UP research helps unveil genome that may hold cure to human diseases

Geneticist Agostinho Antunes, Coordinator of the Evolutionary Genomics and Bioinformatics Interdisciplinary Centre of Maritime and Environmental Investigation of the University of Porto (CIIMAR-UP) and Professor of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP), is part of the consortium that was able to unveil the genome of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).

The scientific paper was published in the prestigious scientific Journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America" (PNAS) and contributes significantly to research into illnesses such as cancer and ageing diseases in human beings.

Researchers have unveiled surprising sensory and self-healing abilities of the great white shark that can help regulate wound healing and may control scarring in people recovering from severe injuries.

"It should be pinpointed the major challenge in this research, which was to sequence the large scale white shark genome, as it is 1.5 times bigger than that of human beings", explains Agostinho Antunes.

The New Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida (USA) is the leader of the international consortium of researchers.

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