Brain diseases can be better understood with the help of an open-source cell catalog as per a study at the Salk Institute, published in Cell Genomics.
The study may help better understand the interaction of genes and cells in causing neurodegenerative diseases.
‘New genomic technology helps simultaneously analyze various genetic materials DNA, RNA, and chromatin (combination of DNA and protein).
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“These diseases can broadly affect many cell types. But there could be certain cell populations that are particularly vulnerable. Genetic research has pinpointed the regions of the genome that are relevant for diseases like Alzheimer’s. We’re providing another data dimension and identifying the cell types affected by these genomic regions,” says co-first author Chongyuan Luo, assistant professor of human genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
“This multimodal platform is going to be useful by providing a comprehensive database that can be used by the groups trying to integrate their single-modality data. This new information can also inform and guide future cell-type classification,” says Joseph Ecker, director of the Genomic Analysis Laboratory at Salk, the Salk International Council Chair in Genetics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.
Source: Medindia
