An article by scientist Michael Carey has been selected as one of the best articles published in 2012 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry
The article was among 22 papers selected by the journal's editors from more than 4,000 for inclusion in the “Best of 2012” list. The paper by Carey, professor and vice chair of the UCLA Department of Biological Chemistry, represents the best article published in genomics and proteomics.
Carey’s article focuses on the development of organisms from fruit flies to man. This development relies on specific genes being turned on and off in a cell-specific, regulated manner. A protein called Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) plays an important role in this process by silencing certain genes at specific developmental stages. A number of laboratories had shown previously that misregulation of PRC1 can play a role in human cancer. Knowledge of how PRC1 works will lead to insights into its function.
In an effort to understand the detailed molecular mechanism, graduate student Lynn Lehmann, in collaboration with the laboratories of James Wohlschlegel and Siavash Kurdistani, reproduced the action of PRC1 in a test tube and studied it using leading-edge genomic, informatic and proteomic technologies.
