BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Modeling genetic complexity in vitro

January 6, 2011 8:00 AM UTC

Harvard researchers believe they have developed a method for generating in vitro models of highly complex genetic diseases, which are difficult to model with standard genetic knockout techniques.1 With proof of principle in a monogenic diabetes model, the researchers now plan to generate models of more complex genetic diseases and hope to use those models to identify new therapeutic targets and pathways.

Over the past decade, genomewide association (GWA) studies have helped identify genetic variation that influences susceptibility to and progression of genetic diseases. However, the development of models that incorporate such genetic variation has lagged...