Rapidly evolving viruses are a major threat to human health. Such viruses are often highly pathogenic (e.g., influenza virus, HIV, Ebola virus) and routinely circumvent therapeutic intervention through mutational escape. Error-prone genome replication generates heterogeneous viral populations that rapidly adapt to new selection pressures, leading to resistance that emerges with treatment. Howev...

Abnormalities in heart rhythm continue to cause high rates of illness and death. Better treatment could be provided by solving two main challenges: the early identification of patients who are at risk, and the characterization of molecular pathways that culminate in arrhythmias. By analysing mechanisms that increase susceptibility to arrhythmia in individuals with genetic syndromes, it might be...

Since its discovery, myostatin (MSTN) has been at the forefront of muscle therapy research because intrinsic mutations or inhibition of this protein, by either pharmacological or genetic means, result in muscle hypertrophy and hyperplasia. In addition to muscle growth, MSTN inhibition potentially disturbs connective tissue, leads to strength modulation, facilitates myoblast transplantation, pro...

ulcerative colitis is a chronic disease that specifically affects the mucosa of the rectum and colon. although the etiology of this recurring inflammatory disorder remains essentially unknown, there have been significant advances in identifying the likely genetic and environmental factors that contribute to its pathogenesis. the clinical course of the disease typically manifests with remissions...

Pharmacogenetics has revolutionized the way in which drug metabolism was looked upon in the pre-genomic era. Today with the advent of genomics it is possible to genotype an individual. The genetic differences, which determine the disposition of a given drug in an individual, ultimately give differences in drug response. Genotyping and phenotyping tests to predict dose requirement are now increa...