Medical Genetics Commons^™

How The Manipulation Of The Ras Homolog Enriched In Striatum Alters The Behavioral And Molecular Progression Of Huntington’S Disease, Franklin A. Lee

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Huntington’s disease is an incurable, progressive neurological disorder characterized by loss of motor control, psychiatric dysfunction, and eventual dystonia leading to death. Despite the fact that this disorder is caused by a mutation in one single gene, there is no cure. The mutant Huntingtin (mHtt) protein is expressed ubiquitously throughout the brain but frank cell death is limited to the striatum. Recent work has suggested that Rhes, Ras homolog enriched in striatum, which is selectively expressed in the striatum, may play a role in Huntington’s disease neuropathology. In vitro studies have shown Rhes to be an E3 ligase for the …

Functional Analysis Of Genomic Variation And Impact On Molecular And Higher Order Phenotypes, Ashutosh Kumar Pandey

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Reverse genetics methods, particularly the production of gene knockouts and knockins, have revolutionized the understanding of gene function. High throughput sequencing now makes it practical to exploit reverse genetics to simultaneously study functions of thousands of normal sequence variants and spontaneous mutations that segregate in intercross and backcross progeny generated by mating completely sequenced parental lines. To evaluate this new reverse genetic method we resequenced the genome of one of the oldest inbred strains of mice—DBA/2J—the father of the large family of BXD recombinant inbred strains. We analyzed ~100X wholegenome sequence data for the DBA/2J strain, relative to C57BL/6J, the …

Rfx Transcription Factors Are Essential For Hearing In Mice, Ran Elkon, Beatrice Milon, Laura Morrison, Manan Shah, Sarath Vijayakumar, Manoj Racherla, Carmen C. Leitch, Lorna Silipino, Shadan Hadi, Michèle Weiss-Gayte, Emmanuèle Barras, Christoph D. Schmid, Aouatef Ait-Lounis, Ashley Barnes, Yang Song, David J. Eisenman, Efrat Eliyahu, Gregory I. Frolenkov, Scott E. Strome, Bénédicte Durand, Norann A. Zaghloul, Sherri M. Jones, Walter Reith, Ronna Hertzano

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Sensorineural hearing loss is a common and currently irreversible disorder, because mammalian hair cells (HCs) do not regenerate and current stem cell and gene delivery protocols result only in immature HC-like cells. Importantly, although the transcriptional regulators of embryonic HC development have been described, little is known about the postnatal regulators of maturating HCs. Here we apply a cell type-specific functional genomic analysis to the transcriptomes of auditory and vestibular sensory epithelia from early postnatal mice. We identify RFX transcription factors as essential and evolutionarily conserved regulators of the HC-specific transcriptomes, and detect Rfx1,2,3,5 and 7 in the developing HCs. …

Functional Linear Models Extensions Uncover Pleiotropic Effects Of Chronic Pain Phenotypes, Dmitri V. Zaykin, L. Qing, G. D. Slade, R. Dubner, R. B. Fillingim, J. D. Greenspan, R. Ohrbach, W. Maixner, L. B. Diatchenko, Olga A. Vsevolozhskaya

Biostatistics Presentations

Growing scientific evidence suggests that intricate interactions of genetic risk factors with environmental exposures play a major role in the development of chronic pain conditions. In studies of relative contribution of an individual’s genetic composition to the perception of pain, the general characteristics of pain sensitivity are typically measured by a wide range of different, yet possibly etiologically related pain phenotypes. Testing each of these pain-perception traits individually is subject to problems of multiple testing and low statistical power. Furthermore, pain-related traits may share common etiology and comprise binary, categorical, and quantitative measurements. In the current study, we propose a …

An Overview Of Leber’S Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, Matthew R. Dalton

The Kabod

Typically affecting males ranging from 20 to 24 years of age, Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) is a disorder that is characterized by an acute loss of central vision. Although a heritable disease, LHON does not follow the patterns of classical Mendelian genetics. In fact, one of the most striking characteristics of LHON is that the disease is virtually always inherited maternally. Unlike most genetic disorders that result from a mutation in genomic DNA, LHON is caused by a mutation in the genetic information of mitochondria (mtDNA). Currently there is no treatment for LHON. Despite this, pharmaceutical interventions and contemporary …

