Dr Yijun Ruan, Senior Group Leader at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), a biomedical research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), has been awarded a US$100,000 grant from the International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF)[1], USA, to apply his genomics approach to study the disease mechanisms of Rett Syndrome[2]. IRSF is the largest private source of funds for biomedical and clinical research on Rett Syndrome, a disease that affects girls all around the world and affects, among other things, their ability to walk, eat, and talk.
The award was presented based on Dr Ruan’s proposal to use a novel GIS-developed technology, ChIA-PET, to investigate how the key gene implicated in Rett syndrome, MeCP2, interacts with the regulatory networks in the cell. The grant commences in October 2010 and will conclude in two years.
“Rett Syndrome is a developmental disorder caused by mutations on MeCP2, a gene on the X chromosome,” said Dr Ruan. “With the ChIA-PET technologies that we at the GIS developed, we will be able to interrogate the gene function regulatory networks involving MeCP2 with the aim of understanding the disease mechanisms and finding a cure for this and many other diseases.”
Besides the IRSF grant, Dr Ruan also received two other grants last month from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), an institute belonging to the National Institutes of Health (NIH in USA). Both these grants are extensions of the grants which Dr Ruan was awarded in 2007 under the ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE)[3] project.
One of the grant extensions is for the project “Whole genome chromatin interaction analysis using Pair-End-diTagging (ChIA-PET)”, which first received funding in 2007. The aim of this additional grant, worth US$300,000, is to apply the ChIA-PET technology for generating three-dimensional datasets of human genome conformation. Such information is critical to unravel the mystery of the spatial organization and function of genomes.
The second grant extension funds a continuation of the project “Comprehensive characterization and classification of the human transcriptome”, and is worth US$150,000. The project is now in its fourth year of research.
All in all, Dr Ruan’s team has received over US$2 million from NHGRI for these two projects.
Dr Ruan and his team at the GIS were also recipients of the National Science and Technology Awards (NSTA) in 2006 for this exceptional work.
The Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) is an institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). It has a global vision that seeks to use genomic sciences to improve public health and public prosperity. Established in 2001 as a centre for genomic discovery, the GIS will pursue the integration of technology, genetics and biology towards the goal of individualized medicine. The key research areas at the GIS include Systems Biology, Stem Cell & Developmental Biology, Cancer Biology & Pharmacology, Human Genetics, Infectious Diseases, Genomic Technologies, and Computational & Mathematical Biology. The genomics infrastructure at the GIS is utilized to train new scientific talent, to function as a bridge for academic and industrial research, and to explore scientific questions of high impact.
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[1] The International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF) is a non-profit corporation established in July 2007 through the strategic merger of the Rett Syndrome Research Foundation and the International Rett Syndrome Association.
[2] Rett Syndrome is a unique developmental disorder that is first recognized in infancy and seen almost always in girls, but can be rarely seen in boys. It is caused by mutations on the X chromosome on a gene called MeCP2. It is a developmental disorder that strikes all racial and ethnic groups, and occurs worldwide in 1 of every 10,000 to 23,000 female births. (cited from IRSF official website http://www.rettsyndrome.org/2.html?option=com_content&Itemid=1000).
[3] The ENCODE project was set up by NHGRI in 2003 with the aim of discovering all functional elements in the human genome to gain a deeper understanding of human biology and develop new strategies for preventing and treating diseases.