"For over 40 years we have assumed that DNA changes affecting the genetic code solely impact how proteins are made. Now we know that this basic assumption about reading the human genome missed half of the picture... DNA is an incredibly powerful information storage device, which nature has fully exploited in unexpected ways."

DR JOHN STAMATOYANNOPOULOS, University of Washington associate professor of genome sciences, and medicine. The genetic code was thought to exclusively write information about proteins. But his group discovered that genomes use the genetic code to write two separate languages: One describes how proteins are made, the other instructs the cell on how genes are controlled. One language is written on top of the other, which is why the second remained hidden for so long. This second code contains information that changes how scientists read the instructions contained in DNA and interpret mutations to make sense of health and disease.