Discovering Distinct Functional Modules Of Specific Cancer Types Using Protein-Protein Interaction Networks., Ru Shen, Xiaosheng Wang, Chittibabu Guda

Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy

Background. The molecular profiles exhibited in different cancer types are very different; hence, discovering distinct functional modules associated with specific cancer types is very important to understand the distinct functions associated with them. Protein-protein interaction networks carry vital information about molecular interactions in cellular systems, and identification of functional modules (subgraphs) in these networks is one of the most important applications of biological network analysis. Results. In this study, we developed a new graph theory based method to identify distinct functional modules from nine different cancer protein-protein interaction networks. The method is composed of three major steps: (i) extracting modules …

Crispr/Cas9-Based Generation Of Knockdown Mice By Intronic Insertion Of Artificial Microrna Using Longer Single-Stranded Dna., Hiromi Miura, Channabasavaiah B. Gurumurthy, Takehito Sato, Masahiro Sato, Masato Ohtsuka

Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy

Knockdown mouse models, where gene dosages can be modulated, provide valuable insights into gene function. Typically, such models are generated by embryonic stem (ES) cell-based targeted insertion, or pronuclear injection, of the knockdown expression cassette. However, these methods are associated with laborious and time-consuming steps, such as the generation of large constructs with elements needed for expression of a functional RNAi-cassette, ES-cell handling, or screening for mice with the desired knockdown effect. Here, we demonstrate that reliable knockdown models can be generated by targeted insertion of artificial microRNA (amiRNA) sequences into a specific locus in the genome [such as intronic …

Recessive Mutations In Polr1c Cause A Leukodystrophy By Impairing Biogenesis Of Rna Polymerase Iii., Isabelle Thiffault, Nicole I Wolf, Diane Forget, Kether Guerrero, Luan T. Tran, Karine Choquet, Mathieu Lavallée-Adam, Christian Poitras, Bernard Brais, Grace Yoon, Laszlo Sztriha, Richard I. Webster, Dagmar Timmann, Bart P. Van De Warrenburg, Jürgen Seeger, Alíz Zimmermann, Adrienn Máté, Cyril Goizet, Eva Fung, Marjo S. Van Der Knaap, Sébastien Fribourg, Adeline Vanderver, Cas Simons, Ryan J. Taft, John R. Yates, Benoit Coulombe, Geneviève Bernard

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

A small proportion of 4H (Hypomyelination, Hypodontia and Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism) or RNA polymerase III (POLR3)-related leukodystrophy cases are negative for mutations in the previously identified causative genes POLR3A and POLR3B. Here we report eight of these cases carrying recessive mutations in POLR1C, a gene encoding a shared POLR1 and POLR3 subunit, also mutated in some Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS) cases. Using shotgun proteomics and ChIP sequencing, we demonstrate that leukodystrophy-causative mutations, but not TCS mutations, in POLR1C impair assembly and nuclear import of POLR3, but not POLR1, leading to decreased binding to POLR3 target genes. This study is the first …

Ceramides Promote Apoptosis For Virus-Infected Lymphoma Cells Through Induction Of Ceramide Synthases And Viral Lytic Gene Expression, Lu Dai, Jimena Trillo-Tinoco, Aiping Bai, Yihan Chen, Jacek Bielawski, Luis Del Valle, Charles D. Smith, Augusto C. Ochoa, Zhiqiang Qin, Chris Parsons

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiologic agent for several human cancers including primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), a rapidly progressive malignancy arising preferentially in immunocompromised patients. With conventional chemotherapy, PEL continues to portend high mortality, dictating the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Sphingosine kinase 2 (SphK2) represents a key gatekeeper for sphingolipid metabolism, responsible for conversion of ceramides to sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). We have previously demonstrated that targeting SphK2 using a novel selective inhibitor, ABC294640, leads to intracellular accumulation of ceramides and induces apoptosis for KSHV-infected PEL cells, while suppressing tumor progression in vivo. In the current study, we sought to …

