Beyond genes. Last week the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the federal agency responsible for the Human Genome Project, announced a new initiative. The effort, known as ENCODE (ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements), aspires to take the current body of knowledge about human genetics to the next level, and is concerned with identifying and precisely locating the specific areas on the genome that produce particular proteins or in some other way control cellular processes. There are two components of this massive project. The first will use existing technologies to find these areas in targeted regions of the human genome. The second, aimed at developing new or improved technologies, includes a three-year, .5 million award to Zhiping Weng, an ENG associate professor of biomedical engineering and a member of the bioinformatics faculty. Among the project’s 14 awards, Weng’s is the only one with a substantial computational component.

Her research will use new methods developed by her lab to computationally compare genomic sequences in tandem with a technique recently developed by ENG Professor Charles Cantor and Research Assistant Professor Chunming Ding at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology (see “Research Briefs,” October 3, 2003) that allows researchers to rapidly scan widely separated locations along the genome.

When and where proteins are produced is controlled by instructions coded in particular areas of the genome. From a finite set of genes, an almost infinite variety of proteins are made in response to both signals within the body and to environmental stimuli. Interruption of this process has been implicated in various forms of illness. The long-term goal of Weng’s research is to better understand how these areas regulate protein production. Her team will identify the critical areas and determine their orchestrated impacts on a variety of tissues and organs within the body, using a powerful combination of computational and experimental approaches.

Starving for sunshine. People in the United States face “severe vitamin D deficiency,” according to Michael F. Holick, a MED professor of medicine, dermatology, physiology, and biophysics, who spoke recently at a National Institutes of Health symposium on Vitamin D in the 21st Century.

Terming the deficiency a “severe, unrecognized epidemic,” he cited far-reaching health consequences, including increasing rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and multiple sclerosis. Holick, who isolated, identified, and synthesized the active form of vitamin D, said recent research reveals that “the 1997 daily recommended allowances . . . are totally inadequate to protect public health. . . . Adults should be getting 1,000 international units (IU) a day, not the 200 to 600 IU recommended in 1997.”

Taking diet supplements or drinking fortified milk or orange juice, however, does not provide enough of the vitamin. Holick recommends regular and moderate exposure to sunlight to allow the body to manufacture the vitamin D it needs. He proposes a national education campaign that “encourages people to get the exposure to sunlight they need and then put on lots of sunscreen.” He advises common sense in determining how much sun is needed. People with darker skin require more, light-skinned people less. The basic rule is to avoid sunburn to protect from skin cancer.

“Possible overexposure to ultraviolet light should not be an excuse to scare people out of the sun entirely,” Holick says.