Researchers at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, led by Jacob L. McCauley, Ph.D., and Margaret A. Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., have completed a study creating a detailed genetic map of multiple sclerosis. Their study, “Multiple sclerosis genomic map implicates peripheral immune cells and microglia in susceptibility,” was recently published in the journal Science.
Thanks to researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and their colleagues in the UK, it is now known that some cases of late-onset ataxia, called CANVAS syndrome, are caused by a particular genetic mutation.
Collaboration — that’s what allowed an international team of researchers to analyze information from an extraordinarily large number of people — more than 94,000 individuals — and arrive at some striking revelations about the underlying causes of Alzheimer’s disease, including five new genes that increase risk for the disease. The meta-analysis combines and reevaluates data collected by four consortia.