Over decades of research, scientists have identified numerous human genes, but they have not always been able to do so. name them whatever you want. Although this is permitted in principle, the Genetic Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) has issued a set of rules to facilitate the management of information.

Therefore, gene names are alphanumeric and have a full and abbreviated version. For example, “Membrane Associated Ring-CH-Type Finger 1” and “MARCH1”. And this is exactly where the problem arises, which has become a headache for many scientists who use Excel.

The “MARCH1” gene is a date for Excel

Starting from the previous example, when “MARCH1” is entered in a default Excel sheet with English language, the program understands: It’s a date. Conclusion? It automatically converts the gene name to March 1 of the current year, a value that has nothing to do with genetics.

Until now, there was no way to disable the automatic conversion feature. The only alternative was to manually change the cell format. Problem? Many scientists did not do this, and their work was full of errors, even in scientific articles published in scientific journals.

Faced with this scenario, HGNC chose to publish new guidelines for gene nomenclature as a way to avoid the problem. However Microsoft also responded. Finally, the Redmond giant announced that it will update Excel for Windows and macOS with the feature to disable automatic conversion, which was added last year.

Once the update reaches the device, users will be able to log in. Preferences/Options > Data > Automatic Data Conversion make the necessary adjustments. Activating the last option in this section, “Convert continuous letters and numbers to date”, will solve the problem.

But the update doesn’t end there. The program will also allow users to receive automatic conversion notifications. “Excel shows: warning message when it detects that at least one of the optional automatic data transformations is enabled,” the company states.

Images: Microsoft

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