Public release date: 29-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Jason Socrates Bardi jbardi@aip.org 240-535-4954 American Institute of Physics WASHINGTON D.C., July 29, 2013 -- If genes are the currency of life, then the whole economies are genetic networks, which include genes as well as the complex webs of interactions and interconnections between them. Genetic networks are integrally important to the proper development and functioning of an organism, just as genes are, but they tend to be far more complex and difficult to understand. Because of their complexity, the field has been slow to unravel genetic networks, said Leon Glass, the Isadore Rosenfeld Chair in Cardiology and a professor of physiology at McGill University. Now a special issue of the journal CHAOS, produced by AIP Publishing, explores new experimental and theoretical techniques for unraveling genetic networks. "Most emphasis has been on the properties of individual genes, and mutations in individual genes have been identified that lead to diseases, such as the cystic fibrosis gene," said Glass. But the proper expression of individual genes is regulated by both environmental factors, metabolic factors and the expression of other genes in the body, he added. "To understand these interactions," Glass said, "it … Continue reading →

Public release date: 29-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Amanda Petrak amanda.petrak@case.edu 216-368-0345 Case Western Reserve University Scientists historically have argued that evolution proceeds through gradual development of traits. But how can incremental changes apply to the binary switch between two sexes, male or female? Researchers at Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine have found that a genetic process among the many species of rodents could have significant implications regarding our assumptions about sex determination and the pace of evolution. "What we addressed is a long-standing puzzle in natural history: why different types of rodents can exhibit profound differences in how male sex is determined in the embryo," said Michael Weiss, MD, PhD, chairman of the Department of Biochemistry, the Cowan-Blum Professor of Cancer Research and a professor of biochemistry and medicine. "Some rodent populations have both XY males and XY females, and in other populations the Y chromosome has disappeared entirely." In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Weiss and his research team analyzed the Sry gene, which is part of the Y chromosome. This mammalian gene, which steers differentiation in the embryonic gonad toward the development of testes, begins the … Continue reading →

Public release date: 29-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Gina Bericchia Gina.Bericchia@NationwideChildrens.org 614-355-0495 Nationwide Children's Hospital Researchers who collect genetic samples from children for medical research need to explain the process more clearly to parents, according to a new study that suggests many parents don't fully understand the finer details about how these samples will be used and stored. The study was published in June in Genetics in Medicine. Kim McBride, MD, MS, principal investigator in the Center for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and colleagues followed up with families enrolled in a genetic biobanka storage facility for DNA, genetic data, and tissue samplesafter their initial consent, to find out whether they were fully aware of the nature of their agreement. The results were alarming: more than half of all parents misunderstood key concepts of the study. Ensuring parental understanding of the consent process is a crucial element of ethical genetics research, says Dr. McBride. For the study, he and his colleagues collected anonymous questionnaires from families that had consented between 2004 and 2008 to the storage and analysis of their children's DNA samples in a genetic biobank. The biobank was … Continue reading →