One group of scientists in California is using new technology that can scan up to 30,000 genes at the same time to figure out whether there are changes in the way that heart tissues recover from damage caused by a heart attack or caused by chronic high blood pressure.
Investigators can then follow up on promising leads with more specific laboratory techniques.
The information could one day help researchers design better heart drugs, develop new treatments for high blood pressure, and find better ways to identify people who are at risk for having heart attacks. Other researchers in Florida are using the same technology, called DNA microarray sequencing, to scan the thousands of genes that constitute a cancer cell. They also hope to find information that will aid accurate diagnosis of cancer and improve cancer treatments. This script gives each cell its distinctive design and functional capabilities. David G. Lowe, PhD, and colleagues from the biotechnology firm Genenetch Inc., in South San Francisco, report in the heart journal Circulation on their use of DNA microarray sequencing to study heart tissue in animals.