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Cancer genome sequencing can reveal thousands of mutations per tumor, but scientists need more data to interpret those variants. Since 2011, members of ӳý's Cancer Genome Analysis team have used Oncotator, a tool for annotating cancer-related variants, resulting in more than 20 publications. In the journal , a team led by ӳý researchers Gad Getz, Alex Ramos, and Lee Lichtenstein announced the first public release of Oncotator, which draws information from 14 publicly available cancer resources and is available as a python , as well as a and stand-alone application.

As one of the most commonly altered genes in cancer, MCL1 has been the focus of widespread drug development efforts — but the gene, which encodes a protein that helps keep cells alive, remains an elusive target. A new finding published this week by ӳý researchers is expected to catalyze the development of effective MCL1 inhibitors. The team, led by senior author Michael Serrano-Wu, designed a new MCL1 protein construct that provides a robust solution to a previously intractable structural biology problem. is published online in PLoS One.

In a new paper in Nature Cell Biology, ӳý researchers reveal the nuanced mechanism by which Sirt6 regulates embryonic stem cell differentiation via the epigenome.

The epigenome is a collection of physical “amendments” to DNA—things like proteins around which the double helix is wrapped like thread on a spool and chemical tags on the DNA of specific genes that can make them hard to access. This collection of epigenetic factors works together to help give each cell in the body its specific identity by regulating which genes are expressed—it’s a big reason why skin cells don’t get confused with blood cells and why bone cells are full of calcium instead of fat. The epigenome guides differentiation, the process by which embryonic stem cells (ESCs) go from being pluripotent—having the ability to turn into almost any cell type in the body—to taking on one specific identity. But in order for differentiation to happen, the products of a handful of pluripotency genes, which work to maintain the pre-differentiated state of a cell, must be overcome.

For the past seven years, software engineering manager Tom Green has guided the development and maintenance of software tools that support the Genetic Perturbation Platform at the ӳý, where he can be found working with a team of software engineers or consulting with scientists conducting experimental screens. Two decades ago, however, Green was living without electricity or running water in the jungles of Nicaragua, a houseguest of locals in the remote village of Karawala on the Caribbean coast, doing a very different kind of research.