UCI Gets $3.7 Million for Gene Research : Grant: The university is selected as a national study site. Researchers will examine ‘chromosome 5’ and seek to identify genes responsible for certain inherited disorders.

UC Irvine announced Wednesday that it has been picked as a national site for research into genes that cause certain inherited disorders and has been awarded a $3.7-million grant.

The National Institutes of Health has designated UCI as the 16th National Center for Human Genome Science and Technology. John Wasmuth, a UCI professor of biological chemistry and one of the discoverers of the gene for Huntington’s disease, will direct the new center.

Wasmuth said the grant will enable UCI researchers to study “chromosome 5,” one of 23 pairs of human chromosomes.

“Our goal is to produce a very high resolution map of chromosome 5 and make it a national and international resource,” Wasmuth said. “Just like a geographical map, the idea of a gene map is to be able to find our way around on chromosome 5 so that we can identify genes responsible for inherited disorders, some of which are quite common.”

Research has already identified human chromosome 5 as the site of several genetic disorders. Wasmuth and his researchers have determined that the chromosome contains genes responsible for an inherited form of colon cancer.

UCI spokesman Randy Black said chromosome 5 also contains a witch’s brew of other genes that can trigger diseases, including spinal muscular atrophy, “a leading genetic cause of infant death second only to cystic fibrosis.”

“The chromosome also contains the gene for ‘startle syndrome,’ a baffling condition sometimes called ‘stiff baby syndrome’ in which unexpected touches or loud noises cause infants to experience severe muscle spasms for several minutes and suffer life-threatening constriction of the respiratory tract,” Black said.