Detecting the environment-genetics interplay for obesity-related traits
A new open-source method allows to accurately estimate how much of our genome makes us susceptible to environmental risk factors, which in turn predispose us to certain pathologies. The study describing the method, led by the SIB Group of Zoltán Kutalik at the University of Lausanne, is published in Nature Communications.
February publications
Take a tour of SIB members' latest peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings
Latest Protein Spotlight: "the unwalkable disease"
When too much uric acid is produced, it precipitates as urate crystals that slowly build up finally causing excruciating pain - surprisingly at the base of the big toe in about half of gout cases. Why is uric acid elimination sometimes insufficient? Besides certain diets, there are a number of other reasons and one of them is the inherited dysfunction of a protein pump known as ABCG2
SIB experts and resources in the fight against coronavirus
From where did the new coronavirus (nCoV, see box) arise, and how did it move to humans? How is it spreading and evolving? How can we develop therapies to treat it? SIB Groups provide a range of tools and resources that can help researchers answer these questions.
January publications
Take a tour of SIB members' latest peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings
Towards a data management toolkit for life scientists
SIB is one of the 29 research institutes across 22 European countries to be part of ELIXIR-CONVERGE, a project funded by the European Commission to help standardize life science data management across Europe to drive good data management, reproducibility and reuse.
Human ancestors impacted biodiversity much earlier than previously thought
Human-driven biodiversity declines started much earlier than previously thought: this is what a recent study led by researchers from Switzerland, Sweden and the UK points to. Using fossil records spanning millions of years, the team disentangled the most plausible causes for the diversity decline observed in large African carnivores.
Latest Protein Spotlight: Backlash
Toxic compounds that find their way into microorganisms are usually funnelled out by what are known as efflux pumps. These pumps pose one problem for humans however, and that is drug resistance. One such pump is the Trichophyton rubrum ABC multidrug transporter MDR3.