Effect Of Sirna Pre-Exposure On Subsequent Response To Sirna Therapy, Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi, Parvin Mahdipoor, Cezary Kucharski, Nicole Chan, Hasan Uludag

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

PURPOSE. An alternative cancer therapy based on RNA interference (RNAi) has shown considerable promise but the possibility of resistance development is not known. This study explored the possibility of therapeutic resistance against siRNA nanoparticles in human cancer cells. METHODS. Two approaches to siRNA treatment were undertaken using lipid-modified polyethylenimines, a single high concentration (shock) and repeated increasing concentrations (gradual). The targets were Mcl-1, RPS6KA5 and KSP in MDA-MB-435 cells. RESULTS. There was no evidence of resistance development in shock-treated cells, while the decrease in mRNA levels of targeted proteins was not as robust in naïve cells in gradual treatment. However, …

Gonad: Genome-Editing Via Oviductal Nucleic Acids Delivery System: A Novel Microinjection Independent Genome Engineering Method In Mice., Gou Takahashi, Channabasavaiah B. Gurumurthy, Kenta Wada, Hiromi Miura, Masahiro Sato, Masato Ohtsuka

Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy

Microinjection is considered the gold standard technique for delivery of nucleic acids (NAs; transgenes or genome editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 systems) into embryos, for creating genetically modified organisms. It requires sophisticated equipment as well as well-trained and highly skilled personnel to perform the micro-injection technique. Here, we describe a novel and simple microinjection-independent technique, called Genome-editing via Oviductal Nucleic Acids Delivery (GONAD). Using GONAD, we show that NAs (e.g., eGFP mRNA or Cas9 mRNA/sgRNAs) can be effectively delivered to pre-implantation embryos within the intact mouse oviduct by a simple electroporation method, and result in the desired genetic modification in …

Links Between Anr And Quorum Sensing In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Biofilms, John H. Hammond, Emily F. Dolben, T. Jarrod Smith, Sabin Bhuju, Deborah Hogan

Dartmouth Scholarship

In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the transcription factor Anr controls the cellular response to low oxygen or anoxia. Anr activity is high in oxygen-limited environments, including biofilms and populations associated with chronic infections, and Anr is necessary for persistence in a model of pulmonary infection. In this study, we characterized the Anr regulon in biofilm-grown cells at 1% oxygen in the laboratory strain PAO1 and in a quorum sensing (QS)-deficient clinical isolate, J215. As expected, transcripts related to denitrification, arginine fermentation, high-affinity cytochrome oxidases, and CupA fimbriae were lower in the Δanr derivatives. In addition, we observed that transcripts associated with quorum …

Molecular Mechanisms That Govern Human Cardiac Stem Cell Age Disparity, Tania Fuentes

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Transplantation of adult endogenous cardiovascular progenitor cells for heart repair results in some clinical benefit, however these stem cells lack the regenerative capacity unique to neonatal cardiovascular stem cells. The goal of this work was to identify mechanisms that contribute to the decline of cardiac stem cell regenerative ability with age and investigate novel therapeutic strategies to improve cardiac stem cell function. When comparing neonatal and adult cardiovascular stem cell clones, both cell types were capable of cardiomyogenic differentiation. However, the expression levels of forty-one microRNAs were significantly altered with age. Expression differences were correlated with reduced proliferation and a …

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat-Dependent, Biofilm-Specific Death Of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Mediated By Increased Expression Of Phage-Related Genes, Gary E. E. Heussler, Kyle C. Cady, Katja Koeppen, Sabin Bhuju, Bruce A. Stanton, George A. O’Toole

Dartmouth Scholarship

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (CRISPR/Cas) system is an adaptive immune system present in many archaea and bacteria. CRISPR/Cas systems are incredibly diverse, and there is increasing evidence of CRISPR/Cas systems playing a role in cellular functions distinct from phage immunity. Previously, our laboratory reported one such alternate function in which the type 1-F CRISPR/Cas system of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain UCBPP-PA14 (abbreviated as P. aeruginosa PA14) inhibits both biofilm formation and swarming motility when the bacterium is lysogenized by the bacteriophage DMS3. In this study, we demonstrated that the presence of just the DMS3 …

