Center for Common Disease Genomics
Common diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and mental illness, affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The causes of these diseases can be difficult to decipher because they result from a complex combination of genomic influences and environmental factors.
CCDG investigators will initially focus on cardiovascular/metabolic (early onset heart disease, hemorrhagic stroke) and neuropsychiatric diseases (autism). While common diseases represent a serious health burden in this country, each is also different in many ways – from the age of onset to the underlying biological changes. For each disease, CCDG researchers will sequence tens of thousands of genomes from individuals with and without the disease. The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) will eventually select additional diseases that the centers will study.
“The center investigators plan to use genome sequencing to identify as many of the genes and genomic variants underlying common diseases as possible,” said Adam Felsenfeld, PhD, director of the NHGRI Genome Sequencing Program. “Building on existing research, they will continue to uncover new biological insights into the development of common disease. At the same time, these studies will reveal genomic variants that may increase the risk for – or in some cases, protect against – diseases, which eventually might be helpful for their clinical management.”
The goals of the CCDG are to:
- Undertake variant discovery for enough different examples of disease architectures and study designs to better understand the general principles of genomic architecture underlying common, complex inherited diseases.
- Understand how best to design rare variant studies for common disease.
- Develop resources, informatics tools, and innovative approaches and technologies for multiple disease research communities and the wider biomedical research community.
MGI will sequence thousands of genomes – predominantly from African-Americans, but also from Europeans – to study early-onset coronary heart disease (CHD) and type 1 diabetes (T1D).
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