "2 Kentucky Infants Die of Pertussis as Cases Rise" (American Academy of Pediatrics)

• "Two Infants Die of Whooping Cough in Louisiana as Cases Climb Nationally" (CNN)

• "Whooping Cough is Surging in the US – What You Need to Know" (New York Academy of Sciences )

Ahead of pertussis is the more-deadly measles. It's back, and mostly among the young and unvaxxed. Details are here, from what's left of the CDC.

While vaccine-preventable deaths get attention, a perhaps larger problem looms: the decimation of preclinical research. Like pulling out a critical block in a game of jenga, cutting funding for research using non-human animals will ultimately topple the foundations of clinical trials that test new treatments in people.

To continue reading, go to DNA Science, where this post first appeared.

It's rare that clinical trial findings are as exciting as what biotech company UniQure has just announced. The company is based in Amsterdam and Lexington, Mass.

Early results, after three years of a clinical trial conducted in the US, UK, and Europe, suggest that the treatment, for now called AMT-130, significantly slows the progression of Huntington's Disease (HD). And although when I originally wrote this post in September it looked like the treatment could be available in the US as early as 2026, since then what is left of the Food and Drug Administration has cast doubt on the significance of the trial results, according to a Uniqure news release. But the treatment will be available elsewhere, and in the US when experts return to the agency, eventually.

A Variation on the Gene Therapy Theme: MicroRNAs
The strategy uses microRNA technology to stamp tiny pieces of RNA onto the mRNA molecules that carry the information in the overextended gene behind HD, which encodes a protein called huntingtin. The oversized protein gums up parts of the brain that are critical for movement.

To continue reading, go to DNA Science, where this post first appeared.