In late June, Boston University (BU; Boston, MA) announced that it had formed Framingham Genomic Medicine (FGM) to capitalize on data from the Framingham Heart Study, a project credited with fundamental discoveries such as linking smoking and high cholesterol to heart disease. Those involved with FGM say the high quality of the data will be extremely useful in connecting gene markers with clinical records in the search for new drug treatments, but others say that the data, like those from most gene linkage studies, have their limitations.
The aim of FGM, according to chief scientific officer Fred Ledley, is to develop bioinformatics tools for use in the search for genes related to disease. FGM, which was set up with $21 million in venture capital, will also conduct linkage studies similar to those being done by Gemini Genomics (Cambridge, UK) and deCODE Genetics (Reykjavik, Iceland): It will correlate clinical records with DNA analysis from blood samples collected in the Framingham study to look for genetic markers. The company will map 50,000 markers related to diseases, and Ledley predicts those markers will yield much information on their own, also allowing pharmaceutical companies using the data to further narrow-in on genes. He says the Framingham data will complement those generated by the Human Genome Project and the SNPs Consortium.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution