Category: Genetics
The Peruvian Variant
May 30, 2020Shrink Agents
April 30, 2016Full Length over Exon Deficient
November 14, 2015The Tall Dutch
April 9, 2015We are the Model Organism
April 3, 2015The Incredible Shrinking Man is interested in the scientific culture of model organisms. A model organism is an animal species that is studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the organism model will provide insight into human biology. This research strategy is…
2000+ Genetic Factors
December 9, 2014Since 2007 researchers of the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) consortium are quickly uncovering the polygenic traits that influence human height. Recently they analysed data from the genomes of another 253,288 subjects and were able to identify 697 gene variants, the pieces of DNA that…
FOXO3a
June 20, 2014Recent studies have identified the FOXO3a (Forkhead Box 3a) transcription gene as an important regulator of morphological scaling. It’s a key regulatory gene in a nutrient- and energy-sensing biological pathway (insulin/IGF-1 signalling pathway),that throughout our evolution was conserved from yeast to humans. FOXO3a anticipates food scarcity…
Pit-1
January 13, 2014Celebrate Lactose Intolerance
October 5, 2013It’s Not (All) About Genes
August 2, 2013Zebrafish Portraits
June 7, 2013PARs in the Womb
May 28, 2013The Incredible Shrinking Man is interested to know what consequences can be expected for human height if nutrition availability after birth doesn’t match predictions by the fetus on the basis of its prenatal environment. During pre-birth development fetuses prepare for the world outside by using the…
Ituri Zebras (Mbuti)
May 12, 2013Fish Representatives
February 16, 2013In most genetics research, Homo sapiens is represented by small fish like Danio rerio (zebrafish) and Oryzias latipes (Japanese rice fish). Both are important model organisms, representing man in developmental genetics, neurophysiology and biomedicine. When we tinker with genes what happens to the fish is…
Pegvisomant
November 19, 2012Pegvisomant (tradename Somavert) is a genetically engineered analogue of the human growth hormone (GH) that stops unnaturally vigorous growth in patients with acromegaly. It works as a GH receptor antagonist and blocks or dampens agonist-mediated responses by binding to growth hormone receptors on cell surfaces. Pegvisomant is used…
Growth Deceleration
November 11, 2012180 Loci
September 26, 2012Supercentenarians
September 16, 2012There’s an undisputable relationship between longevity and height. Short people live longer. Accordingly, most supercentenarians (people of 110 years and older) are relatively small, and not because they shrink with age. Here are some heights versus age at death of prominent supercentenarians. 1.Jeanne Calment 149,9…