“People might be concerned about their drinking water, whether they’ve heard things in the news, or they notice it tastes different, or the color is different,” says Emily Kumpel, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UMass Amherst and senior study author on the new paper.

While water quality reports are widely available from utilities, they only pertain to people on city water, not well water. Also, sometimes the water source isn’t the problem. “Some of these issues, like brown water, can come from home plumbing, and that’s something that the utility doesn’t always know,” says Kumpel. “A test to understand more about your home plumbing can be very helpful.”

However, finding a kit that actually works is easier said than done. The researchers found that there are hundreds of kits on the market — the availability of which can change daily — and it’s an unregulated field.

The researchers selected eight kits that evaluated levels of iron, copper, manganese and fluoride. Overall, they found high variability between the kits — some worked well, while others didn’t.

Despite the mixed results, there were some general takeaways from the research. First, the type of kit matters, and there are essentially two types available: one that measures for a particular element, and one that supposedly can measure a dozen parameters at one time, Kumple explains.

Generally, single-parameter tests had more consistently accurate results than multi-parameter ones, compared to laboratory-measured results. None of the multiparameter tests detected low levels of iron, while three out of the four single tests did (though the results often over- or underestimated the presence of iron).

Many tests advertise that they can detect high levels of iron (20-100 mg/L). While the multiparameter tests performed better when measuring for high levels of iron versus low levels, most tests still underestimated the actual concentration present. Kumpel advises that kit users should interpret the results with a healthy dose of skepticism, especially if you’re testing to see if there are concerningly high levels of metals in your water. “[These tests] might be a good first cut on things, but it’s not necessarily telling you all the information you need,” she says.

Kumpel says that single tests often have a preprocessing step for water samples that improves result accuracy. When testing for iron, changing the pH of the water makes it easier for the metal to be detected by kits.

The study also found that testing instructions and result interpretation guidance were inconsistent. For instance, for iron, one kit informed users that 0-0.3 parts per million (ppm) was “OK” and 0.5-5 ppm was “high,” while other test kits said that 0 ppm was “ideal.”

“It really points to the fact that this is an unregulated space,” says Kumpel. “This shouldn’t just be on the homeowner. These tests should be better checked for how well they actually perform, particularly under real-world conditions. A lot of them perform perfectly fine in deionized water, but not so much once you get into real water, [as] normal levels of background minerals or organics can interfere with your testing.”

One piece of advice Kumpel offers that you likely won’t see in kit instructions is to think about when you test. Metals like copper or lead (not assessed in this study) likely come from a home’s pipes, not the upstream distribution system. “You want to do what’s called a first draw sample,where you’re getting the very first water that comes out of your system that’s been sitting there overnight.” If metal is leaching from the pipes into the water, this first draw will have the highest concentration, giving you the best opportunity to detect it.

“If you want to see what’s going on directly from your well or directly from the distribution system, then you want to do what’s called a flush, which is, you let the water run for a few minutes before collecting your water sample.”

For consumers who are looking for a water test and are looking for something more reliable than the home test option, Kumpel says that state departments of environmental protection or public health websites list locally or nationally certified labs.

Consumers who should consider testing their water are well owners, especially after there has been flooding; people who live in older houses that haven’t had plumbing updated or replaced in the last two decades; or after a disaster such as wildfires or floods.

“There’s widespread mistrust in tap water across the U.S.,” says Kumpel. “Having access to be able to test your own water and confirm that it is okay — which is the most common result that people would get by testing their water — is a really good thing. I think this could be a positive tool if we can get these to work [reliably] and get people to really understand more about their water.”

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have deleted a cluster of genes in wheat that generates gluten proteins that can trigger immune reactions without harming the breadmaking quality of this globally nutritious crop.

The findings, published this month in the journal Theoretical and Applied Genetics, won’t produce a celiac-safe form of wheat but represent a critical step forward in celiac disease research, said Maria Rottersman, a lead author on the paper and a doctoral student in plant biology working in the lab of wheat geneticist Jorge Dubcovsky.

“The gluten proteins we eliminated are the ones that trigger the strongest response in people with celiac disease, and their elimination can reduce the risk of triggering the disease in people without celiac disease,” Dubcovsky said.

Gluten is comprised of two classes of proteins — glutenins and gliadins — and deleting them all would lower the quality of bread. The research team used gamma radiation to target and delete alpha-gliadins, which can cause severe reactions in people with celiac disease.

