DISCOVERING THE CAUSE OF HUMAN DISEASE It is still early days in terms of understanding the connections between our genes and the causes of disease. The challenge stems from the fact that most common conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease or cancer, are caused by mutations in more than one gene. Continued research in this area is key in the fight against the most harmful afflictions of our time. Donnelly Centre researchers are conducting basic research to understand how cells, tissues and organs work in order to shed light on how normal processes are subverted in disease.
UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BIOLOGY USING YEAST Yeast is a simple, single-celled organism that shares a basic biology with human cells. This shared biology has been dramatically highlighted over the years by discoveries about the basic workings of the cell for which yeast researchers have been awarded the Nobel Prize, among other honours. Yet, even though yeast cells have a relatively simple genetic manual —about one quarter of the human complement —scientists have been stymied by the incredible complexity of biological systems, and have been unable to understand how genes work together to determine how yeast or human cells function. Thanks to prototype, state-of-the-art robotic technology, Donnelly Centre researchers were able to study in exquisite detail how all genes in the yeast cell work together to underpin a cell’s survival and function. These breakthrough insights into the basic wiring of a cell are necessary if we are to understand
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what makes human cells healthy and what goes wrong when disease strikes. The work in yeast has inspired new collaborations in the Donnelly Centre, applying powerful robotic platforms to study cancer cells in previously unimaginable detail to find better ways of attacking them. Lead researchers
Drs. Brenda Andrews, Charles Boone, Timothy Hughes and Jason Moffat
This image illustrates a correlation-based network connecting genes with similar genetic interaction profiles in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
LEADING THE WAY TO A NEW ERA IN HUMAN HEALTH