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News

Professor's gene reproduction research recognized

Cougar News Services

A UH biology and biochemistry professor is the recipient of the Houston Leadership and Technology award from the Houston chapter of the Association of Women in Computing.

Professor Xiaolian Gao has been researching ways to develop a faster, more economical way of mass-producing multiple genes on a single DNA chip with researchers from Harvard University, the University of Michigan and Atactic Technologies.

The developing technology has the potential of making complete, functioning organisms capable of producing energy, neutralizing toxins and making drugs and artificial genes.

"Synthetic genes are like a box of Lego building blocks," Gao said in a release. "By making programmed synthesis of genes economical, we can provide more efficient tools to aid the efforts of researchers to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate biological systems."

Using current technology, programmed synthesis of a typical gene cluster costs thousands of dollars. Gao said the new system will be about 100 times faster and cheaper because it uses digital chemistry technology. The technology is similar to that used in making computer chips.

"There are many potential biochemical and biomedical applications," Gao said in a release.

The technology could eventually be used to treat such genetic disorders as Parkinson's and diabetes.

"In my own research on neurological diseases, we've often wished we could rapidly synthesize many variations of large, naturally occurring genes. The costs of current technology have prevented us from doing this, but Dr. Gao's research will break down that barrier," Stuart Dryer, chair of the department of biology and biochemistry, said in a release.

The organisms could also potentially be used in alternative energy sources, natural product synthesis and novel protein therapeutic models.

The research results were published in the science journal, Nature in 2004. Since then, Gao has been interviewed by both the New York Times and Newsweek and is considered an expert innovator in synthetic biology.

"The technology developed by Dr. Gao and her collaborators has the potential to make research that many of us could only dream about both plausible and cost effective," Dryer said in a release.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense, provided the initial funding for the project. 

Gao's continuing efforts are being financed by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

She will receive the Association of Women in Computing award during the annual Association of Women in Computing gala on Saturday, June 10 at the Inter-Continental Houston Hotel.

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