“Wheat is a staple crop, and many people are reliant on it for calories,” Rottersman said. “It becomes a barrier when people are not able to safely eat wheat. Alpha-gliadins are definitely candidates for removal in terms of trying to create a less allergenic wheat.”

On the market

The team produced seeds from these edited varieties and tested the quality of the wheat and dough at the California Wheat Commission quality lab. Once the value of these breeding lines was established, they were deposited in the Germplasm Resources Information Network, or GRIN, operated by the Agricultural Research Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make them widely available.

“The exciting thing that we found is that the quality of the flour produced by this wheat is actually, in some cases, improved,” Rottersman said. “Growers can not only grow it but can expect to have a higher quality product, which I think is a huge incentive for folks to widely adopt this variety. They can be planted in the same way that normal wheat is planted.”

Artisanal bakers, millers and farm-to-fork operations have expressed interest in the new varieties. The seeds are planted like any other crop and don’t require special handling. The varieties are conventionally bred and suitable for California, Rottersman said.

“It was previously assumed that the elimination of gliadins would have a negative effect on breadmaking quality,” Dubcovsky said. “Our study shows that this is not always the case and that we can reduce wheat allergenicity and improve quality at the same time.”

German Burguener, Joshua Hegarty, Junli Zhang, Wenjun Zhang and Xiaoqin Zhang in the Department of Plant Sciences contributed to the research, as did scientists from the UC Davis Proteomics Core Facility, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Wheat Commission and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

Funding for the research came from the Celiac Disease Foundation, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.

“This study is the first to scientifically document use of ghost pipe in North America, along with the growing influence of social media and the internet on how and why people are turning to ghost pipe as a medicinal plant,” said team leader and senior author on the study Eric Burkhart, teaching professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences. “As a wild harvested species, little has been documented about its use throughout the U.S. and any growing conservation needs. This study helps to inform future research and education efforts so that consumer safety and wild conservation efforts can both be appropriately targeted and aligned.”

In findings recently published in Economic Botany, the researchers reported the results of a digital survey they conducted within the United States asking participants whether they have foraged, consumed or prescribed ghost pipe. The results showed that social media and the internet were the primary source of information and learning for respondents. Notably, respondents overwhelmingly reported consuming ghost pipe in tincture form and for pain management. Both findings appear to be recent developments, Burkhart said, as there is limited indication from the historical record that ghost pipe was prepared and used in these ways.

The survey received responses from 489 individuals. Most respondents — 96% — identified as a consumer of ghost pipe, and 87% identified as a forager or both. While pain management was the most commonly reported reason for consuming ghost pipe, survey respondents reported that they ingested ghost pipe for a myriad of reasons, including as a sedative to help them sleep, enhance relaxation, deal with depression or grief, ease anxiety or trauma, lessen eye irritation and reduce symptoms of alcohol or opiate withdrawal.

These results suggest that the internet has emerged as an important platform not only for learning and sharing ghost pipe ethnobotany, the study of the relationship between people and plants, but also for developing new traditions and practices, according to study first author Savannah Anez, a doctoral degree candidate in plant biology. The survey results highlight the contemporary need to understand ghost pipe ethnobotany in the context of an increasingly influential digital world, she suggested.

“We use the term ‘digital ethnobotany’ to refer to ethnobotany within a virtual environment, leveraging new technology to study the relationship between people and plants, while also exploring the development of traditional knowledge and practices within the digital spaces themselves,” Anez said.

Ghost pipe is a parasite to mycorrhizal fungi in forest soils — meaning that it draws nutrients from those fungi, while those fungi in turn are connected to trees in the forest in a symbiotic relationship, Anez explained. She pointed out that ghost pipe is one of thousands of traditional medicinal plants around the world with a documented ethnobotanical use that has not had its specific biochemistry studied. Traditional medicinal plants have historically been excellent sources for drug discovery, she said, so this is a massive biochemical frontier just waiting to be explored.

Anez explained that she is trying to fill that knowledge gap through her dissertation work characterizing the specific chemistry and bioactivity of ghost pipe. Her goal is to identify the specific pain-relieving compounds in the plant. One research project currently underway is a study of ghost pipe’s pain-relieving effects in mice, which she said has produced promising preliminary results. She was recently awarded a F31 Predoctoral Fellowship through the National Institutes of Health that will fund her investigation of ghost pipe as a potential pain reliever through 2027.

