Archived Events
First-ever release of results from a whole genome association study to the scientific communityThe National Cancer Institute has released data on 310,000 SNPs in 1100 cases of prostate cancer and 1100 controls from the PLCO study. Primary results from the study are freely available on the web at: http://cgems.cancer.gov. This data release is part of the NCI CGEMS study co-directed by David Hunter, and is the first of its kind.
18 October, 2006 NCI/CGEMS
Program scientists confirm new gene for
type II diabetes
Cuilin Zhang, working with Associate Professor Frank Hu of the Department of
Nutrition, has confirmed that variants in the TCF7L2 gene are associated with
risk of type II diabetes in women and men.
Inherited genetic variation associated
with plasma triglyceride and HDL cholesterol levels
Lu Qi, working with Associate Professor Frank Hu of the Department of
Nutrition, has shown that variants at the apolipoprotein A1/C3/A4/A5 locus predict
levels of plasma lipids.
Information on genes improves risk
prediction for skin cancer risk
Jiali Han shows that incorporating information on variants of the MC1R
gene modestly improved the ability to predict risk of skin cancer,
compared with the traditional risk factors such as hair color and skin response
to sun exposure. This is one of the first demonstrations that
incorporating information on common variants in genes can improve risk
prediction models.
Program scientists identify genetic
variant as new risk factor for colorectal cancer
Working with MIT scientists, Greg Tranah identified a variant in the MGMT DNA
repair gene as associated with reduced risk of colorectal cancer.
Program scientist helps identify new
risk factor for diabetes and heart disease
Immaculata De Vivo, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, collaborated with Eric
Rimm of the Department of Epidemiology and investigators in the Department of
Genetics and Complex Diseases to help identify a new gene variant associated
with risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Effect of genotyping
misclassification on genetic epidemiology studies documented
PMAGE Statistician and Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Peter Kraft, working with postdoctoral fellow Usha Govindarajulu, shows that
genotyping error can have a greater effect than previously appreciated on the
results from genetic epidemiology studies.
New locus identified for obesity
In collaboration with scientists at Boston
University, Christoph
Lange, Nan Laird from the Department of Biostatistics, PMAGE Director David
Hunter and others participated in the identification of a potential new genetic
risk factor for obesity.
Novel Coalescence-guided Hierarchical
Bayesian (CHB) method for haplotype inference developed
Tianhua Niu, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, working with Professor Jun S.
Liu in the Department of Statistics and postdoctoral fellow Yu Zhang, developed
a novel and efficient algorithm for haplotype inference. Called “CHB”, this has merits in performance
compared with other popular software programs, such as HAPLOTYPER and PHASE.
20 February, 2004 Harvard Public Health NOW