What are Genome-Wide Association Studies?
How to make use of these valuable genetic resources!
Finding medical cures in your genes sounds too good to be true. Fortunately, there is a certain amount of truth in what geneticists, such as myself, can accomplish with the DNA sequences of people who selflessly contribute blood or cheek swabs for medical studies! While medical research typically takes years to produce a finding that makes it to a patient’s bedside (the new Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi took at least 18 years to complete development, counting the initial exploratory research), genetics research helps identify genes or proteins that could be medically targeted to offer relief to people with illness!
In this article, I will take you through how these analyses, termed genome-wide association studies (GWAS), can yield findings that help scientists and industry understand what drives disease and thus could represent promising candidates for drug development.
The Basics
Ultimately, GWAS for diseases like Alzheimer’s compares how much more frequently specific genetic variants occur in individuals with a disease than those without. While GWAS can also be done to evaluate health traits that are not classified as disease (such as height), focusing on this binary classification helps understand the…
