In the April 13, 2007, issue of Science, the research team — led by James C. Lo, an MD, PhD student, in the
laboratory of Yang - Xin Fu, MD, PhD, professor of
pathology at the University of Chicago — suggest that an engineered protein could keep mice, and possibly
humans, from developing high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, a key risk factor for coronary heart disease.
«Basically, this study shows that the genetic makeup of individual
human embryonic stem cell lines is unique in the numbers of copies of certain genes that may control traits and things like disease susceptibility,» said Teitell, who also is an associate professor of
pathology and
laboratory medicine and a researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.