The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC), the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI), Perlegen Sciences and Affymetrix Inc. have collaborated to undertake one of the largest whole-genome association programmes ever conducted to search for genes associated with ten complex diseases. Perlegen Sciences will genotype 15,000 individuals and produce more than 10 billion individual genotypes using Affymetrix GeneChip technology, including the new human mapping 500K array set.

"We plan to genotype more than 15,000 samples across 675,000 SNPs using the Affymetrix GeneChip human mapping 500K array set plus a custom 175K SNP panel," said Professor Peter Donnelly from the Department of Statistics at Oxford, who chairs the consortium.

For the first 11,000 samples, the group will search for genes associated with coronary heart disease, hypertension, types 1 and 2 diabetes, bipolar disorder, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and tuberculosis. As part of this collaboration, an additional 4000 samples will be analysed by the WTSI to study the genetic origins of common diseases, such as types 1 and 2 diabetes, obesity and malaria, informs the company release.

The release further states that the new Affymetrix GeneChip human mapping 500K array set provides a more comprehensive and unbiased view of the entire genome, enabling scientists to analyse genetic variation across the genome in large populations for the first time. Researchers believe that the genetic signposts will provide a better understanding of which people are most at risk and why. Access to this detailed genetic information should help researchers develop more effective treatments in the long term.

The WTCCC is a team of 24 leading human geneticists that conducts research at a number of institutes throughout the United Kingdom, including the WTSI, Leicester University, Cambridge University and Oxford University.