tags: genetics

2008

February

2008 Feb 25

genetics: only the abnormal is interesting

One of the things that drew me to the field of genetics when I was an undergraduate was the fact that geneticists seemed to value the abnormal over the normal. Genes are named for the "abnormal" phenotype, rather than the wild-type phenotype. So you get names like hedgehog, a gene, which when mutated, causes a fruitfly to develop "lawns" of prickly denticles, and fringe, which makes the fruit-fly have, well, fringes. And geneticists aren't afraid to appropriate facets of sociology and popular culture. So one of the better known mammalian analogues of hedgehog is sonic hedgehog, named after the video game character.

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2016

January

2016 Jan 27

Genetic Correlation with Depression

Back in July 2015, a correlation between depression and two genetic loci was discovered. #CorrelationDoesNotImplyCausation

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