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Center, UW to coordinate National Human Genome Research Institute disease studies
Photo by Stephanie Cartier
Dr. Lon Cardon, who recently led the statistical analysis of whole-genome studies for several diseases for the Wellcome Trust in the U.K., is one of three principal investigators who will lead the new coordinating center. Joining him are Drs. Bruce Weir and Richard Kronmal.
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A four-year, $4.8 million contract to coordinate activities for several whole-genome studies of human disease has been awarded to the Hutchinson Center and University of Washington by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
The new coordinating center will provide statistical and data-management advice and services to a number of specific disease studies across the United States. The studies will compare the genetic profiles of individuals with a certain disease to the profiles of healthy people to determine the location of the genes that contribute to the disease. The disease studies include:
- International Consortium to Identify Genes and Interactions Controlling Oral Clefts (Johns Hopkins University)
- Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment (Washington University School of Medicine)
- Genomewide Association for Gene-environment Interaction Effects Influencing Coronary Heart Disease (University of Texas Health Science Center)
- A Genomewide Association in a Population-based Lung Cancer Study (National Cancer Institute)
- Genes and Environment Initiatives in Type 2 Diabetes (Harvard University)
- Genomewide Association Mapping: Maternal Metabolism-birth Weight Interactions (Northwestern University)
- Dental Caries (Tooth Decay): Whole Genome Association and Gene x Environment Studies (University of Pittsburgh)
- Genomewide Association Studies of Prematurity and Its Complications (University of Iowa)
"This is a first step in determining the genetic basis of disease and is necessary for the development of therapies and eventual cures," said Dr. Lon Cardon, of the Center's Human Biology Division, co-director of the Computational Biology Program, UW professor of biostatistics and one of three principal investigators who will lead the new coordinating center.
"While there have been numerous individual studies at the UW and the Hutchinson Center, this is the first time we've coordinated multiple whole-genome association studies across the country at one time," said Dr. Bruce Weir, chair of the UW Department of Biostatistics and member of the Center's Public Health Sciences Division.
Joining Weir and Cardon is Dr. Richard Kronmal, director of the UW Collaborative Health Studies Coordinating Center and UW professor of biostatistics.
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