“We need to determine whether or not it has potential as a novel therapeutic or medicine,” she said. “We have acquired a lot of the chemistry data already but given that plant extracts are a complex mix of thousands of compounds, we need more medicinal activity data to be able to identify the specific compound(s) responsible for pain relief — finding the actual ‘smoking gun’ is the challenge. Because ghost pipe siphons nutrients from an underground fungal network it shares with trees, the question of its bioactivity and biochemistry is also more complex than a typical medicinal plant.”

Joshua Kellogg, assistant professor in veterinary and biomedical sciences, contributed to the study.

The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Wild Resource Conservation Program.

Nearly all these inserted elements have been silenced by our cells’ defense mechanisms over time, but a few, nicknamed “jumping genes,” can still move around the human genome like viruses. Just one, called long interspersed nuclear element 1 (LINE-1), can still move by itself.

As an element type that behaves like the retrovirus HIV, the LINE-1 “retrotransposon” is first copied into a molecule of RNA, the genetic material that partners with DNA, and then the RNA LINE-1 copy is converted back into DNA in a new place in the genome. In this way, retrotransposons add code to the human genome every time they move, which explains why 500,000 LINE-1 repeats now represent a “staggering” 20 percent of the human genome. These repeats drive genome evolution, but can also cause neurological diseases, cancer, and aging when LINE-1 randomly jumps into essential genes, or triggers an immune response like a virus to cause inflammation.

To copy itself, however, LINE-1 must enter each cell’s nucleus, the inner barrier that houses DNA. Now a new study, published online May 2 in the journal Science Advances, reveals that LINE-1 binds to cellular DNA during the brief periods when nuclei break open as cells continually divide in two, creating replacements to keep tissues viable as we age. The research team found that LINE-1 RNA takes advantage of these moments, assembling into clusters with one of the two proteins it encodes, ORF1p, to hold tightly to DNA until the nucleus reforms after cell division.

Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and the Munich Gene Center at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München in Germany, the work revealed specifically that LINE-1 can only bind to DNA when ORF1p — which can bind to RNA, DNA, and itself in linked copies called multimers — accumulates into clusters of hundreds of molecules called condensates. As more ORF1p molecules build up, they eventually envelop the LINE-1 RNA, which makes more binding sites available for the entire cluster to attach to DNA.

“Our study provides crucial insight into how a genetic element that has come to make up a large part of human DNA can successfully invade the nucleus to copy itself, said Liam J. Holt, PhD., associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and the Institute for Systems Genetics, at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.”These findings on the precise mechanisms behind LINE-1 insertion lay the foundations for the design of future therapies to prevent LINE-1 replication.”

The work also suggests that the LINE-1 condensate acts as a delivery vehicle to bring its RNA into proximity of the right sequences (rich in the DNA bases adenine and thymine) on DNA where the retrotransposon tends to insert, say the study authors. Packaged in its condensates, LINE-1 is thought to evade mechanisms that exclude large particles from the nucleus during mitosis as a cellular defense against viruses.

“LINE-1 condensates have a remarkable feature in that their DNA binding ability emerges only when the ratio of ORF1p copies to RNA is high enough in the condensates,” added Dr. Holt. “Moving forward we will be looking to see if other condensates undergo functional changes as the ratios between their components change.”

Along with Dr. Holt, the first study authors were graduate student Farida Ettefa at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and its Institutes for Systems Genetics; and Sarah Zernia of Gene Center Munich at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München in Germany. Also study authors were Cas Koeman, Joëlle Deplazes-Lauber, Marvin Freitag, and co-senior author Johannes Stigler from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The study was supported by the LMU-NYU Research Cooperation Program.

“Despite many advances in understanding the genomic drivers and other factors causing cancer, with few exceptions, stage IV colorectal cancer remains a largely incurable disease,” said Emil Lou, MD, PhD, a gastrointestinal oncologist with the University of Minnesota Medical School, Masonic Cancer Center and M Health Fairview, and clinical principal investigator for the trial. “This trial brings a new approach from our research labs into the clinic and shows potential for improving outcomes in patients with late-stage disease.”

In the study, researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing to modify a type of immune cell called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). By deactivating a gene called CISH, the researchers found that modified TILs were better able to recognize and attack cancer cells.

The treatment was tested in 12 highly metastatic, end-stage patients and found to be generally safe, with no serious side effects from the gene editing. Several patients in the trial saw the growth of their cancer halt, and one patient had a complete response, meaning that in this patient, the metastatic tumors disappeared over the course of several months and have not returned in over two years.

