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Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP) and Bringing the benefits of precision medicine to children in Western AustraliaWe have started a project utilising whole genome sequencing of undiagnosed children living in WA to provide a definitive diagnosis. A major challenge here is that the role and functions of the inter-genic regions of our genome (the remaining 98%) are relatively poorly understood.
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An unbiased exploration of the human regulatory landscapeWe are made up of hundreds of different cell types carrying out a diverse range of functions essential for organism survival. All the information required to specify the morphology, function and response to stimuli of these cells is encoded in identical copies of the genome. The process of gene regu
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Centre for Advanced Cancer Genomics (CACG)Current technologies to understand which genes are turned on or off only work on large amounts of biological samples. As a consequence all measurements we receive represent averages across multiple cell types present in the sample. The situation is comparable to studying the contents of a bowl of fr
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McCusker Charitable Foundation grant in support of the Undiagnosed Diseases ProgramThe Kids Research Institute Australia congratulates Prof Gareth Baynam and Dr Timo Lassmann on their grant over three years from the McCusker Charitable Foundation.
Research
Indigenous Australian genomes show deep structure and rich novel variationThe Indigenous peoples of Australia have a rich linguistic and cultural history. How this relates to genetic diversity remains largely unknown because of their limited engagement with genomic studies. Here we analyse the genomes of 159 individuals from four remote Indigenous communities, including people who speak a language (Tiwi) not from the most widespread family (Pama-Nyungan). This large collection of Indigenous Australian genomes was made possible by careful community engagement and consultation.
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Hospitalizations from Birth to 28 Years in a Population Cohort of Individuals Born with Five Rare Craniofacial Anomalies in Western AustraliaTo describe trends, age-specific patterns, and factors influencing hospitalizations for 5 rare craniofacial anomalies.
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Trends in prenatal diagnosis of congenital anomalies in Western Australia between 1980 and 2020: A population-based studyAdvances in screening and diagnostics have changed the way in which we identify and diagnose congenital anomalies.
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CRISPR-Cas9-generated PTCHD1 2489T>G stem cells recapitulate patient phenotype when undergoing neural inductionAn estimated 3.5%-5.9% of the global population live with rare diseases, and approximately 80% of these diseases have a genetic cause. Rare genetic diseases are difficult to diagnose, with some affected individuals experiencing diagnostic delays of 5-30 years. Next-generation sequencing has improved clinical diagnostic rates to 33%-48%. In a majority of cases, novel variants potentially causing the disease are discovered.
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CD4+ T cells drive an inflammatory, TNF-α/IFN-rich tumor microenvironment responsive to chemotherapyWhile chemotherapy remains the first-line treatment for many cancers, it is still unclear what distinguishes responders from non-responders. Here, we characterize the chemotherapy-responsive tumor microenvironment in mice, using RNA sequencing on tumors before and after cyclophosphamide, and compare the gene expression profiles of responders with progressors.
Research
SAMStat 2: quality control for next generation sequencing dataSAMStat is an efficient program to extract quality control metrics from fastq and SAM/BAM files. A distinguishing feature is that it displays sequence composition, base quality composition and mapping error profiles split by mapping quality. This allows users to rapidly identify reasons for poor mapping including the presence of untrimmed adapters or poor sequencing quality at individual read positions.