Basic cell health systems wear down in Huntington’s disease, analysis shows
February 26, 2021MIT
A new computational approach for analyzing complex datasets shows that as disease progresses, neurons and astrocytes lose the ability to maintain homeostasis.
Using an innovative computational approach to analyze vast brain cell gene expression datasets, researchers at MIT and Sorbonne Université have found that Huntington’s disease may progress to advanced stages more because of a degradation of the cells’ health maintenance systems than because of increased damage from the disease pathology itself.
The analysis yielded a trove of specific gene networks governing molecular pathways that disease researchers may now be able to target to better sustain brain cell health amid the devastating neurodegenerative disorder, says co-senior author Myriam Heiman, associate professor in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and an investigator at The Picower Institute for Lea
Caption: Researchers employed a software system called Geomic to integrate vast amounts of gene expression data from the brains of mice modeling Huntington s disease. By comparing multidimensional mathematical surfaces plotted from the data, they were able to gain new insights into how gene expression differs in the disease based on many dimensions such as time, cell type and the extent of mutation in the huntingtin gene. Credits: Image: Lucile Megret/Sorbonne Universite
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Using an innovative computational approach to analyze vast brain cell gene expression datasets, researchers at MIT and Sorbonne Université have found that Huntington’s disease may progress to advanced stages more because of a degradation of the cells’ health maintenance systems than because of increased damage from the disease pathology itself.
A new computational approach for analyzing complex datasets shows that as disease progresses, neurons and astrocytes lose the ability to maintain homeostasis. The Geomic approach can be applied to other diseases, authors say.
Former officers receive suspended sentences
Two former Columbus Police Department officers have been given suspended sentences by a special judge after pleading guilty to ghost employment.
Dan Meister, 47, 952 Jackson St., Hope and Ron May, 59, 8015 S. County Road 875W, Columbus were originally charged with official misconduct, ghost employment and theft all Level 6 felonies.
Both worked a second job providing security at Columbus Regional Hospital while clocked in as city officers. Meister is accused of overlapped hours worked on 52 separate occasions, while May is accused of overlapped hours on 62 separate occasions between Jan. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2018, according to a State Board of Accounts audit.