Origins and Evolution of Mental Health Genetic Variants
/Illumina and the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre Collaborate to Generate One of the Largest Ancient Genome Datasets to Decode the Genetic Origins and Evolution of Mental Health Issues
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) and the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark partner to explore the relationship between the evolutionary history of select mental and neurological disorders and infectious pathogens. One of the first projects of its kind worldwide, the endeavor aims to acquire new knowledge in terms of the medical and biological understanding of special factors underlying the development of human neuropsychiatric diseases through the ages. Ultimately, the project may provide a new approach to the development of medicines and other therapeutic treatments for mental and neurological conditions.
Where do brain disorders come from? In an effort to shed light on the role of microbes in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia, Professor Eske Willerslev and his team will build one of the largest genomic datasets of its kind, by complete DNA mapping of thousands of ancient Eurasian human remains. The data will be obtained from bones and teeth, the oldest remains dating back 10,000 years.
The international, multi-disciplinary team of scientists, which includes specialists in ancient genomics, neuro-genetics, population genetics, archaeology, linguistics, and experts in brain health, among others, will focus on creating two unique subsets of genomic data. The first panel is a 5,000 ancient human genomes panel. The second panel will consist of ancient pathogen DNA that is associated with human diseases. Both panels, which will be made publicly available, will together advance our understanding of the evolution of disease variance and its interaction with the human genome and pathogen pressure. The project will generate and analyze one of the largest sets of ancient human and pathogen genome panels ever created.
