Black Gold Genetics - 353 Black Gold Rita 353. By: Adam Moss … Continue reading →

Researchers have found that environment has a much stronger role than genetics in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), a severe, often painful food allergy that renders children unable to eat a wide variety of foods. Eosinophils are normal cellular components of the blood, but when the body produces too many eosinophils they can cause a variety of eosinophilic disorders. These are disorders involving chronic inflammation and resulting tissue damage, often in the gastrointestinal system. In an international collaboration involving multiple institutions, researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center quantified the risk associated with genes and environment on familial clustering of EoE. The researchers constructed and examined patient family pedigrees of patients with EoE and their first-degree relatives (nuclear family analysis) and of patients with EoE and their identical or fraternal twin/triplets (twin analysis). Using these two distinct analyses, they determined that 2.4% of siblings and 1.8% of first-degree relatives of patients with EoE also had EoE. The researchers also found that brothers, fathers, and males were more likely to have EoE than sisters, mothers, or females. Twins had 20-40% risk of EoE depending upon whether they were identical or fraternal. "The power of this study is the twin analysis," says Eileen Alexander, … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise NEW YORK (September 23, 2014) David Goldstein, PhD, will join Columbia University as professor of genetics and development in the College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of a new Institute for Genomic Medicine in partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian, effective January 1, 2015. Dr. Goldstein will be responsible for building a program that comprehensively integrates genetics and genomics into research, patient care, and education at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and NewYork-Presbyterian and that develops programs to prepare students for careers in the expanding field of genomic and personalized medicine. Dr. Goldsteins role includes serving as an adviser to Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences Lee Goldman, MD, on the genetic and genomic components of Columbias university-wide initiative in precision or personalized medicine, which was announced in February. Having a pioneering researcher like David Goldstein join us marks a crucial next step in our initiative to be at the forefront of genomics, data science, and the core science and engineering disciplines essential to this emerging field of truly humanistic medicine, said President Bollinger. The potential for progress in this broad subject encompasses not only … Continue reading →