What I’m reading: Drinking from the Fire Hose — Statistical Issues in Genome-wide Association Studies

Another article that talks about issues related to genome-wide association studies. Also emphasizes the value of sharing data publicly.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/5/436

Publicly available genome-wide association data for breast/prostate cancer

Interesting resource I had not previously encountered. It’s great to see data sharing.

https://caintegrator.nci.nih.gov/cgems/aboutSetup.do

What I’m reading: Genome-wide association studies for common diseases and complex traits

Well-written article that describes the challenges and potential of genome-wide association studies as of 2005. It’s 12 dense pages but worth the time to read.

http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v6/n2/full/nrg1521.html

Sequencing Entire Genomes

In 2001, two groups published a version of the human genome. Each was a conglomeration of the DNA of multiple people. Recently, the entire genome of both Craig Venter and James Watson have been recorded. Venter’s genome has now been published.

This is significant because it means we are getting closer to having the entire genome for groups of people, which can help research efforts. Currently researchers and clinicians can only work with a snapshot of a person’s DNA. The intermediate goal, which is motivated financially by a a $10,000,000 reward by the X-Prize Foundation, is for a person’s genome to be sequenced for $10,000 or less in a reasonable amount of time. The ultimate goal is for clinicians to use a patient’s genome as a personalized guide in treating disease. (There are legal and ethical considerations with this, but it’s the ideal.)