Publications by authors named "Vivien W Ho"
Article Synopsis
- The Open Targets Platform is an open-source knowledge base designed for identifying and prioritizing drug targets with enhanced data and tools.
- Significant updates include a revamped target-disease associations page featuring interactive elements and a new Target Prioritisation view, allowing users to evaluate targets based on clinical relevance and safety.
- The platform now also incorporates a direction of effect assessment from various evidence sources, illustrating how genetic variations impact target functions, thereby aiding in the understanding of disease treatment mechanisms.
Haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells emerge from specialized haemogenic endothelial cells in select vascular beds during embryonic development. Specification and commitment to the blood lineage, however, occur before endothelial cells are endowed with haemogenic competence, at the time of mesoderm patterning and production of endothelial cell progenitors (angioblasts). Whilst early blood cell fate specification has long been recognized, very little is known about the mechanisms that induce endothelial cell diversification and progressive acquisition of a blood identity by a subset of these cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetic and genomic analysis in Drosophila suggests that hematopoietic progenitors likely transition into terminal fates via intermediate progenitors (IPs) with some characteristics of either, but perhaps maintaining IP-specific markers. In the past, IPs have not been directly visualized and investigated owing to lack of appropriate genetic tools. Here, we report a Split GAL4 construct, CHIZ-GAL4, that identifies IPs as cells physically juxtaposed between true progenitors and differentiating hemocytes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA functional genomics screen identifying blood cell development genes in Drosophila by undergraduates participating in a course-based research experience.
G3 (Bethesda)
January 2021
Article Synopsis
- - Undergraduate students at UCLA conducted research using RNA interference (RNAi) and fluorescent proteins to pinpoint genes crucial for blood cell development in fruit flies, screening around 3,500 genes and finding 137 that affected hematopoiesis.
- - By targeting RNAi to different cell types involved in blood cell maturation, the researchers identified specific gene subsets that either facilitate or inhibit this process, revealing new insights into gene functions related to RNA processing and vesicular trafficking.
- - The CURE (Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience) model not only enhanced students' understanding and skills in science but also improved retention rates in STEM fields, demonstrating the value of hands-on research in education.