Jun 23 2009
Genomewide association studies have had some success in finding DNA variants associated with increased risk for bipolar disorder. But researchers from the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University in England have taken these studies a step further by looking for common functional themes running through the GWAS data. Their results, published [...]
Mar 06 2009
Throughout the course of human evolution, there have been plenty of firsts. Small changes in our genetic code have laid the groundwork for our bipedal gait, our large brains, and our ability to speak complex languages.
There are countless genes throughout the human genome that distinguish us from our evolutionary relatives; now scientists have [...]
Feb 26 2009
Genome wide association (GWA) studies of SNPs are helping scientists learn about the underlying biology of many complex diseases. But even the most enthusiastic proponents of this relatively new type of research admit that many studies simply can’t find genetic variations that have real, but very small, effects. This means information that might be useful [...]
Oct 23 2008
In the year 1831, two very important events happened to 22 year-old biologist Charles Darwin. The first was that he boarded the Beagle, a research vessel upon which he would embark on a five-year journey to Central and South America. There he would collect mountains of data on hundreds of plant and animal species, which [...]
Aug 25 2008
Just about every week a new genome-wide association study links common variations in the genome to some disease. But only rarely do the authors of these studies have more than a guess of why these SNPs are associated with a particular condition.
On Sunday in the online edition of Nature Genetics, researchers presented results that [...]
