Approved research

Identifying variant/tissue interactions in age-related diseases

Lay summary

Currently very little is known about the genetic causes of longevity and of common age-related diseases. As many common diseases have complex genetics, this remains a hard problem. Additionally, it is suspected that genetics of common diseases often interact with the environment and lifestyles in complex ways. In order to help focus future research on agerelated diseases, we propose to use the Biobank data to identify tissues and cell-types most associated with particular age-related diseases by triangulating genomic variation, parental lifespan, and environment. By identifying tissues associated age-related diseases or healthy aging, we will provide clues to researchers where to focus future effort. As such, this research addresses basic underlying information leading to improvements in common disease diagnosis as well as prevention and treatment. By focusing on common age-related diseases, the benefit will be wide-spread throughout society. Specifically, we will use patient genotypes along with information about their lifestyle and family health histories to look for patterns of genetic variation associated age-related diseases in a way that identifies which tissues may play a part in the progression of those diseases. We will do this by using novel statistical methods we are developing. By looking for obvious as well as non-obvious associations these results may lead to research in new directions in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. We would like to access the full cohort with genotypes.