Understanding Gender-Specific Regulation of Genes
Stewart Frankel, Ph.D.,Associate Research Scientist in Pediatrics and Developmental Biology
Biological traits that differ between females and males can be traced back to genes, which contain the instructions for building and maintaining the body. By using the experimental organism the fruit fly as a model for human biology, Dr. Stewart Frankel studied the activation pattern of every gene, investigating how sex differences in these genetic activation patterns are generated and predispose females or males to disease.
Highlighted Study Findings
Dr. Frankel identified mechanisms that generate sex-specific gene expression, which appears to be a major contributing factor in the preferential susceptibility of each sex to particular diseases. He laid the groundwork for further, wider studies of differential gene expression in males and females. Identifying and understanding such mechanisms has direct relevance to diseases in which the causes include some form of gene dysregulation, such as cancers and autoimmune ailments.
