14 DAY TRIAL // Some of the most complicated diseases in the world today, such as depression and cancer, as well as some mental illnesses, are not the result of a single gene going "yahoo" inside the sufferer's body, but of a complex of genes malfunctioning, stimulating or inhibiting less than they normally have to. New Jersey Institute of Technology associate professor Ali Abdi, Ph.D., working from the department of electrical and computer engineering, may have found a way to identify bad genes before they can cause damage.
Working in collaboration with biologists and computer experts, Abdi managed to devise a mathematical algorithm that is capable of calculating exactly how vulnerable molecules in a given space are to outside influences, such as genes or proteins that have been "corrupted" by defect biochemical interactions. These interactions are what regulates the connections between genes and proteins throughout the human body.
"Through these interactions, molecules propagate regulatory signals. The function of cells in the body is vulnerable to the dysfunction of some molecules within a cell. In other words, different diseases may arise from the dysfunction of one or several molecules within an interconnected network system," Abdi explained. The biologically-driven vulnerability assessment method he and his team invented could help doctors better understand the causes of some severe mental illnesses that are now without a cure.
By identifying exactly which interactions are capable of triggering diseases at a cellular level, scientists could interfere with the process and stop it. This could have very positive applications in preventing cancer, which mostly starts developing when a gene mutates and cellular growth is no longer controlled. By understanding how these mutations occur, new therapies could be devised to stop them.
"We believe that complex human disorders, such as cancer, different mental disorders and some neurodegenerative disorders, are not caused by a single gene but rather many. Our most important task is to figure out which genes are critical for disease development and which molecules are the most promising therapeutic targets," added Advanced Technologies for Novel Therapeutics CEO, Effat Emamian, M.D.