UC Irvine researchers are helping lead a new $7.8 million federally funded study into the genetics behind diabetes and obesity.
The award comes from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Studying Underexplored Genetic Variation
The project, called HERITAGE, will examine tandem repeats — sections of DNA that repeat in sequence and have historically been more difficult to analyze at large scale.
Researchers will use population-scale genomic data to study how those variations may contribute to diabetes, obesity and other metabolic traits across diverse populations.
UC Irvine and UCLA Collaboration
The study is co-led by Wei Li, Ph.D., professor of biological chemistry at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, and Tamer Sallam, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine at UCLA.
Researchers hope the work will improve understanding of inherited metabolic risk and identify genetic factors that have been overlooked by earlier studies.
Source: UC Irvine School of Medicine.
