The researchers even found that immune cells — and not brain cells that are part of learning and memory – look to be the genetic root of the disease that robs people of their memory.
— kelly krause (@kellybkrause) February 18, 2015
These findings by scientists in Boston and published in the journal Nature are part of a larger study examining human genetic information and specifically looks at the so-called genomic circuits which determine where the cell will end up in the body, such as will it be a lung cell or a liver cell.
The researchers mapped out 111 types of human cells, from top to bottom, and the circuits figure out where each cell goes.
Researchers say that knowing where each cell is will be crucial in fighting diseases because they’ll be able to know from the very beginning how the disease got started.
These findings are part of a $240 million research project funded by the National Institutes of Health that looks at human DNA and the relationship between diseases origin and particular cells.