Bio Briefs

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Matt Nelson

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Oct 05, 2009
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NIH-led study confirms ability to identify individuals from GWAS data

Tags: genomics, tgen

[Source: GenomeWeb News] – A new study confirms that it is possible to identify individual study participants from genome-wide association data.

In a paper appearing in the advance, online edition of Nature Genetics yesterday, researchers from the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere described their likelihood-based statistical framework approach for using genotype frequencies and individual genotype information to detect individuals in GWAS. In so doing, the team verified their suspicion that GWAS participants — or close relatives — can be identified from aggregate GWAS data.

The research is an extension of work by Translational Genomics Research Institute and University of California at Los Angeles researchers who reported in PLoS Genetics last summer that they could identify individuals from pooled genetic data, lead author Kevin Jacobs, a contract researcher with the National Cancer Institute and owner of the Maryland-based company BioInformed, told GenomeWeb Daily News.

For more information: NIH-Led Study Confirms Ability to Identify Individuals from GWAS Data