“We believe that CISH is a key factor preventing T cells from recognizing and eliminating tumors,” said Branden Moriarity, PhD, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Masonic Cancer Center researcher and co-director of the Center for Genome Engineering. “Because it acts inside the cell, it couldn’t be blocked using traditional methods, so we turned to CRISPR-based genetic engineering.”

Unlike other cancer therapies that require ongoing doses, this gene edit is permanent and built into the T cells from the start.

“With our gene-editing approach, the checkpoint inhibition is accomplished in one step and is permanently hardwired into the T cells,” said Beau Webber, PhD, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and Masonic Cancer Center researcher.

The research team delivered more than 10 billion engineered TIL without adverse side effects, demonstrating the feasibility of genetically engineering TIL without sacrificing the ability to grow them to large numbers in the lab in a clinically compliant environment, which has never been done before.

While the results are promising, the process remains costly and complex. Efforts are underway to streamline production and better understand why the therapy worked so effectively in the patient with a complete response in order to improve the approach in future trials.

This research was funded by Intima Bioscience.

“The Haenyeo are amazing, and their incredible ability is written in their genes,” says geneticist Melissa Ilardo of the University of Utah. “The fact that women are diving through their pregnancy, which is a really tough thing to do, has actually influenced an entire island’s people.”

The Haenyeo, or “women of the sea,” dive year-round in social collectives to harvest food for their communities. They begin training at around age ten and continue for their whole lives. Inspired by the Haenyeo’s remarkable diving abilities, the researchers wanted to know whether they have distinguishable physiological traits that help them cope with the strain of diving, and if so, whether these traits are due to genetic adaptation or training.

To find out, the team compared the physiological traits and genomes of 30 Haenyeo divers to 30 non-Haenyeo people from Jeju, as well as 31 people from mainland Korea. To match the age of the divers, the average age of all participants was 65. The researchers compared the participants’ heart rate and blood pressure at rest and during “simulated dives” where the participants held their breath while submerging their faces in cold water.

“If you hold your breath and put your face in a bowl full of cold water, your body responds as if you’re diving,” says Ilardo. “A lot of the same processes happen in your body that would happen if you were to jump in the ocean, but it’s done in a way that’s safe for people with no diving experience.”

The team’s genomic analysis showed that Jeju residents — both Haenyeo and non-Haenyeo — were distinct from individuals from mainland Korea, suggesting that all Jeju residents are descended from the same ancestral population.

“We can essentially think of everyone from Jeju as either ‘diving Haenyeo’ or ‘non-diving Haenyeo,’ because their genetics are the same,” says Ilardo.

The genomic analysis also revealed two gene variants in the Haenyeo that may help them cope with the pressures of diving, making the Haenyeo the second known population of traditional breath-hold divers that has evolved for diving. One gene is associated with cold tolerance, which could make the divers less vulnerable to hypothermia. The other gene is associated with decreased diastolic blood pressure (i.e., blood pressure in between heart contractions). The variant was found in 33% of participants from Jeju but only 7% of mainland participants.

“This association may reflect natural selection to mitigate the complications of diastolic hypertension experienced by female divers while diving through pregnancy,” says Ilardo. “Since Bajau women also dive while they’re pregnant, we wonder whether pregnancy is actually driving a lot of the genetic changes in these diving populations.”

During the simulated dives, all of the participants showed decreased heart rates, but the Haenyeo’s heart rates dropped significantly more than those of either control group. On average, the divers’ heart rates decreased by 18.8 beats per minute (bpm) compared to a decrease of 12.6 bpm in the Jeju non-divers. A lowered heart rate during diving is beneficial because it saves energy and conserves oxygen. Since their genomic analysis indicated that Haenyeo and non-diving Jeju are genetically members of the same population, the researchers concluded that this feature is likely due to the divers’ training.

“Because the Haenyeo have been diving for a very long time, their heart rate has been trained to drop more,” says Ilardo. “This was something we could actually visually see — we had one diver whose heart rate dropped by over 40 beats per minute in less than 15 seconds.”

The researchers say that these findings highlight the potential of studying traditional diving populations to better understand human genetic and physiological adaptation.

“We’re really excited to learn more about how these genetic changes may be affecting the health of the broader population of Jeju,” says Ilardo. “If we can more deeply characterize how those changes affect physiology, it could inspire the development of therapeutics to treat different conditions, such as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and stroke.”

This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.