1 Week, 7 Stories - A personalized edition

When I compile my daily headline round-up for Genome Alberta staff and stakeholders I take the time to find the relevant content and to give it a quick read, listen, or view. I use a media monitoring service and my own dashboard with specific keywords and sources, and where possible incorporate Boolean search. The Globe & Mail changed its internal site search a few months ago to deliver content based on ‘relevancy’ and with no option to sort by date or to use any advanced search tools. Relevancy based on what – who knows – because the results were seldom relevant to what I was after. I contacted the Globe and after a lot of bot-generated responses or no response at all, finally got to lodge my concern with a real person. Well I am happy to report that the Globe & Mail's site search has added the option to sort results by date. But I really need to add a tip-of-the-hat to Colleen Wheeler at the Globe who remembered my emails and sent me a note letting me know of the additional function. There is hope for traditional media yet!

With that small, but time-saving addition to my daily search, here is what we have for this week, and fittingly I’ll start with a story from the Globe & Mail. (A story by the way that required a very precise set of keywords to find when using the search engine's 'relevancy' sort, but which popped up easily with a broader keyword search sorted by date)

You will need either subscriber access or have some free views available to see this story about the bioeconomy. Alberta is undergoing both an economic and existential crisis as the energy exploration and extraction industry faces huge challenges, but one opportunity is sitting right in front of us. A strong agricultural sector may hold the answer in areas such as biocomposites for use in automobile manufacturing, providing raw materials for bioplastics, or bio-based ingredients in products such as cosmetics or paint.  Over the years Genome Prairie, Genome Quebec, Ontario Genomics, Genome BC, and Genome Alberta have all participated in projects using biomass or developing new uses for agricultural by-products.  Much of the research has been done - more needs to be done to commercialize it.

There are more than 7,500 varieties of apples around the world and you can now add a new one to the list. The Cosmic Crisp is a super-sweet variety of apple that is naturally slow to brown and that fruit tree breeders say will last a year in your refrigerator. It is a designer cross breed variety (not a genetically modified product) that should be available in stores in the US this month.  

The Prairie to Pharmacy program at the University of Lethbridge is examining the medicinal properties of plants found in southern Alberta. However, they are taking a unique approach by combining Western medicine with Indigenous traditional plants and knowledge. This story and video feature from APTN News features a fourth-year science student at the U of L who is a member of the nearby Kanai Tribe.

Personalized medicine is a hot topic right now because when it comes to treating disease, one size definitely does not fit all. It is especially true in cancer where each type of cancer has a unique genetic makeup that reacts in different ways with the patient’s own genome. Even standard treatments have varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the patient's own genetics. Personalized medicine can find the right treatment for the right cancer. This story from the Vancouver Sun is sponsored content but it will quickly take you to the heart of onco-genomics. Glioblastoma is a particularly deadly from of brain cancer and Genome Alberta has been involved in research targeting the genetic diversity of GBM.

Your genetic makeup will also affect how you react to the active ingredients in cannabis. Since it was legalized in Canada, cannabis has become a target for researchers and marketers. Endocanna Health Inc is offering a DNA test to consumers to help them find the perfect strain. The GrowthOp has the details. 

By 2050 the world is going to need more food. Lots more – because there will be 50 billion people looking for healthy and nutritional food. We’ll need to package the food, transport it to where it is needed, and find shelter and clothing for all those people ready to sit down for a meal. A 2-part story from China Daily looks at the problems that lie ahead and offers some ideas to prepare for the exploding demands. (Part 1, Part 2) 

Feeding the Billions: A New Frontier for Sustainable Eating is an episode of AlJazeera’s Earthrise program. I missed it when it was originally broadcast in June but caught the program when it was repeated this week, so I took the liberty of including it in the daily news round-up. There is no single solution to ensuring a sustainable food supply but in 24-minutes you’ll see a variety of novel solutions to alleviate “an impending food crisis”. 

It is cold here in Alberta but the sky is clear so I am taking the afternoon off to play in the sunshine! Enjoy your weekend.