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From the Archives: We've delved into the ӳýMinded blog archives to bring you this post, which was originally published in November 2010.

At the risk of catching a bad case of right before the holidays, I googled “turkey genome” this week to see what’s cooking in the world of poultry genomics. It turns out that scientists have already mapped about 90 percent of the turkey’s genome and are learning about genes that influence things like meat quality, disease susceptibility, and turkey reproduction and fertility. You can read more about the turkey genome project .

Though it may not seem obvious, fungi are the sister group to animals on the tree of life. Unlike bacteria, which are an entirely different part of the tree of life, fungi are nestled in with eukaryotes close to humans and other animals. Because of that they share a lot of common biological pathways. To treat a fungal infection successfully, without eliciting undue harm to its human host, one needs to find out what makes them different from animals.

The ӳý of MIT and Harvard proudly welcomes scientist Paul Blainey, who will join the institute as a core faculty member in early 2012. He brings expertise in analytic systems at both the single-molecule and single-cell levels.

“Paul is a real visionary in how to study biology at the single-cell and single-molecule levels,” said ӳý Director Eric Lander. “I'm thrilled that he has chosen to join the ӳý, and extend a warm welcome to him on behalf of our entire community.”