Largest Ever Map of Human Protein Interactions

One of the central questions in human biology is to understand how our genes determine which diseases we get and how severe they might be. Knowing just the DNA sequence, or the blueprint, is not enough. We must figure out how proteins, the genes’ products, work too.

Now an international team of researchers, jointly led by Dr. Fritz Roth (at Mount Sinai Hospital’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute and the Donnelly Centre of the University of Toronto), and Dr. Marc Vidal (with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston), have produced the largest ever map of human protein interactions. This publicly available resource will be invaluable to anyone trying to understand complex genetic traits and develop new disease therapies.

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Genomics: The Possibilities are Endless

Pandas!

Genomic study discovers evidence of giant panda’s population history and local adaptation December 16, 2012 Enlarge A research team, led by Institute of Zoology of Chinese Academy of Sciences and BGI, has successfully reconstructed a continuous population history of the giant panda from its origin to the present. The findings suggested whereas global changes in climate were the primary drivers in panda population fluctuation for millions of years, human activities were likely to underlie recent population divergence and serious decline. This work reveals a good example for assessing and establishing the best conservation method for other endangered species. The latest study was published online in Nature Genetics.

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Genomics: The Power and Impact

A method worth revisiting

Gene-editing by zinc finger nucleases was chosen as the method of the year in 2011 by Nature Methods. The technique is an extremely powerful way to control the function of genes and lets researchers customize targets to create genes of their choice. Watch the video below to learn more