Geneticist develops tool to identify genes important in disease, tailoring individual treatment

Though the human genome has been sequenced, scientists are still trying to figure out how the accomplishment can help people, for example, how it can be used to treat disease. As University of Massachusetts Amherst geneticist Jacob Mayfield notes, "It was easy to think of the human genome as the big prize, but what we realize now is, it's just a foot in the door."

"What we're beginning to understand is that the information we're interested in knowing lies in comparisons between genomes," he adds. As society moves to personalized, genome-based medicine, "much work remains for us to grasp what it is that we know. As we uncover new variations at the DNA level, we have to address their consequences. To learn what genetic differences mean to the whole organism, we have to find ways of asking about function. Because the way genes interact to cause traits like red hair isn't understood, let alone how they cause disease!"

Read the full article: http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/newsreleases/articles/152409.php