Bioinformatics for Geneticists

L1-associated diseases: clinical geneticists divide, molecular geneticists unite.

The neuronal cell adhesion molecule L1 (L1CAM) is a transmembrane glycoprotein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily and is essential in the development of the nervous system. It is mainly expressed on neurons and Schwann cells, and plays a key role in axon outgrowth and pathfinding through interactions with various extracellular ligands and intracellular second messenger systems. Mutatio...

Quarreling geneticists and a diplomat.

I N the 1950s the hydrogen bomb was new; it was also fearsome. Some of the test explosions produced debris that was dispersed by high-altitude winds, dropping radioactive fallout over an entire hemisphere. Some geneticists feared that mutations induced by the radiation would constitute a significant genetic hazard to future generations. Other people argued that the tests were a necessary part o...

Training of medical geneticists.

Canadian College of Medical Geneticists

Will schizophrenia become a graveyard for molecular geneticists?

We have little clear understanding of the structural or functional pathology of schizophrenia despite many years of research. The only aetiological factor established beyond reasonable doubt is inheritance; with firm evidence from family, twin and adoption studies (Gottesman & Shields, 1982; McGuffin, 1988). In contrast, advance in human molecular genetics has been prodigious. The genetic defec...