More than $18 million in grants to spur the development of a third generation of DNA sequencing technologies was announced today by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). The new technologies will sequence a person’s DNA quickly and cost-effectively so it routinely can be used by biomedical researchers and health care workers to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.

“NHGRI and its grantees have made significant progress toward the goal of developing DNA sequencing technologies to sequence a human genome for $1,000 or less,” said Eric D. Green, M.D, Ph.D., director of NHGRI, one of the National Institutes of Health. “However, we must continue to support and encourage innovative approaches that hold the most promise for advancing our knowledge of human health and disease.”
More…

Maria has been selected as a member of the 2010 class of Fellows of The American Chemical Society. The 2010 ACS Fellows were honored at a special ceremony during the ACS National Meeting in Boston on Monday, August 23, 2010.

“Inter-filament twist, a common motif of biological filament assemblies, is predicted to favor the incorporation of lattice defects (disclination) into the cross-section of self-assembled bundles. Hence, our results prove that twisted filament bundles belong to the unusual class of materials in which defects are necessary components of the thermodynamically preferred ground state.”
More at…