'Genes and environment' grant funds close look at nature-nurture overlap in commo...(lize in genetics genomics molecular biol...)

Date:9/25/2007

lize in genetics, genomics, molecular biology, statistics, medicine and bioinformatics to identify genes that contribute to so-called complex disorders, defined as common human diseases known to result from variations in many of our 22,000 genes as well as such external, environmental risk factors as smoking, air pollution, infections, drugs and nutrition.

In 2003, CIDR and the IGMs Genetic Resources Core Facility teamed up to offer high-throughput genotyping as well as other services necessary for genome-wide association studies, including DNA isolation, amplification and quantitation, which will be offered as part of the GEI program.

Among other approaches, Hopkins CIDR specialists and the members of the GEI consortium will overlay individual variations in genomes with individual environmental histories to find patterns of associations and hunt down connections that occur most frequently in patients compared to a control population.

Genome-wide association studies have proven themselves to be powerful tools for discovering the genetic contributions to common diseases, said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health. Early findings from such studies have identified new genetic variants contributing to a higher risk of common diseases such as prostate cancer, diabetes and heart disease, but researchers have only scratched the surface. The genetic studies being funded today will identify many novel genetic variants contributing to an increased risk for these health conditions.

The specific projects for the GEI consortium are:

• International Consortium to Identify Genes and Interactions Controlling Oral Clefts
  Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

• Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment
  Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis

• Genome-wide Association for Gene-Environment Interaction Effects Influencing Coronary Heart
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Contact: Audrey Huang audrey@jhmi.edu 410-614-5105 Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions Source:Eurekalert

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