The Scientist reports on a Washington University study of “how the interaction between genes and environment results in disease has demonstrated that an inflammatory bowel disease resembling human Crohn’s needs a specific mutation, virus, and injury to develop in mice.”

And, Boston area researchers weigh in.

“Environmental genomic issues are tough to crack,” said John Mordes, professor of endocrinology at the University of Massachusetts, who has previously characterized a gene-virus interaction in type1 diabetes. “This is a significant contribution to the evolving understanding of how the environment interacts with genomic predisposition.”