Stafford and fellow microbiologist Tao Li made an international splash this week by finding the gene that permits warfarin, the heart drug sold as Coumadin, to work. The discovery could improve use of a blood thinner prescribed to more than 1 million Americans despite risks of side effects.
“It's one of the most-used drugs in the world. If we could predict which patients need a smaller dose as opposed to a larger, that would be wonderful,” Stafford said.
Untangling what human genes do holds huge medical promise. The stretches of DNA carry recipes for every molecular structure in the human body. But breakthroughs don't come easily.
Source: http://www.news-observer.com/front/story/3310518p-2953537c.html
[Editor: The preceding article was not written by A4M/WHN]
