If Dr. Bruce Aronow can learn what switches on the gene that triggers leukemia — or diabetes, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis or any of a dozen diseases — researchers around the world can target therapies to stop the ailment in its tracks, or even before it starts.

        Dr. Aronow is the director of the University of Cincinnati project to build a computer database to analyze genetic information. He also is an associate professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital Medical Center trying to determine when and where and how those critical triggers occur as part of the Human Genome Project.

        “There's going to be some really exciting findings just in the next couple of years,” Dr. Aronow said.

        Determining which genes work together in a disease process and the sequence in which those genes turn on or off is critical, Dr. Aronow said. The right information will allow researchers to develop drugs specifically targeted toward that particular sequence.

        But it's not just a matter of pinpointing a pair of genes in the human DNA code.

        “It's not just sitting there at the start of the gene,” he said. “It's many, many thousands and thou sands of bases from the beginning.”

        Researchers at UC and Children's are teaming up to create the bioinformatics database and to create a core genomics lab. The two projects will help collect data about specific genes and how they work together and determine how to put those data to practical use.

        Dr. Sandra Degen, associate director of Children's Hospital Medical Center's Research Foundation, said Cincinnati researchers are looking at how genes influence human health from the embryo to the grave.

        In the 1980s, Dr. Degen sequenced a gene manually. With data from Celera Genomics and the federal government, that work can be done by computer.

        The key is that genetic mapping lets doctors skip the sequencing and cut straight to the key questions: What genes are affected, and how can that effect be countered through drugs or other therapies.

Scientific highlights of genome project

Bengal, fiancee win TV prize
UC project seeks to identify genetic triggers for diseases
Camp guide moves to Web site
Grizzlies and a grisly killing
New and happening in area bookstores
Tristate best sellers list
What Tristaters are reading
Get to It
'Jazz' series raises interest, CD sales