Scientists have found yet another reason to be glad it’s Friday. A new study found that the feeling we all have from time to time—that the work week gives us a headache—might not be all in our minds. Clas Linnman, HMS instructor in anaesthesia at Boston Children’s Hospital, led the research.

Twenty-three teams of scientists from around the world have combed through the DNA blueprints of an 11-year-old boy and his parents to try to learn why he tired so easily, needing a scooter to walk longer than a few blocks and requiring a ventilator to help him breathe at night. The winner of a $15,000 prize was the Division of Clinical Genetics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Alan Beggs, Sir Edwin and Lady Manton Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, was a coorganizer of the contest.

John Lauerman writes about the experience of having his genome sequenced and the results he received. Joseph Thakuria, HMS instructor in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital; Robert Handin, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital; and David Kuter, HMS professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, are quoted. The work of George Church, the Robert Winthrop
Professor of Genetics, is also cited. John Lauerman was an HMS 2012 Media Fellow.