Jun 29 2009
Much to the surprise of many scientists, a lot of the SNPs identified in genomewide association studies have not been in the parts of genes that encode the molecular machinery of a cell.
Instead, many SNPs have been found on the edges of genes, in regions of DNA that control when the genes get turned on [...]
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 [...]
Jun 22 2009
Each one of us carries in our cells the vital genetic data, compliments of our parents, that code for many of our traits and attributes. Whether it’s our eye color, height or the ability to consume dairy products, the variations in our genes contribute to making us ‘one of a kind’. Unfortunately, these variations can [...]
May 26 2009
Malaria is one of the leading causes of death in the developing world, claiming nearly a million victims each year. The great majority of them are African children below the age of five. The illness is caused by a single-celled parasite called Plasmodium that is transmitted by mosquito bites to humans. In a paper published [...]
May 14 2009
Mexican flu virus genetics has been much in news lately; how about a look at Mexican human genetics for a change? A new article from researchers at Mexico’s National Institute for Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN) examines genetic diversity across the nation, and argues that, in order to conduct studies of common genetic diseases efficiently, a Mexico-specific genetic reference database should be [...]
Dec 12 2008
As the director of Britain’s Wellcome Trust Center for Human Genetics, Peter Donnelly oversees research that provides vital raw material for the 23andMe Personal Genome Service™ — specifically, correlations between one-letter DNA variations, known as SNPs, and particular diseases.
Those correlations are made by research projects known as genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which scan the genomes [...]
