April Updates From The Chromosome 18 Clinical Research Center

Pictured above left to right: Neale Parker, Audrey Harzke, Dr. Jannine Cody, and Patrick Kaminski.

Updates from the Chromosome 18 Clinical Research Center

• Last month, staff was honored to host a tour of the Clinical Research Center for Patrick Kaminski, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at UT San Antonio (pictured above).
• UT San Antonio Neurodevelopmental Disorders Consortium is being organized with the Clinical Research Center as a central player. Next month, opportunities for collaboration will be presented to the neuroscience basic scientists regarding all the interesting genes and phenotypes, particularly those on 18p. 
• Is your family planning to come to the Annual Family Conference in San Antonio this summer? We will be doing blood draws at Conference for those who want to enroll in the Clinical Research Center study. If you are interested in enrolling and completing your blood draws at this year's Conference, please reach out to chromosome18@uthscsa.edu as there are steps you will need to complete prior to coming to Conference.

This month, Dr. Cody shares an article discussing how genes get their names and the unexpected origins of some unique gene names. Please enjoy the article below:

What Is In A Name?

The names of genes can look pretty strange or at best curious. Sometimes they look like abbreviations, acronyms, and sometimes they look like real words. The gene names you see in genetics laboratory reports or on websites are in fact acronyms for the full gene name. These names are actually assigned by an international committee of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO). They require that each human gene has a unique, uppercase italicized symbol (e.g., USP14) and a descriptive name. How they get those names and their official acronym can take different paths... Click HERE to read the full article.

If you would like to support the groundbreaking research projects underway at the Chromosome 18 Clinical Research Center, just click the button below:

To view Dr. Cody's chromosome 18 basics and FAQ videos, please click the link below:

Do you have questions about anything in this email? Contact the Clinical Research Center for more information at chromosome18@uthscsa.edu