Genetics and Health

International HapMap Project Complete

by Hsien Hsien Lei, PhD on October 27th, 2005

The HapMap is finished! The HapMap is finished!

The completion of the HapMap promises to provide a wealth of genetic data that can be used by researchers to study diseases, biological processes such as drug metabolism, human evolution, population migration, and race. With information on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), haplotypes of SNPs, and SNP tags, minute variations in the DNA sequences have been documented based on samples from 269 volunteers harking from Nigeria (Yoruba), Japan, China and the U.S. (residents with ancestry from Northern and Western Europe, collected in 1980 by the Centre d’Etude du Polymorphisme Humain [CEPH]).

To study a disease such as bipolar disorder, researchers need the DNA from large numbers of volunteers with the disease, said Dr. Pamela Sklar, who is leading the Broad study of bipolar disorder along with Dr. Jordan Smoller, both of whom are scientists at Mass. General. The researchers will check the DNA of the patients at tag locations identified in the HapMap, and see if any of the tags appear more or less often than in the general population. If a pattern emerges and is confirmed, the team will look more closely to see what genes are located near the tags, Sklar said. The same type of study could be done to see whether there are genetic reasons why some people respond well to certain medications and others do not.

The Boston Globe, October 27, 2005

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