Researchers Herald Gene Testing Breakthrough

[shortstep]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/06/3003579.htm

This is really good news and is going to open up gene research on some of the really hard multi gene diseases like HD and epilepsy in dogs.

Researchers say they have made a breakthrough in testing for complex genetic conditions like heart disease, after the successful trial of new gene-testing technology.

Traditionally, genetic testing only assesses one gene at a time, but in some conditions like heart and neurological diseases, many genes are involved.

Using new technology, scientists from Melbourne and the US were able to look at 100 genes in a study of 103 patients, all of them children.

Associate Professor David Thorburn from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute says they found gene mutations that would have been impossible to detect under old testing methods.

"It will help in diagnoses and because we can look at a lot more genes we can also find new causes of disease," he said.

"One of the other factors that came out of this study is that we identified two novel diseases, disease genes that we hadn't realised were a factor in disease previously."

Associate Professor Thorburn says the trial will lead to much quicker detection of diseases.

"The methods we've used in this study make it much more efficient to do genetic testing," he said.

"In the past it might have taken us months or years to find these mutations. We're hoping within a few years' time [that] on a simple blood test we can find the mutations in most of these patients within a few weeks."

[SkySoaringMagpie]

That would be really awesome.