Process of elimination
By turning-off 80 genes, one after the other, a Dutch research group has located the gene that is a precursor to a rare skin cancer. In addition, the research revealed that a medicine to treat this special disease already exists: Acetylsalisylsyre. A cream was developed, and it works.
This was explained to a full auditorium by professor René Bernards of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam during the functional genomics conference, attended by more than 500 researchers, now taking place in Oslo, Norway. Now professor René Bernards wants to perform research modelling by turning-off all of the 25,000 genes in the human body to find out how they work.
“This is exciting”, says professor Kjetil Taskén, who leads the arrangement committee for the conference. -Bernards’ research group has found a method to identify target genes – genes that cause disease. They found the cause of a rare form of cancer that already has an identified treatment. In most cases you must, once you have located the target gene, find a treatment that works, and that takes time. But this is an example of which results we can get and which great and important task it is to find out how genes work,” says professor Kjetil Taskén.
“Functional genomics and disease”
Biotechnology Centre in Oslo, University of Oslo (BiO) and European Science Foundation (ESF) Genetics Conference, 6-10 September, Oslo, Norway
Media Contact
More Information:
http://www.biotek.uio.noAll latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry
Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.
Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.
Newest articles
Microscopic basis of a new form of quantum magnetism
Not all magnets are the same. When we think of magnetism, we often think of magnets that stick to a refrigerator’s door. For these types of magnets, the electronic interactions…
An epigenome editing toolkit to dissect the mechanisms of gene regulation
A study from the Hackett group at EMBL Rome led to the development of a powerful epigenetic editing technology, which unlocks the ability to precisely program chromatin modifications. Understanding how…
NASA selects UF mission to better track the Earth’s water and ice
NASA has selected a team of University of Florida aerospace engineers to pursue a groundbreaking $12 million mission aimed at improving the way we track changes in Earth’s structures, such…