A Patient With Polymerase E1 Deficiency (Pole1): Clinical Features And Overlap With Dna Breakage/Instability Syndromes., Isabelle Thiffault, Carol Saunders, Janda Jenkins, Nikita Raje, Kristi Canty, Mukta Sharma, Lauren Grote, Holly I. Welsh, Emily Farrow, Greyson Twist, Neil Miller, David Zwick, Lee Zellmer, Stephen F. Kingsmore, Nicole P. Safina

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Chromosome instability syndromes are a group of inherited conditions associated with chromosomal instability and breakage, often leading to immunodeficiency, growth retardation and increased risk of malignancy.

CASE PRESENTATION: We performed exome sequencing on a girl with a suspected chromosome instability syndrome that manifested as growth retardation, microcephaly, developmental delay, dysmorphic features, poikiloderma, immune deficiency with pancytopenia, and myelodysplasia. She was homozygous for a previously reported splice variant, c.4444 + 3A > G in the POLE1 gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase E.

CONCLUSION: This is the second family with POLE1-deficency, with the affected individual demonstrating a more …

Cancer Incidence In First And Second Degree Relatives Of Brca1 And Brca2 Mutation Carriers, Haley Streff

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes are associated with increased risks for breast, ovarian, and several other cancers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence of cancers in first and second degree relatives of BRCA mutation carriers compared to the general population. A total of 1086 pedigrees of BRCA mutation carriers were obtained from a prospectively maintained, internal review board approved study of persons referred for clinical genetic counseling at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. We identified 9032 first and second degree relatives from 784 pedigrees which demonstrated a clear indication of parental …

Obstetrician And Gynecologist Utilization Of The Nipt Expanded Testing Option, Sarah Mayes Ba

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) enables the detection of common fetal aneuploidies such as trisomy 21, trisomy 18, trisomy 13, and sex chromosome abnormalities via analysis of cell-free fetal DNA circulating in maternal serum. Although the accuracy of NIPT for fetal aneuploidy is expected to be higher than that of currently available alternative maternal serum screening options, the implications of results are not straight forward. In October 2013, the option to screen for additional trisomies and select microdeletion syndromes, such as 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and 5 p- syndrome, became clinically available. Due to this rapidly evolving prenatal screening technology, clinicians must …

Genetics Of Obesity In Starr County, Texas Mexican Americans, Heather M. Highland

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Currently, over two-thirds of Americans are classified as over-weight or obese. Obesity increases risk for many other diseases including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer, making obesity the largest public health problem in America and most other Westernized nations. Hispanics have a higher rate of both obesity and type 2 diabetes, making them a particularly interesting population in which to study obesity. For the last 33 years, the Starr County Health Studies has collected an array of phenotypes and biological samples from residents of Starr County, along Texas-Mexico border. This study includes 825 subjects who were not known …

Correlation Matrix Analysis Identifies Gene Signatures Of Immune Cell Subsets And Their Interactions In Follicular Lymphoma, Jason R. Westin

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

There are important but ill-defined interactions between benign immune cell subsets and neoplastic B cells within follicular lymphoma (FL). Using the novel technique of correlation matrix analysis (CMA) of publicly available FL whole-tumor gene expression profiling (GEP) data, we have identified signatures of immune cell subsets. Overall survival correlated most highly with a model using signatures of macrophages, T cells, and stroma, which was able to add significantly to existing clinical prognostic tools. From our own data of a cohort of 43 FL tumors sorted into B-cell and non-B cell (NB) fractions for GEP, CMA of the tumor infiltrating NB …

One-Step Generation Of Multiple Transgenic Mouse Lines Using An Improved Pronuclear Injection-Based Targeted Transgenesis (I-Pitt)., Masato Ohtsuka, Hiromi Miura, Keiji Mochida, Michiko Hirose, Ayumi Hasegawa, Atsuo Ogura, Ryuta Mizutani, Minoru Kimura, Ayako Isotani, Masahito Ikawa, Masahiro Sato, Channabasavaiah B. Gurumurthy

Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy

BACKGROUND: The pronuclear injection (PI) is the simplest and widely used method to generate transgenic (Tg) mice. Unfortunately, PI-based Tg mice show uncertain transgene expression due to random transgene insertion in the genome, usually with multiple copies. Thus, typically at least three or more Tg lines are produced by injecting over 200 zygotes and the best line/s among them are selected through laborious screening steps. Recently, we developed technologies using Cre-loxP system that allow targeted insertion of single-copy transgene into a predetermined locus through PI. We termed the method as PI-based Targeted Transgenesis (PITT). A similar method using PhiC31-attP/B system …

Genetic And Molecular Analysis Of Dec-11 In C. Elegans' Intestinal Pacemaker Activity, Adele Joan Gordon

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Rhythmic behaviors are ubiquitous phenomena in plant and animal phyla. Ultradian rhythmic behaviors occur with a period of less than 24 hours and include such rhythmic behaviors as the beating of the heart and peristalsis in the gut. The nematode C. elegans exhibits three well-characterized ultradian rhythmic behaviors: ovulation, pharyngeal pumping, and the defecation motor program (DMP). The DMP occurs every ~45 seconds in wild-type worms and comprises three distinct muscle contractions: a posterior body contraction (pBoc), an anterior body contraction (aBoc), and an enteric muscle contraction (Emc), which is coupled to expulsion (Exp). The rhythmicity of the DMP is …

Insertion Of Sequences At The Original Provirus Integration Site Of Mouse Rosa26 Locus Using The Crispr/Cas9 System., Rolen M. Quadros, Donald W. Harms, Masato Ohtsuka, Channabasavaiah B. Gurumurthy

Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy

Targeted transgenic mouse models, where an exogenous gene is inserted into a specified genomic locus to achieve its stable and reliable expression, have been widely used in biomedical research. However, the available methodologies for targeted insertion of sequences require many laborious steps that involve the use of embryonic stem (ES) cells. We recently developed Pronuclear Injection-based Targeted Transgenesis (PITT), a method that uses a recombinase-mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) to enable insertion of sequences at a predetermined genomic locus, such as ROSA26. The PITT technique uses fertilized eggs (instead of ES cells) collected from 'seed mice' that contain the RMCE landing …

Generation Of A Retinoblastoma (Rb)1-Inducible Dominant-Negative (Dn) Mouse Model., Shikha Tarang, Songila M.S.R Doi, Channabasavaiah B. Gurumurthy, Donald W. Harms, Rolen M. Quadros, Sonia M. Rocha-Sanchez

Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy

Retinoblastoma 1 (Rb1) is an essential gene regulating cellular proliferation, differentiation, and homeostasis. To exert these functions, Rb1 is recruited and physically interacts with a growing variety of signaling pathways. While Rb1 does not appear to be ubiquitously expressed, its expression has been confirmed in a variety of hematopoietic and neuronal-derived cells, including the inner ear hair cells (HCs). Studies in transgenic mice demonstrate that complete germline or conditional Rb1 deletion leads to abnormal cell proliferation, followed by massive apoptosis; making it difficult to fully address Rb1's biochemical activities. To overcome these limitations, we developed a tetracycline-inducible TetO-CB-myc6-Rb1 (CBRb) mouse …

Breast Cancer Screening: Early Detection Is Not Enough, Judy A. Tjoe

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

N/A

Systems Level Analysis Of Systemic Sclerosis Shows A Network Of Immune And Profibrotic Pathways Connected With Genetic Polymorphisms, J. Matthew Mahoney, Jaclyn Taroni, Viktor Martyanov, Tammara A. A. Wood, Casey S. Greene, Patricia A. Pioli, Monique E. Hinchcliff, Michael L. Whitfield

