Genetics of mother-to-child HIV transmission

Mother-to-child HIV transmission in Malawian infants is associated with nine single nucleotide polymorphisms in six genes with roles in pregnancy, development, innate immunity and HIV-protein interaction.

Wiki-based integration of genomic data

The development of a specialized portal for collaborative annotation and analysis of gene-phenotype networks in congenital heart defects using a Wiki platform highlights this technology’s potential for systems biology studies of other complex biological processes.

Genomics confront antibiotic resistance

Bacterial genomics is helping to tackle antibiotic resistance by identifying new targets and increasing our understanding of resistance mechanisms.

Developmental origins of health and disease

There is an unwillingness among public health decision makers to implement approaches based on evidence that environmental factors in early life can affect disease vulnerability in later life.

Therapeutic potential of non-coding RNAs

Non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs and small nucleolar RNAs are implicated in human diseases ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases and offer new avenues for the development of non-invasive diagnostics and molecular therapies.

Mapping inversion variants

While paired-end sequencing approaches have allowed the identification and mapping of inversions across the human genome, further characterization of inversion variants is required to advance our understanding of human variation and genome dynamics.

Calculating genetic risk from multiple loci

The widely accepted unconstrained multiplicative model which combines genome wide association data for overall risk calculation is not realistic, while other models more compatible with the data are indistinguishable using currently available observed parameters.

Multiple microRNAs muscle in on diabetes

Muscle mRNA expression is invariant with respect to diabetes status, but coordinated changes in numerous microRNAs may control protein abundance and affect skeletal muscle insulin resistance, a critical component of the disease.