Cell Cycle Scientists Are Centenary Laureates

NEWScrosses.Only the genotyping of the strain, which is done with markers spread along the chromosome, involves modern molecular techniques.Once each strain is generated, MCW researchers engage in what they call "high-throughput physiology," measuring and comparing over 200 quantifiable physiological traits-ranging from kidney function to ischemia response-in the consomic strain and its parental strain.The scale of the effort, which is being financed with a $13.3 million, four-year grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the NIH, is impressive."In the last 9 months ... we have studied 1,256 rats and we've generated over 29,000 data points of physiological characteristics," says Jacob, adding that "two technicians are generating the amount of data equal to a physiology paper a week."Rather than publishing all of the data in the form of papers, the program, named PhysGen, releases results quarterly in an online public database (http://pga.mcw.