A team of Cambridge researchers led by scientists at the Babraham Institute have discovered the hidden connections in our genomes that contribute to common diseases. Using a pioneering technique developed at the Babraham Institute, the results are beginning to make biological sense of the mountains of genetic data linking very small changes in our DNA sequence to our risk of disease. Discovering these missing links will inform the design of new drugs and future treatments for a range of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and other types of autoimmune disease.
Comparing the genome sequences of hundreds of thousands of patients and healthy volunteers has revealed single-letter changes found more frequently in the DNA sequences of individuals with specific diseases.
