Defining Genetics On Oct. 3, in a prelude to the 50th meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in Philadelphia, several hundred geneticists attended a one-day international conference on the genetics of complex diseases. Organized by the National Disease Research Interchange, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit coordinating organization, the agenda included sessions on the genetics of thyroid disease, type I diabetes, and autism. The first session, "Defining the Genetics of Complex Disease

Ubiquitin-related research has made the transition from the basic to clinical arena in the past decade, and the field is now central to understanding diseases ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative disorders.

For this article, Eugene Russo interviewed Yosef Shiloh, a professor of human genetics at Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine, and Michael Kastan, chairman, department of hematology-oncology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 100 times more often than the average paper of the same type and age. S. Banin, L. Moyal, S.Y. Shieh, Y. Taya, C.W. Anderson, L. Chessa, N.I. Smorodin

A three-dimensional magnetic resonance image of a macaque monkey head. Inset: A schematic of the combination of cortical field maps of tactile stimulation obtained using fMRI (red and green squares) and electrophysiological recording techniques (cross-hatched regions). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments are, no doubt, incredibly intriguing: Researchers put volunteers inside a huge, harmless magnet that takes detailed pictures of the brain, expose those people to some sort o

The Scientist - Harmony in the Lab The Scientist 14[17]:19, Sep. 4, 2000 NEWS Harmony in the Lab Kinzler-Vogelstein group is single-minded in goal of beating cancer By Eugene Russo Photo:©Marty Katz Bert Vogelstein (bearded, third from upper left) and Ken Kinzler (center, directly in front of Vogelstein), surrounded by therir labmates. Asked why his laboratory has had a string of successes in the last decade, making it one of the most recognizable onc

Neurons die all the time--routinely during nervous system development and to a limited extent in healthy adults. But understanding exactly how they die under less-than-ideal conditions could be the key to treating a number of neurological maladies--from stroke and brain trauma to neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. As cell death research proliferates, much of it focused on cancer, investigators continue to debate the extent to which neurological ailment

To translate the billions of sequenced bases of the human genome into meaningful information, investigators in the private and public sectors continue to use computer prediction to automatically annotate the human genome--to attach biological footnotes about genes, the proteins they encode, and the ailments to which they may be linked. But as with any translation, there's potential for multiple interpretations. Annotation projects could present geneticists with significantly different genome sc

Courtesy of ScienceThe fruit fly circadian cycle shares three strong similarities with the mammalian: the per gene itself, CLOCK and BMAL regulation of per, and a gene called tau in hamsters and double-time (dbt) in flies, both of which encode the enzyme CKI*. Molecular biologists have been teasing apart the intricate innards of organisms' biological clocks for decades, gaining rare insight into a veritable bridge between genes and behavior. Those clocks' circadian rhythms, the 24-hour cycles t

For this article, Eugene Russo interviewed Philippe Froguel, a professor of genetics and nutrition at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 100 times more often than the average paper of the same type and age.   K. Clement, C. Vaisse, N. Lahlou, S. Cabrol, V. Pelloux, D. Cassuto, M. Gourmelen, C. Dina, J. Chambaz, J.M. Lacorte, A. Basdevant, P. Bougneres, Y. Lebouc, P. Froguel, B. Guy-Grand, "A mutation in the

For this article, Eugene Russo interviewed Eric N. Olson, chair of molecular biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. Data from the Web of Science (ISI, Philadelphia) show that Hot Papers are cited 50 to 100 times more often than the average paper of the same type and age. J.D. Molkentin, J.R. Lu, C.L. Antos, B. Markham, J. Richardson, J. Robbins, S.R. Grant, E.N. Olson, "A calcineurin-dependent transcriptional pathway for cardiac hypertrophy," Cell, 93: 215-28,

Putting Polio to Good Use Add polio to a host of other viral and bacterial foes that, in modified forms, could prove therapeutically beneficial. Although Russian scientists attempted to use polio to treat cancer in the 1960s--unpublished experiments about which little is known--a recent brain cancer study in mice is the first modern-day attempt to harness the power of the virus (M. Gromeier et al., "Intergeneric poliovirus recombinants for the treatment of malignant glioma," Proceedings of the

Graphic: Cathleen Heard Law enforcement officials routinely use DNA fingerprinting as a tool to get the guilty punished. Defense lawyers often rely on the same tool to free the innocent. Though their labs may be less dramatic settings than criminal courtrooms, life science researchers also use DNA fingerprinting, but rather than capturing criminals, their goal is to keep tabs on a different sort of culprit: infectious disease. The technology has revolutionized the way diseases are tracked and th