ABSTRACT
DNATwist is a Web-based learning tool (available at http://www.dnatwist.org) that explains pharmacogenomics concepts to middle- and high-school students. Its features include (i) a focus on drug responses of interest to teenagers (e.g., alcohol intolerance), (ii) reusable graphical interfaces that reduce extension costs, and (iii) explanations of molecular and cellular drug responses. In testing, students found the tool and topic understandable and engaging. The tool is being modified for use at the Tech Museum of Innovation in California.
Subject(s)
Internet , Pharmacogenetics/education , Teaching , Adolescent , Alcohol Drinking/adverse effects , California , Humans , Students , Teaching/economicsABSTRACT
The development of robust and clinically valuable pharmacogenomic tests has been anticipated to be one of the first tangible results of the Human Genome Project. Despite both obvious and unanticipated obstacles, a number of tests have now become available in various practice settings. Lessons can be learned from examination of these tests, the evidence that has catalyzed their use, their value to prescribers, and their merit as tools for personalizing therapeutics.
Subject(s)
Pharmacogenetics/methods , Pharmacogenetics/trends , Animals , Drug Industry/methods , Drug Industry/trends , Genome, Human/genetics , Genotype , HumansABSTRACT
In many organisms, master control genes coordinately regulate sex-specific aspects of development. SDC-2 was shown to induce hermaphrodite sexual differentiation and activate X chromosome dosage compensation in Caenorhabditis elegans. To control these distinct processes, SDC-2 acts as a strong gene-specific repressor and a weaker chromosome-wide repressor. To initiate hermaphrodite development, SDC-2 associates with the promoter of the male sex-determining gene her-1 to repress its transcription. To activate dosage compensation, SDC-2 triggers assembly of a specialized protein complex exclusively on hermaphrodite X chromosomes to reduce gene expression by half. SDC-2 can localize to X chromosomes without other components of the dosage compensation complex, suggesting that SDC-2 targets dosage compensation machinery to X chromosomes.
