Executive Summary

UK researchers have received a £9m ($15.8) grant to begin a nationwide study to identify genetic variants that might predispose people to eight major diseases. The three-year project, which has received funding from the Wellcome Trust, will analyse and identify genetic markers for tuberculosis, coronary heart disease, type-1 and type-2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, bipolar disorder and hypertension. Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) - a collaboration of 24 leading human geneticists - will analyse over 19,000 DNA samples for 675,00 genetics points where key variations are thought to occur. The study will be conducted at various institutes and universities throughout the UK, including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge University and Oxford University.