Research Paper: De-novo assembly of four rail (Aves: Rallidae) genomes: A resource for comparative genomics

Research Paper: De-novo assembly of four rail (Aves: Rallidae) genomes: A resource for comparative genomics

Last month, Julien Gaspar, Steve A. Trewick, and Gillian C. Gibb published the paper De-novo assembly of four rail (Aves: Rallidae) genomes: A resource for comparative genomics. It is open access for everyone to read. The publishing of this work is a milestone for the GFANZ cloud bioinformatics platform project. By using the GFANZ infrastructure,…

News Article: DNA analysis confirms species: Whale found at Te Kaha unusually ‘rare’
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News Article: DNA analysis confirms species: Whale found at Te Kaha unusually ‘rare’

“We had a kōrero about the rarity of Wharekura and about how us taking her to be studied benefits not only marine science and everybody in Aotearoa, but us as a people, too, so we can understand more about what’s happening here in our own water. Having a taonga like Wharekura washed up so young…

Indigenous nonhuman genomic data – Expert voices in the journal Science
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Indigenous nonhuman genomic data – Expert voices in the journal Science

Tahu Kukutai and Amanda Black argue that researchers must do much better in honoring the kaitiaki rights of Māori regarding the protection of indigenous nonhuman genomic data. Their work CARE-ing for Indigenous nonhuman genomic data — rethinking our approach was publish in the journal Science recently. This piece is well researched, clearly written, and a…

News Article: Data Sovereignty: Practical Reality Or Pipe Dream?

News Article: Data Sovereignty: Practical Reality Or Pipe Dream?

When a person has sovereignty over their own data, they have the ability to control the use of that data. This ability (or lack thereof) has a strong connection with privacy. In terms of genetic or genomic data, much more than most would expect can be learned about the individual whose data it is. A…

News Article: Patently insufficient: a new intellectual property treaty does little to protect Māori traditional knowledge

News Article: Patently insufficient: a new intellectual property treaty does little to protect Māori traditional knowledge

However, the new agreement is unlikely to lead to major changes to New Zealand law, or improve the rights of Māori to own or control their intellectual property and taonga (treasured possessions). Given the well-documented misappropriation of Māori knowledge and taonga, more substantive protections are still needed. Full Article