Researchers from the University of Oslo have developed an innovative tool that promises to improve our understanding of heritable human traits and diseases. Published in Nature Genetics, the analytical tool is designed to make sense of genetic data by focusing on the role of individual genes, and how groups of genes contribute to the risk of developing a disease. With GSA-MiXeR, researchers now have a powerful new way to translate genetic research into practical insights that could lead to better treatments for a range of complex diseases.
More than 970 million people worldwide are living with a mental illness, according to WHO. The global burden of these diseases is considerable. While researchers have been successful in identifying genetic factors associated with conditions like schizophrenia through genome-wide association studies (GWAS), figuring out what these discoveries mean for our health is still a big challenge.
GWAS, which are often produced by large international consortia, analyze the genomes of many individuals to find genetic variations associated with specific diseases. Our tool, called GSA-MiXeR, is designed to analyze the genetic data collected from these large-scale studies, aiming to identify how groups of genes contribute to the risk of developing a disease." Oleksandr Frei, Researcher, Center for Precision Psychiatry , University of Oslo Complex polygenic traits, which are influenced by many genetic factors, have been particularly difficult to interpret.
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