Dartmouth Scholarship

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare systemic autoimmune disease characterized by skin and organ fibrosis. The pathogenesis of SSc and its progression are poorly understood. The SSc intrinsic gene expression subsets (inflammatory, fibroproliferative, normal-like, and limited) are observed in multiple clinical cohorts of patients with SSc. Analysis of longitudinal skin biopsies suggests that a patient's subset assignment is stable over 6-12 months. Genetically, SSc is multi-factorial with many genetic risk loci for SSc generally and for specific clinical manifestations. Here we identify the genes consistently associated with the intrinsic subsets across three independent cohorts, show the relationship between these genes …

Assessment Of Artificial Mirna Architectures For Higher Knockdown Efficiencies Without The Undesired Effects In Mice., Hiromi Miura, Hidetoshi Inoko, Masafumi Tanaka, Hirofumi Nakaoka, Minoru Kimura, Channabasavaiah B. Gurumurthy, Masahiro Sato, Masato Ohtsuka

Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy

RNAi-based strategies have been used for hypomorphic analyses. However, there are technical challenges to achieve robust, reproducible knockdown effect. Here we examined the artificial microRNA (amiRNA) architectures that could provide higher knockdown efficiencies. Using transient and stable transfection assays in cells, we found that simple amiRNA-expression cassettes, that did not contain a marker gene (-MG), displayed higher amiRNA expression and more efficient knockdown than those that contained a marker gene (+MG). Further, we tested this phenomenon in vivo, by analyzing amiRNA-expressing mice that were produced by the pronuclear injection-based targeted transgenesis (PITT) method. While we observed significant silencing of the …

Understanding The Function Of Dyrk1a Through Characterization Of Its Interacting Proteins, Varsha Ananthapadmanabhan

Theses and Dissertations

DYRK1A is a protein kinase encoded by a gene implicated in Down syndrome pathogenesis. Loss of DYRK1A could promote oncogenic transformation. However, the regulation and substrates of DYRK1A are not fully understood. MudPIT proteomic analysis revealed novel DYRK1A interacting proteins with poorly characterized or even unknown functions. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to understand the function of DYRK1A through the characterization of its interacting proteins. To achieve this aim, we established stable cell lines expressing these proteins and confirmed the interactions between DYRK1A and seven candidate binding partners. Furthermore, we found that all novel DYRK1A-interacting proteins also bind …

Gene Expression And Alzheimer's Disease: Evaluation Of Gene Expression Patterns In Brain And Blood For An Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model, Amanda Hazy

Senior Honors Theses

Previous studies have established a causative role for altered gene expression in development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These changes can be affected by methylation and miRNA regulation. In this study, expression of miRNA known to change methylation status in AD was assessed by qPCR. Genome-wide expression changes were determined by RNA-sequencing of mRNA from hippocampus and blood of control and AD mice. The qPCR data showed significantly increased expression of Mir 17 in AD, and sequencing data revealed 230 genes in hippocampus, 58 genes in blood, and 8 overlapping genes showing significant differential expression (p value ≤ 0.05). Expression data …

Does Pharmacogenetics Play A Role In The Treatment Of Type Ii Diabetes Mellitus?, Lucas N. Vanemelen

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

• Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a disease commonly presented in the family practice setting. Current therapies include one or multiple medications. Until recently, providers have used algorithms and medical expertise to control T2DM.

• Pharmacogenomics is a branch of pharmacology dealing with genetic variation on a medication response in an individual patient to discover medication compatibility, efficacy or toxicity.

• Analysis of genetic factors are still being discovered; however, this growing field may change the way medications are being prescribed for diabetes. This analysis investigated if pharmacogenetics is a useful tool for prescribing diabetic medications to T2DM patients. …

Epigenetics As A Cure For Cancer, Sara Rivka Margolis

The Science Journal of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences

Epigenetics is an emerging research topic that is being tested as a potential cure for cancer. Epigenetics is a non-genetic influence that shapes the phenotype. Epigenetics effects gene expression, but does not cause any changes in the DNA. DNA methylation patterns is one such epigenetic change in the cell that has huge potential for cancer treatment. Scientists have observed that many cancerous genes express signs of either hypermethylation or hypomethylation. The key for the treatment is that epigenetic changes are reversible, which opens the door to potential drugs to cure cancer and other diseases.