| |
| home about contact links |
| |
October 09, 2007There's a gene for that.Forbes has an article this week (Genetics' Super Summer) on the sudden spurt in genetic tests for common diseases, and how they are helping researchers match drug treatments with the patients who are most likely to benefit from them. Now DNA chips, tiny devices made by biotech companies Affymetrix and Illumina, allow scientists to sample the DNA blueprint for a person at 500,000 different places where differences are likely to occur, and to do so cheaply enough that tens of thousands of people can be tested. When they find a genetic variant that occurs in people with, say, multiple sclerosis, but not in those who don't, it is likely that that difference is linked to the disease. (Forbes predicted the gene data flood in May.) A genetic difference is occasionally so predictive of disease risk that it can immediately be packaged as part of a diagnostic test to tell people whether they are going to get sick. Decode Genetics, a biotech company in Iceland that is running its own gene-finding experiments, sells tests for heart disease and diabetes, and hopes to market a glaucoma test too. The other use for the data is to invent drugs. Stephan, the TGEN researcher, founded a company called Amnestix in Burlingame, Calif., to develop medicines based on his discoveries of genes involved in memory disorders. Eric Topol, the chief academic officer of Scripps Health, says the string of results this summer is "unprecedented," but warns, "we've just started this whole process. There's so much more work to be done to understand cause and effect." The field is undoubtedly in its infancy, although many more discoveries are expected in the next several years as gene sequencing technology becomes ever cheaper and faster. Hat tip: DrugWonks. Posted by Paul Howard at October 9, 2007 03:17 PM CommentsPost a comment |
|
 | ||
| home spotlight commentary research events news about contact links archives | ||
