The Genetics of Common Human Diseases: Recent discoveries and their implications

LSE Space for Thought lecture series

The last few years have seen rapid progress in our knowledge of genetic variants which predispose people to common human diseases, like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, schizophrenia, or cancers. Where relatively few were known previously, there are now several hundred such variants known to be associated across fifty diseases. The talk will describe the progress to date, the challenges ahead, and the potential impact on our lives and healthcare, particularly in the context of the largest study to date, the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, which examined 500,000 DNA markers in 17,000 people.

Professor Donnelly is Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics and Professor of Statistical Science at the University of Oxford. Donnelly is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Academy of Medical Sciences. He has been awarded the Mitchell Prize of the ASA and International Society for Bayesian Analysis and the Guy Medal in Silver of the Royal Statistical Society. He currently chairs the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, a collaboration of over 200 UK scientists studying the genetics of 12 common human diseases.

The Space for Thought Lecture series celebrates the completion of the New Academic Building and is supported by the LSE Annual Fund.

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