CGACT: Center for Genetics and Complex Traits

The Center for Genetics and Complex Traits (CGACT) is a Type I Center of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The theme of CGACT is to develop and apply epidemiological and statistical approaches that integrate knowledge from the human genome, basic molecular and cellular biology, biomedical informatics, behavioral science, bioethics and the clinical sciences to understand complex human disease traits.

These methods will be applied to study etiology and outcomes associated with cancer, sleep disorders, psychiatric disorders including addiction, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, asthma, cardiovascular disease, and others.

2013 Mid-Atlantic Genetic Epidemiology and Statistics (MAGES) Conference

The Center for Genetics and Complex Traits (CGACT) of the University of Pennsylvania will host a one-day conference on Genetic Epidemiology and Statistics: Methods and Applications in the NGS Age, on May 17, 2013 at the Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel near the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA.

The conference is primarily intended to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scientists working in the fields of statistical genetics and genetic epidemiology from the Mid-Atlantic region, but is open to participants from everywhere. The forum will provide an opportunity for faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students working in these fields to convene and review new developments in these areas of research. The program will feature three sessions with three invited speakers each and allow ample time for formal as well as informal discussion. The aim is to facilitate exchange of ideas and promote interactions and collaborations among participants.

The 2013 MAGES Conference is sponsored by the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB) of the University of Pennsylvania. Registration is free but is mandatory and will be limited to 150 participants.

Report of Activities - 2011

Cool New Science

Selected CGACT Presentations at the American Society of Human Genetics Meeting 2012

Statistical fine mapping of regions containing melanoma susceptibility genes identified through genome-wide association studies. J. H. Barrett, J. C. Taylor, M. Brossard, A. M. Goldstein, P. A. Kanetsky, E. M. Gillanders, J. A. Newton Bishop, D. T. Bishop, F. Demenais, M. M. Iles, GenoMEL Consortium.
Genome-wide association analyses of onset age in late-onset Alzheimer disease demonstrate no strong effect outside of the APOE region. A. C. Naj, Y. S. Park, R. Rajbhandary, K. L. Hamilton, G. W. Beecham, E. R. Martin, R. Mayeux, J. L. Haines, L. A. Farrer, G. D. Schellenberg, M. A. Pericak-Vance, Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium.
Meta-analysis identifies four new loci for testicular germ cell tumor. C. C. Chung, Z. Wang, P. A. Kanetsky, C. Turnbull, K. McGlynn, R. L. Erickson, M. H. Greene, M. A. T. Hildebrandt, R. I. Skotheim, C. Kratz, M. B. Cook, F. Schumacher, R. Koster, M. Yeager, K. B. Jacobs, S. M. Schwartz, D. T. Bishop, H. K. Gjessing, V. Cortessis, N. Rahman, X. Wu, S. J. Chanock, K. L. Nathanson.
Evolutionary history and adaptation inferred from whole-genome sequences of diverse African hunter-gatherers. J. Lachance, B. Vernot, C. Elbers, B. Ferwerda, A. Froment, J. Bodo, G. Lema, W. Fu, T. Nyambo, T. Rebbeck, K. Zhang, J. Akey, S. Tishkoff.
Novel Human Variation in MicroRNAs associated with Disease, Biomarkers, and Drug Metabolism. R. Afi. Rawlings-Goss, S. Tishkoff.
Genome-wide SNP variation in sub-Saharan Africa is influenced by cultural and ethno-linguistic affiliation. S. Soi, L. Scheinfeldt, C. Lambert, J. Hirbo, A. Ranciaro, S. Thompson, J. Marie Bodo, M. Ibrahim, G. Lema, T. Nyambo, S. Omar, C. Wambebe, D. Meskel, G. Belay, A. Froment, S. A. Tishkoff.
Reproduction and immunity driven natural selection in the hominid WFDC locus. Z. Ferreira, S. Seixas, A. Andres, W. Kretzschmar, J. Mullikin, W. Swanson, M. K. Gonder, S. Tishkoff, A. Stone, A. G. Clark, E. Green, B.
Genome-wide signatures of natural selection in diverse African populations. L. B. Scheinfeldt, S. Soi, C. Lambert, D. Hu, A. Coulibaly, H. Hutton, C. Elbers, W. Ko, W. Beggs, A. Ranciaro, S. Thompson, J. Hirbo, J. Bodo, O. Doumbo, M. Ibrahim, A. Froment, G. Lema, T. Nyambo, S. Omar, C. Wambebe, D. Meskel, G. Belay, S. A. Tishkoff.
Mendelian randomization for HDL levels and implications for clinical risk prediction. B. F. Voight.
Obesity susceptibility loci and associations across the pediatric body mass index distribution. S. F. A. Grant, H. Hakonarson, T. R. Rebbeck, J. A. Mitchell.
Whole-exome sequencing of patients with isolated biliary atresia. E. A. Tsai, S. Sukhadia, C. Grochowski, C.-F. Lin, O. Valladares, L.-S. Wang, L. Leonard, G. D. Schellenberg, K. M. Loomes, B. A. Haber, M. Devoto, N. B. Spinner.
Variable Selection Based Weighting Schemes for Implicating Rare Variants in Sequence Data. A. E. Byrnes, M. Li, M. C. Wu, F. A. Wright, Y. Li.
A Comprehensive Genetic and Epigenetic Study of Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Microarrays. G. Zhang, C. Wu, D. Yu, J. Chang, W. Sun, M. Li, L. Liang, Y. Li, D. Lin.
Novel Tissue-Specific Transcriptomic Signatures Revealed by Experimental Endotoxemia in Healthy Human Subjects. Y. Liu, J. Feguson, I. Silverman, B. Gregory, M. Li, M. Reilly.
MaCH-Admix: Genotype Imputation for Admixed Populations. E. Y. Liu, M. Li, W. Wang, Y. Li.
Systematic Evaluations of Sequencing Errors in Next-Generation Sequencing Data. Y. Hu, Y. Liu, J. Ferguson, I. Silverman, B. Gregory, M. Reilly, M. Li.
Multi-ethnic polygenic prediction in CARe and other cohorts contrasts the genetic architectures of height and body mass index. E. K. Speliotes, J. O'Connell, R. Do, B. Vilhjalmasson, S. Pollack, Y. Gong, N. Patterson, M. Akylbekova, A. Cupples, M. Fornage, J. Hirschhorn, W. H. L. Kao, L. Lange, G. Lettre, M. Li, J. Mychaleckyj, S. Musani, G. Papanicolaou, J. I. Rotter, D. Siscovick, X. Zhu, J. G. Wilson, the GIANT Consortium, J. Johnson, P. I. W. de Bakker, S. Raychaudhuri, R. M. Plenge, A. Price, E. A. Stahl.
The C7orf58 locus is strongly associated with both bone mineral content and density at the pediatric distal radius. B. S. Zemel, M. Li, S. Deliard, C. E. Kim, L. Qu, R. M. Chiavacci, J. M. Lappe, H. J. Kalkwarf, V. Gilsanz, H. Hakonarson, S. E. Oberfield, J. A. Shepherd, S. F. A. Grant.