Genome Speaker Series Kicks Off

Oliver Smithies, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at UNC, discussed his work with mouse genes.

The newly formed UNC Center for Genome Sciences launched its inaugural seminar series Tuesday afternoon with a squeak.

Oliver Smithies, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, shared his research work -- the alteration of mouse genes to benefit humans -- with a packed audience at the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building.

Smithies was the first speaker in a series of seminars titled Functional Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics, which will feature guest speakers from institutions such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford universities.

Genomics and proteomics are studies of genes and proteins, respectively, and bioinformatics is the science of handling and using collected biological data.

The UNC Center for Genome Sciences received official University recognition Aug. 10, but it has been operating in an unofficial capacity for most of this year. Last February, UNC committed to spend $245 million during the next decade in the area of genome sciences, and this lecture series is one part of that commitment.

"We need to bring experts to UNC so they can contribute to ongoing campus dialogue in the area of genomics," said Jeffrey Dangl, co-chairman of the lecture series.

Dangl said now is an important time in the area of genomics because of the near completion of the Human Genome Project -- the mapping of genes in the human DNA sequence -- and the many new opportunities for research in the field.

Smithies' address, "Mouse Solutions to Pharmacological Problems," centered on how scientists can study the effect of gene alteration on mice and how this possibly could benefit humans.

Smithies said the Human Genome Project has identified more than 30,000 genes in human DNA. With there being an average of 2,000 nucleotides in each gene, there is a lot of room for variation in each gene.

A large portion of Smithies' work has been investigating the genetic causes of hypertension. Smithies said he has a vested interest in this disease because he is one of millions of people who suffer from high blood pressure.

His work includes looking at mice genes that are similar to humans. He can then manipulate these genes to see how changing part of the DNA sequence will affect the disease and the mouse's health.

Smithies said his work has some limitations because mouse genes are not identical to human genes. He said he once hoped to alter part of the DNA from a mouse only to find that the particular sequence of DNA did not even exist in mice. But he has counteracted these setbacks by looking for other parts of human and mouse DNA that are similar and has made numerous discoveries by doing so.

"It really is a fascinating business to think about the variation in the human genome," Smithies said. "It's also exciting to ponder the different interactions that can occur between these variations and the different drugs that are on the market."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.