Researchers use virtual reality to unpick causes of common diseases

Researchers from the University of Oxford are using a unique blend of virtual reality and innovative genetic techniques to understand the causes of diseases such as diabetes and anaemia. The team, working in collaboration with physicists from Universita' di Napoli and software developers and artists at Goldsmiths, University of London, are using the state-of-the-art technology to investigate the 3D structure of DNA. The way in which DNA is arranged in 3D space has huge consequences for human health and disease. Subtle changes in DNA folding impact on whether genes can be switched on or off at particular times - dictating what a cell can do. It is this process that the team are trying to get to the bottom of in the hunt for the causes of disease, and potential new treatments. The scientists are presenting their research at the Royal Society's annual Summer Science Exhibition. Prof Jim Hughes, Associate Professor of Genome Biology, University of Oxford, said: 'It's becoming increasingly apparent that the way that a cell fits two metres of DNA into a structure more than ten times smaller than a human hair, is more than just a random process.