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In back-to-back papers published online July 28 in Science, researchers from the Ó³»­´«Ã½, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have confirmed genetic abnormalities previously suspected in head and neck cancer, including defects in the tumor suppressor gene known as p53. But the two teams also found mutations in the NOTCH family of genes, suggesting their role as regulators of an important stage in cell development may be impaired.

Scientists have created the world’s most detailed genetic map, culminating years of research into the DNA of African Americans and how genetic changes contribute to the risk of disease.

David Reich, an associate member of the Ó³»­´«Ã½ of MIT and Harvard, and colleagues developed the map after analyzing the DNA of 30,000 African Americans. Reich, who is also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Genetics, collaborated with Simon Myers, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Ó³»­´«Ã½ and now a lecturer at Oxford University.