G2C::Press Releases

G2C collaboration with the Allen Institute for Brain Science captures the attention of the World Press

An anatomically comprehensive atlas of the adult human brain transcriptome

03/10/2012

In the two weeks since the article An anatomically comprehensive atlas of the adult human brain transcriptome appeared online in the journal Nature it has been widely picked-up and reported by the World's press agencies and newspapers, with headline stories appearing on:

• The BBC,
• CNN,
• The Daily Mail
• The Guardian

The study was carried out by the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle in collaboration with the Genes to Cognition Research Programme (G2C) of University of Edinburgh and other institutes.

The study created 3D maps of gene expression in two human brains, and found the molecular expression patterns quite similar despite the differing nature and personalities of these individuals.

Professor Seth Grant who leads the Genes to Cognition Programme in Edinburgh said, The human brain is the most complex structure known to mankind and one of the great challenges in modern biology is to understand how it is built and organized. This genetic mapping provides us with the Rosetta Stone for understanding the link between genetic disorders and brain disease. We live in an era where human genome sequencing is discovering broken genes but until now we have not known where in the brain these genes act.”

Furthermore he said "it was now essential to understand how it [the brain] makes all of the genes and where they are expressed in the human brain".

Recognising the impact the work may well have on our general understanding of the brain, and potentially brain disease, many health science and technology websites have reported the broad significance of the article, as have financial and biotech-monitoring websites, hinting at the potential for intervention and prevention in psychiatric and neurological disorders, which are still largely untreated.

Human brain transcriptome paper and resources

• The paper at Nature Neuroscience
• Allen Institute for Brain Science Press Release
• Edinburgh University press release
• Genes to Cognition Programme website

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