All treatments and diagnostic tools based on genetics must begin with gene discovery – a quest through the recently mapped genome for links, associations, and previously unknown factors.

Researchers approach gene identification in a number of ways.

One of the more creative approaches Columbia researchers used this year was a targeted search in an area of the brain known to house the starting line for Alzheimer’s disease.

By using imaging studies to look in the entorhinal cortex within the hippocampus, researchers found four genes overexpressed in people with Alzheimer’s disease and zeroed in on the one they think is most likely associated with the disease.

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