BETHESDA, MARYLAND - Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006 -- The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) today announced that six major studies of common diseases have been selected as the first to undergo whole genome analysis by the Genetic Association Information Network (GAIN).

This type of analysis is designed to identify the genetic contributions to common illnesses that affect the public health, such as depression and diabetes. Using biological samples already collected in earlier clinical studies, GAIN will comprehensively evaluate the subtle differences between the genomes of approximately 1,000-2000 normal, healthy volunteers and the genomes of 1,000-2000 patients with the condition being studied. Identifying genetic differences between the two groups will speed up the development of new methods to prevent, diagnose, treat and even cure common conditions.

The Genetic Association Information Network is a unique public-private partnership involving the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Pfizer, Inc., of New York City, Affymetrix, Inc., of Santa Clara, CA, and the FNIH, as well as Perlegen Sciences, Inc., of Mountain View, CA., Abbott, of Abbott Park, IL, and the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.. GAIN was established in February, 2006 to help find the genetic causes of common diseases by conducting large-scale genomic studies and making their results broadly available to researchers worldwide. Private donors have contributed approximately $26 million to the project in order to stimulate rapid progress in this field. Companies funding this partnership, however, will not receive any special benefits from GAIN, such as advanced access to the data.

"Public-private partnerships like GAIN bring new scientific and financial resources to the NIH's existing whole genome association programs, accelerating our progress in this important new field of research," said D
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Contact: Geoff Spencer
spencerg@mail.nih.gov
301-402-0911
NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute
10-Oct-2006