Fifty-Two from Twelve Million: Scientists Find the Genes that Set into Motion Age-Related Macular Degeneration (VIDEO)
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In one of the latest examples of precision medicine, teams of geneticists from nine countries, involving more than 100 scientists, analyzed the genes of more than 33,000 individuals in the hope of finding genetic variations responsible for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss among people age 50 or older. Their research, involving complex computational analysis of more than 12 million genetic variations across the human genome, identified 52 variations associated with the disease. By identifying these genetic variations, spread across 34 gene regions, scientists are a step closer to developing diagnostics that identify which patients are at high risk for acquiring the disease and formulating therapeutics either to prevent or treat the disease caused by these genetic variations. Leading the coordination of the massive, multi-national research effort conducted by the International AMD Genomics Consortium was Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's Jonathan L. Haines, PhD, whose team also helped guide the complex computational analysis of the data from those study participants with advanced AMD and those without AMD. Their findings will appear in the Dec. 15, 2015 edition of Nature Genetics.
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Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
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