Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California-Davis (UC Davis) are combining in vivo experimentation with computation for highly accurate prediction of the genome-wide binding pattern of a key protein involved in brain disorders.

 “The MeCP2 gene is critical for proper brain development and expressed at near-histone levels in neurons, but the mechanism of its genomic localization remains poorly understood,” explained Jun Song, a professor of bioengineering and of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Using high-resolution MeCP2 binding data, we show that DNA sequence features alone can predict binding with 88% accuracy.”

More than 500,000 people in the United States die each year of cancer-related causes. Now, emerging research has identified the mechanism behind one of the most common mutations that helps cancer cells to replicate limitlessly. The team’s findings, published in the May 14 issue of Science, have exciting implications for new, more precise and personalized cancer treatments with fewer side effects compared with current treatments.