April 2026 Newsletter

DNA Day, celebrated each year on April 25, is a wonderful opportunity to help learners connect the science of DNA to their own lives, families, and communities. If you’re celebrating DNA Day in your classroom or informal learning space, we invite you to draw on PGED’s discussion-based activities, lesson ideas, and conversation starters about personal genetics.

Thank you for the many ways you support conversations about genetics with your students and communities—today and all year long.

PGED was featured in an online celebration hosted by LabXchange – check it out!
 

Find a Personal Genetics Learning Resource | Use our Media Kit

Here are some of the articles we’ve been reading this month.

Article: Scientists develop gene-edited wheat that can make toasted bread less carcinogenic (The Guardian). “Bread and biscuits made from CRISPR-edited wheat showed substantially reduced acrylamide levels.”

Article: How DNA forensics is transforming studies of ancient manuscripts (Nature News). “Scientists are exposing the biological information hidden in ancient parchments without leaving a mark.”

Article: This method to reverse cellular ageing is about to be tested in humans (Nature News). “A burgeoning field is launching its first clinical trial to find out whether dialing back cell development can safely refresh aged tissues and organs.”

Article: Why obesity drugs work better for some people: these genes hold clues (Nature News). “Study of almost 28,000 people also identifies genetic variants that raise the risk of gastrointestinal side effects from GLP-1 medications.”

Article: One woman, three autoimmune diseases: CAR-T therapy vanquishes ultra-rare disease trio (Nature News).  “Fourteen months after treatment with engineered immune cells, the recipient has no symptoms and doesn’t need to take medication.”

Article: Massive Ancient-DNA Study Reveals Natural Selection Has Accelerated in Recent Human Evolution (Harvard Medical School News). “Hundreds of genes selected in West Eurasia since farming began, many linked to health.”

Note: Views expressed in shared news are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of our organization.

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