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Researchers speed identification of DNA regions that regulate gene expression
Corresponding author Yong Cheng, Ph.D., of the St. Jude Departments of Hematology and Computational Biology, helped develop a highly efficient method in identifying the genetic switches that regulate gene expression.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have developed an integrated, high-throughput system to better understand and possibly manipulate gene expression for treatment of disorders such as sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. The research appears today in the journal Nature Genetics.
Researchers used the system to identify dozens of DNA regulatory elements that act together to orchestrate the switch from fetal to adult hemoglobin expression. The method can also be used to study other diseases that involve gene regulation.