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Intern helps map pathways suspected in degenerative disease

What causes many of the degenerative diseases that afflict people all over the world? According to researchers with Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation, it may be disruptions in communication between cells.

However, our knowledge of cellular communication pathways is limited. And without some way to organize it, the potential for applying this knowledge is curtailed.

So Kinexus turned to the MITACS internship program for help in developing a computer system to map these pathways. Sharon Zao of Simon Fraser University has been working with university and industry partners to create high resolution cellular maps. These maps will be used by scientists around the world to determine the role of cellular communication in disease.

Kinexus believes that these maps will feature hundreds of thousands of pathways, improving current models a hundred-fold. Researchers will also be laying the foundations for personalized medical care, and building B.C.’s reputation for research excellence.

For more information, please visit http://www.kinexus.ca/ or http://www.mitacsinternships.ca/internship.

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