Scientists at IMBA are passionate about discovery and advancing our understanding of biology. They are recognized leaders in their fields, regularly publishing in the top research journals. Contributions from IMBA research groups are of interest to everyone – including scientists, clinicians, and the public. The Research Highlights below summarize some of the most significant discoveries made by IMBA scientists.


14.04.2009

Clarification of all genetic functions comes within reach

Using a new method which will allow more systematic investigation of diseases in future, the IMBA stem cell researcher Jürgen Knoblich has for the first time succeeded in analysing gene functions simultaneously across the entire genome of an organism.

Identification of all gene functions within reach
A new approach enables stem cell researcher Jürgen Knoblich to investigate the function of genes across an organism’s whole genotype simultaneously. In future this will make it possible to tackle the identification of the causes of illnesses even more systematically.

Our genes determine how we look, but also what illnesses we suffer from. Since the beginning of this century, all human genes have been identified. But what function does each gene have in the organism? For humans this question will remain unanswered for some time to come, but for a model organism like the fruit fly an answer is already possible. In the next edition of the renowned professional journal Nature, IMBA stem cell researcher Jürgen Knoblich and his post-doctoral researcher Jennifer Mummery-Widmer describe the functions of no less than 2,600 of approximately 13,000 known genes in the fruit fly genome together with the networks linking them.

Simultaneous analysis of all genes possible for the first time
This quantum leap is the result of a new procedure with which makes it possible to analyse complex biological processes in all the genes of the fruit fly simultaneously. This unusually extensive gene analysis was only made possible by using the IMP-IMBA fly library, which was compiled by neurobiologist Barry Dickson. The database contains 20,000 strains of flies and in each of these exactly one gene is deactivated.

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Publication:
Mummery-Widmer, J.L., Yamazaki, M., Stoeger, T., Novatchkova, M., Bhalerao, S., Chen, D., Dietzl, G., Dickson, B.J. and Knoblich, J.A. (2009). Genome-wide analysis of Notch signalling in Drosophila by transgenic RNAi. Nature.