Genetics of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors on the Island of Kosrae
In collaboration with the Friedman laboratory at Rockefeller, the Pe'er laboratory at Columbia, and The Broad Institute in Boston, the Breslow laboratory has been studying a population from the Island of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia. Kosraens are Polynesians with limited Caucasian admixture, and the Island has a current population of ~6,000. In 1994 and again in 2001, the Friedman and Breslow laboratories screened the adult population of Kosrae for cardiovascular risk factors, ascertained family history, and took blood for laboratory tests and DNA isolation. They phenotyped 3300 adult Kosraens and constructed a 5 generation pedigree that included >90% of those studied. In recent years, they have turned to genome wide association studies (GWAS) using high density SNP chips to reveal common genes predisposing to obesity, diabetes, hypertension and lipid abnormalities in this population. By this method regions significantly associated with various phenotypes have been identified. In those associated with lipid phenotypes Dr. Breslow's laboratory has been involved in identifying the culprit genes and their causative variants, as well as how they influence their associated traits. More recently, whole genome sequencing of Kosraens is being employed to identify additional variants of importance in this population.
Researcher:
Ralph Burkhardt, rburkhardt@rockefeller.edu
