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James Cook University, Townsville, Australia Mail Address: Comparative Genomics Centre, Molecular Sciences Bldg 21, James Cook University, Townsville, 4811, Queensland, Australia Telephone: 61-7-4781 6265 Fax: 61-7-4781 6078 |
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The Comparative Genomics Centre is a medical research centre founded by the School of Pharmacy and Molecular Sciences in association with the School of Medicine, at the James Cook University.
The overall aim of the Centre is to use a variety of genetic models to study human disease from an evolutionary perspective. Housed in state-of-the-art custom built laboratories, the Comparative Genomics Centre offers a unique opportunity to research comparative genomics, molecular genetics, immunogenetics and immunology in a beautiful tropical environment adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef
RATIONALE: Why do scientists study simple organisms like coral and fruit fly while people suffer from terrible diseases like cancer and AIDS? Medical biologists value these organisms because they serve as excellent models; they are simple versions of more complex creatures. The underlying basis for this lies in the genome. For example, the genes controlling body symmetry and partitioning into head, chest, abdomen and limbs (termed "homeotic genes") of the fly are homologous to those in other types of animals, including man.
The central hypothesis behind the work of the Comparative Genomics Centre is that those genes that have been performing the same function through-out evolutionary history are unlikely to be involved in common diseases. Such genes may, however, be involved in catastrophic genetic accidents, which would appear as rare inherited diseases associated with a single gene defect.
In contrast, traits which are newly evolved are less likely to be encoded by well adapted genes and may be associated with common diseases that exhibit complex genetics.
By studying life processes in coral or flys, we can learn how the same events occur in the human body - and how they go awry when disease strikes. For example, by studying the genetics of yeast, coral, fruit fly, mice and humans, the Comparative Genomics Centre aims to distinguish genes involved in self/non self discrimination that have been conserved through evolution from those that have arisen only recently, with a view to comparing their disease associations.
The research performed in the centre enhances our understanding of the processes involved in cancer, birth defects, immune compromised states and autoimmune disease.
Several of the member laboratories of the CGC contribute to the Medical Genetics Research Advancement Program, a consortium established to develop key techniques, expertise and experience in the collection, production and analysis of data revealing genetic risk factors for human diseases.
