Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học quốc tế cung cấp cho các bạn kiến thức về ngành y đề tài: Living on the edge. | Meeting report Living on the edge Gino Poulin and Julie Ahringer Address The Gurdon Institute and Department of Genetics University of Cambridge Tennis Court Road Cambridge CB2 1QR UK. Correspondence Gino Poulin. E-mail gp240@ Published 14 January 2005 Genome Biology 2005 6 307 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http 2005 6 2 307 2005 BioMed Central Ltd A report on the Second EMBL EMBO Symposium on Functional Genomics Exploring the Edges of Omics European Molecular Biology Laboratory EMBL Heidelberg Germany 16-19 October 2004. EMBL s recent symposium on functional genomics showed how this new field has matured. Work from a broad range of model organisms provided new biological insights and a plethora of improved high-throughput technologies promised more of these in the future. We focus here on biological networks - a major theme of the meeting. Network motifs The identification of patterns in biological data can uncover mechanisms through which processes are regulated. Uri Alon Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot Israel presented evidence that in gene-regulatory networks particular patterns of interconnections network motifs are enriched when compared to a randomized network. For example the three-node feed-forward loop in which transcription factor X regulates transcription factor Y and both jointly regulate gene Z is a frequently used network motif one example is in the L-arabinose utilization system in Escherichia coli. Studying this system in vivo Alon found that the feed-forward loop is protected against fluctuation of external signals and allows rapid shutdown of transcription. The identification of network motifs is important as they are thought to perform specific information-processing tasks. Dissecting networks involved in complex contexts such as animal development is a monumental task. Norbert Perri-mon Harvard Medical School Howard Hughes Medical Institute Boston USA .
