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Genetics
Research interests in the Washington University Department of Genetics include the basic molecular and developmental genetics of model eukaryotic systems, as well as the mapping and identification of genes responsible for important human hereditary diseases.
Genome research is a major focus of the Department. One of the largest genome centers in the world, the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center, is part of the Department.
The department is strongly interdisciplinary, with expertise that ranges from molecular biology and classical genetics, to the engineering of new tools and machines for genome analysis, to the development of computer algorithms and software for analyzing DNA and protein sequences.
Most graduate students in the Department are admitted through the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences. Some students may also be admitted through the Biomedical Engineering Program in the School of Engineering.
| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
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DNA cornucopia
Amaizeing: Corn genome decoded
Nov. 19,
2009 --
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| Iowa State |
In recent years, scientists have decoded the DNA of humans and a menagerie of creatures but none with genes as complex as a stalk of corn, the latest genome to be unraveled. A team of scientists led by The Genome Center at the School of Medicine published the completed corn genome in the Nov. 20 journal Science, an accomplishment that will speed efforts to develop better crop varieties to meet the world's growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.
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Microbial menagerie
Junk food binge alters community of microbes in the gut in less than a day
Nov. 11,
2009 -- Switching from a low-fat, plant-based diet to one high in fat and sugar alters the collection of microbes living in the gut in less than a day, with obesity-linked microbes suddenly thriving, according to new research at the School of Medicine. The study was based on transplants of human intestinal microbes into germ-free mice.
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New syndrome found
Gene mutation may reveal clues for treating lung diseases
Oct. 15,
2009 -- A genetic mutation found in four children born with multiple abnormalities may provide insight into potential treatments for newborn lung distress and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
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| Faculty Experts: |
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David Gutmann, M.D., Ph.D.
Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor of Neurology
Gutmann is the founder and director of the Neurofibromatosis Clinical Program, which is dedicated to treating the common inherited tumor predisposition syndrome, neurofibromatosis (NF). Individuals with NF have an increased risk of developing brain tumors and other cancers. As national leader in the ...
Expertise: Brain tumors, cancer genetics, neurofibromatosis, molecular genetics, neurosciences, neurology
Media assistance: (314) 286-0122 / purdym@wustl.edu
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Alan Templeton
Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences
Templeton applies molecular genetic techniques and statistical population genetics to a variety of problems in evolutionary and conservation biology. He explores natural selection in various species, genetic variability, the role of lipid metabolic genes in coronary artery disease in humans, and the ...
Expertise: evolution of HIV, evolutionary and conservation biology, genetic variability, lipid metabolic genes, molecular genetics, natural selection
Direct contact: (314) 935-6868
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temple_a@biology.wustl.edu
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Alison M. Goate
Professor of Genetics and Psychiatry
A professor of genetics in psychiatry, Alison Goate is a molecular geneticist who discovered the first genetic mutation that causes a form of Alzheimer's disease.
Expertise: Alzheimer's disease, amyloid, genetics, psychiatry, genetic mutation, amyloid-beta, disease-causing mutations
Media assistance: (314) 286-0110 / jdryden@wustl.edu
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Paul Goodfellow
Professor of Surgery
The Goodfellow laboratory is investigating the genetic alterations that underlie development of uterine endometrial cancers. Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the United States. Like many cancers, uterine endometrial cancers are hormonally- responsive tumors. The genetic ...
Expertise: Cancer genetics, cancer, DNA, genetics, gene expression
Media assistance: (314) 286-0141 / ericsong@wustl.edu
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Howard McLeod
director of the pharmacology core at the Siteman Cancer Center
There is a high degree of variation in patient response to medicines. The McLeod laboratory uses genetic tools to perform in vitro, ex vivo, and clinical evaluations to discover, validate, and apply molecular predictors of therapeutic outcome. This includes candidate gene and genome-wide human association ...
Expertise: pharmacogenetics, pharmacology, translational research, tumor markers, chemotherapy
Media assistance: (314) 286-0141 / ericsong@wustl.edu
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New Clues to Sex Anomalies in How Y Chromosomes Are Copied
The New York Times
Sept. 16,
2009 -- Article looks at another David Page contribution to the science of genetics.
A weakness in the system that allows the male Y chromosome to protect and repair itself can explain an array of genetic sexual disorders.:
The palindromes were discovered in 2003 when the Y chromosome's sequence of bases, represented by the familiar letters G, C, T and A, was first worked out by David Page of the Whitehead Institute and colleagues at the DNA sequencing center at WUSTL medical school.
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More Alzheimer genetic risk factors found
United Press International
and 3 others
Sept. 9,
2009 -- An international team of scientists has reported finding two more genetic risk factors of Alzheimer's disease. Includes comments by co-author and WUSTL professor of genetics in psychiatry Alison Goate.
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Genome of Leukemia Patient Reveals Common Mutations
U.S. News & World Report online
and 13 others
Aug. 6,
2009 -- Decoding the genome of a man with acute myeloid leukemia revealed genetic mutations that may be common among other cancer patients. The findings could help scientists understand the genetic basis of cancer. Includes comments by WUSTL researchers Richard Wilson, co-author and director of the Genome Center, and Timothy Ley, study senior author and medicine professor.
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Elaine Mardis and Richard Wilson: Taking Cancer's Genetic Measure
U.S. News & World Report online
July 1,
2009 -- WUSTL biochemists Elaine Mardis and Richard Wilson helped decode the human genome and are now working to find genetic mutations associated with acute myeloid leukemia.
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Study: 'Depression Gene' Doesn't Predict the Blues
Time.com
June 17,
2009 -- Are some people hardwired to get the blues? Scientists have long believed that a tendency toward melancholy runs in families. A new study published on June 16 in JAMA now threatens to send researchers back to the drawing board. The meta-analysis of 14 prior studies concludes that the so-called depression gene may not be associated with an elevated risk for depression, as many researchers had believed. WUSTL psychiatric geneticist Alexandre Todorov, whose 2007 peer-reviewed study was included in the JAMA piece, comments.
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