Abstract

In just over a decade, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have gone from a back-of-the-envelope calculation to multimillion-pound projects to, crucially, fruitful results in the form of genomic regions that might predispose to several complex diseases. The success of GWAS — which aim to identify genetic markers that are more frequent in affected individuals compared with non-affected individuals in a population — was built on the advances in the technology behind SNP identification and genotyping, and on a huge cash injection to support state-of-the-art facilities.