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Boston and Cambridge, Mass. — A multinational group of investigators has discovered that people suffering from schizophrenia are far more likely to carry rare chromosomal structural changes of all types, particularly those that have the potential to alter gene function. In addition, the study uncovered two new specific genomic areas that, when altered, significantly increase the risk of developing the disease. The report from the International Schizophrenia Consortium, the largest and most complete such study to date, is being published online today by the journal Nature.

Researchers at the Ó³»­´«Ã½ of Harvard and MIT have received a grant to support novel, integrative research aimed at finding ways to encourage the human body to replenish the cells that are missing in type 1 diabetes. Awarded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the $3M grant will fund work that knits together two interdisciplinary fields, genome biology and chemical biology, to address a fundamental question in human biology: can existing cells be coaxed to regenerate ones that are lost or damaged by disease?