Posted on: 22 December 2009
TCD researchers have been awarded $500,000 by one of the National Institutes of Health in the USA to complete a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) on a cohort of 2,500 Trinity Students. The Trinity Student Study is intended to be an important internationally available resource for studying the complex interactions between the human genome and metabolic factors that are linked to risk of common diseases.
The grant which was made available to Professor John Scott and Dr Anne Molloy of the TCD School of Medicine extends funding of an intramural contract between the United States National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), whose project leader is Dr James Mills, and the Health Research Board in Ireland, through Dr Peadar Kirke of the Child Health Epidemiology Unit.
The Trinity cohort consists of blood samples, lifestyle and nutritional information on young Irish males and females between the ages of 18 and 25 who were students in TCD between 2003 and 2004. Samples were made anonymous after collection and have been analysed for approximately 50 blood components to date. Further blood extracts and lymphocyte preparations have been stored and are available for future collaborations. Data from the cohort, including demographic, nutritional, blood metabolite and genetic information from the Genome Wide Association Study will be made available to interested researchers.
