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Complete analysis of the presenilin 1 gene in early onset Alzheimer's disease.
The presenilin 1 gene has recently been identified as the locus on chromosome 14 which is responsible for a large proportion of early onset, autosomal dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have elucidated the intron/exon structure of the gene and designed intronic primers to enable direct sequencing of the entire coding region (10 exons) of the presenilin gene in a large number of families. This strategy has enabled us to find a further two novel mutations in the gene. We...
JCVI to Receive Grant from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to Define the Language of Human Cell Classification
Researchers at J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), led by Richard Scheuermann, PhD, director of JCVI’s La Jolla Campus, have been awarded a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, an advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation as part of the Human Cell Atlas project. JCVI will be building on our previous work in developing an expanded human cell ontology that scientists can use to classify cells and effectively communicate among one another. On average there are around 30...
Influences of trace metals on biological evolution
Scientists show how trace metal chemistry and global changes in oxygen have influenced the evolution of metalloproteins and the Eukaryotes A paper is being published in PNAS this week about how the varying abundance of trace metals in the environment has influenced biological evolution. The research team, led by Chris Dupont of the J. Craig Venter Institute and Gustavo Caetano-Anollés at the University of Illinois, correlated environmental changes in metal availability over the...
The NIAID Sponsored Pathogen Functional Genomics Resource Center Announces a Call for White Papers in Functional Genomics and Proteomics
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)/NIH/DHHS Pathogen Functional Genomics Resource Center (PFGRC) at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) is announcing a call for White Papers in the areas of Gene Expression studies, Comparative Genomics, Gene Knock Outs, Proteomics and Bioinformatics as well as associated methodologies and technologies. It is our desire to continue to identify the most relevant resources and collaborative opportunities between the scientific...
cDNA sequencing: a means of understanding cellular physiology.
High-throughput automated sequencing has enabled researchers to examine large numbers of clones from a cDNA library as a measure of the steady-state levels of mRNA species. The past year has witnessed many new applications of this technique to allow the qualitative and quantitative comparison of the changes in transcript levels from multiple genes.
Newly Discovered Human Brain Cell: Rosehip Neurons
What’s next for exploring the newly discovered human brain cell, the rose hip neuron? We caught up with Dr. Richard Scheuermann on the road to discuss how the J. Craig Venter Institute is advancing knowledge about what makes humans unique. See the full press release.
Developing Genetic Tools to Manipulate African Swine Fever Virus and Generate Attenuated Strains
African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating hemorrhagic disease of pigs with mortality rates up to 100% in infected pig herds. It is prevalent in many sub-Saharan African countries, causing major economic losses and threatening food security. Due to this sustained occurrence and the ever-increasing global traffic of people and goods, ASF poses an added global threat. ASF is caused by a large DNA virus, African swine fever virus (ASFV), and there is currently no vaccine against it....
Caenorhabditis elegans expressed sequence tags identify gene families and potential disease gene homologues.
A database containing mapped partial cDNA sequences from Caenorhabditis elegans will provide a ready starting point for identifying nematode homologues of important human genes and determining their functions in C. elegans. A total of 720 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) have been generated from 585 clones randomly selected from a mixed-stage C. elegans cDNA library. Comparison of these ESTs with sequence databases identified 422 new C. elegans genes, of which 317 are not similar to any...