Parkinson's Disease Genome Study Data Made Available to Researchers

Raw data obtained during the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) to focus on Parkinson's disease will become only the second dataset on Parkinson's disease to be made available through dbGaP, the database of Genotypes and Phenotypes operated by the [U.S.] National Library of Medicine's National Center for Biotechnology Information.

This first genome-wide association study applied to Parkinson's disease was funded under the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) Linked Efforts to Accelerate Parkinson's Solutions (LEAPS) initiative. Investigators at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA) in collaboration with colleagues at Perlegen Sciences, Inc. (Mountain View, CA, USA) carried out the study.

The [U.S.] National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the [U.S.] National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), both components of the [U.S.] National Institutes of Health (NIH), are sponsoring release of the GWAS data.

"Until now, the individual-level data from this study had been available only to a few researchers,” said Dr.Teri Manolio, director of the NHGRI Office of Population Genomics. "This is the first orphan data set NHGRI is adopting to make public through NCBI, but it certainly will not be the last. We appreciate the willingness of the LEAPS researchers and patients to share their data with the rest of the research community and hope it will increase our understanding of Parkinson's disease.”

"It's wonderful that NHGRI has agreed to facilitate access to this data by researchers around the globe working on Parkinson's disease,” said principal investigator Dr. Demetrius Maraganore, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic. "Our hope is that these data will be used to make breakthroughs in the prevention and treatment of this devastating disease.”


Related Links:
Mayo Clinic
Perlegen Sciences
National Center for Biotechnology Information dbgap