Jean-Jacques Degroof, an entrepreneur and educator, spent much of his career investing in Belgian startups such as Bone Therapeutics and Softkinetic. As an educator, Jean-Jacques Degroof facilitated a Global Startup Labs at the University of Louvain in Belgium lead by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduates.
MIT has always been a source of innovation and this spring researchers developed a new screening process for targeting the cells that protect against Huntington’s disease. The research involved using a screening technique that allowed researchers to assess the 22,000 genes that comprise the brain of mice.
The screening used components of genetic material that can turn off and on the expression of a particular gene. Viruses deliver these genes, each one carrying an element that targets a specific gene. Researchers developed a way to make a solution of the viruses to be injected into the brain (in the striatum) of mice involved in the research. Seven months later, genes were sequenced in the targeted striatal neurons.
This approach was based on the idea that certain genes were necessary for survival, and if those genes were disabled, then the cell dies. Moreover, these elements that can control gene expression would be lower in concentration. This also allowed researchers to identify the genes needed for survival.
After screening two models of the Huntington’s found in mice, researchers came to the conclusion that, because the elements that control gene expression were found less frequently, this suggests those elements target genes that assist in making cells resistant to the mutant Huntington's protein.
A possible explanation appeared when a gene in the Nme (linked to cancer metastasis) family emerged as a target. Nme1 is involved in controlling the expression of other genes that are responsible for disposing of these proteins. This led researchers to the conclusion that, without the Nme1, the genes that dispose of the Huntington's protein are not expressed, allowing the gene to accumulate.
MIT has always been a source of innovation and this spring researchers developed a new screening process for targeting the cells that protect against Huntington’s disease. The research involved using a screening technique that allowed researchers to assess the 22,000 genes that comprise the brain of mice.
The screening used components of genetic material that can turn off and on the expression of a particular gene. Viruses deliver these genes, each one carrying an element that targets a specific gene. Researchers developed a way to make a solution of the viruses to be injected into the brain (in the striatum) of mice involved in the research. Seven months later, genes were sequenced in the targeted striatal neurons.
This approach was based on the idea that certain genes were necessary for survival, and if those genes were disabled, then the cell dies. Moreover, these elements that can control gene expression would be lower in concentration. This also allowed researchers to identify the genes needed for survival.
After screening two models of the Huntington’s found in mice, researchers came to the conclusion that, because the elements that control gene expression were found less frequently, this suggests those elements target genes that assist in making cells resistant to the mutant Huntington's protein.
A possible explanation appeared when a gene in the Nme (linked to cancer metastasis) family emerged as a target. Nme1 is involved in controlling the expression of other genes that are responsible for disposing of these proteins. This led researchers to the conclusion that, without the Nme1, the genes that dispose of the Huntington's protein are not expressed, allowing the gene to accumulate.
