NIH Awards $10.5 Million to New Technologies for the Study of Molecular Genes

May 2012, Vol 3, No 3

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded $10.5 million to 10 researchers to develop technologies that will assist research on millions of genomic elements that play a role in determining what genes are expressed, and at what levels in different cells. This has particular implications for cancer therapies.

These multiyear grants are part of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, which promotes research on the role that the human genome plays in health and disease.

“The ENCODE project is providing a Rosetta Stone to understand how the sequence of the human genome forms the words that tell our bodies how to work at the molecular level,” said Eric D. Green, MD, PhD, director of NHGRI.

“Researchers are beginning to use the ENCODE catalogs to understand how variation in the DNA sequence might influence diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders,” said Mike Pazin, PhD, program director for ENCODE in NHGRI’s Division of Extramural Research. NIH News, April 25, 2012.

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