Development of genetic tests for coronary artery disease and acute myocardial infarction.

Starting date
February 1, 2012
Duration (months)
24
Departments
Medicine
Managers or local contacts
Girelli Domenico

This joint project aims to contribute to a better understanding of the molecular bases of coronary atherosclerotic diseases (CAD) and acute myocardial infarction (MI), and to develop genetic tests able to disclose the individual predisposition to such diseases. It lies on the collaboration between Personal Genomics, a “spin-off” company of the University of Verona, and the Department of Medicine of the same university, which is involved in the longstanding Verona Heart Study (VHS). The VHS has contributed to several international consortia focusing on genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of CAD/MI, which have identified more than twenty loci significantly associated to disease risk. For most of these loci, the functional genetic variations have not yet been identified. Through this project we would like contribute to a better definition of these loci through their capture/resequencing in the VHS population. This would contribute not only to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of CAD/MI, but also to the development of algorithms based on genetic scores that may eventually improve the prediction of CAD/MI risk based on the traditional risk factors.

Project participants

Domenico Girelli
Full Professor
Nicola Martinelli
Associate Professor
Oliviero Olivieri
Teaching Assistant

Activities

Research facilities

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