Although these approaches help they
are still predictions and we need to
obtain functional evidence from wet
lab experiments. We cannot do this
using classic cell biology anymore.
With the speed by which we iden-
tify genetic risk factors, this would be
completely impractical. We have iden-
tified hundreds of genes to investigate
and therefore our lab has developed a
fully automated cell culture system in
which we can perform functional stud-
ies in high throughput. We can culture
clonal cell lines such as neuroblastoma
cells as well as patient derived induced
Pluripotent Stem cells (iPSc) to study
the effect of the identified mutations
in detail by using, for example, micro-
scopic assays but also transcriptome,
epigenome and proteomic assays.
It has taken time to develop this ap-
proach but last year we published our
first systematic screen for new genes
for Parkinson’s disease that was lead
by a talented PhD student, Iris Jansen.
We are using this approach now as a
tool to investigate all the genes we
identify with our genetic studies and
in this way select the genes that are
truely influencing disease risk.
What are the practical applications
of these findings in clinics?
For genes associated with Mendelian
forms of disease, a test can be de-
veloped that can be used to diagnose
the disease. But the main benefit of
identifying disease genes is that they
can serve as a starting point to study
the molecular processes that lead to a
disease. The genes identified by GWAS
can be used to study the underlying
biology of a disease and help to find
new targets to develop a therapy that
can either slow down or stop the dis-
ease process.
Although the path from finding a ge-
netic risk factor to developing a ther-
apy is a long and slow process, I think
we live in exciting times. Genetics has
contributed a lot to our understand-
ing of disease and has often guided
researchers in developing model sys-
tems or choosing targets for therapy
development. We keep finding new
risk factors that sometimes confirm
the mechanisms we work on, but also
often show us new pathways that we
did not consider before that have then
opened up completely new lines of
research towards new therapy. I am
confident that in the coming years we
will finally be able to develop effective
therapeutic approaches that will ben-
efit the patients and that genetics will
play a crucial role in this.
Thank you Prof. Dr. Peter Heutink for
taking the time to talk with the Neu-
romag about your research!
Image sources were open source or be-
long to the author, unless otherwise
noted.
Anastasia Illarionova is a GTC
master student in the DZNE in the
lab of Prof. Dr. Peter Heutink.
Peter Heutink and his research group at the DZNE
- What brings us together and supports
us to bring the Neuromag to you -
At the University of Tübingen, three international neuroscience
graduate schools provide research oriented career tracks
that lead to a master and, eventually, a doctoral degree
and provide an ideal preparation for a career in science and
academia. There are three programs: Neural and Behavioural
Sciences, Neural Information Processing, Cellular and Molecular
Neuroscience.
The three graduate programs complement one another
ideally and, thus, provide a markedly broad spectrum of
neuroscience research and training opportunities in Tübingen.
Teaching is entirely in English.
Contact
Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience
International Max Planck Research School
University of Tübingen
Österbergstr. 3
72074 Tübingen – Germany
www.neuroschool-tuebingen.de
[email protected]
July 2018 | NEUROMAG |
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