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Common Genetic Variation and Human Traits

  • David B. Goldstein, Ph.D.

This article has no abstract; the first 100 words appear below.

The human genome has been cracked wide open in recent years and is spilling many of its secrets. More than 100 genomewide association studies have been conducted for scores of human diseases, identifying hundreds of polymorphisms that are widely seen to influence disease risk. After many years in which the study of complex human traits was mired in false claims and methodologic inconsistencies, genomics has brought not only comprehensive representation of common variation but also welcome rigor in the interpretation of statistical evidence. Researchers now know how to properly account for most of the multiple hypothesis testing involved in mining . . .

Funding and Disclosures

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

This article (10.1056/NEJMp0806284) was published at NEJM.org on April 15, 2009.

Author Affiliations

Dr. Goldstein is director of the Center for Human Genome Variation, Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC.

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