Human Disease

A key objective of the G2C Programme is to understand the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying human neurological diseases.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh are conducting a long-term study of the Lothian Birth Cohorts, two sets of research volunteers born in the years 1921 and 1936 respectively. The project is examining lifetime influences on the process of cognitive ageing (changes in thinking skills with age). Some of the factors that may be important are: early life cognitive ability, social and economic circumstances, and genes.

Further data are being obtained by follow-up studies of the 1932 and 1947 Scottish Mental Surveys. All Scottish children born in 1921 or 1936 (and therefore included in one of the Lothian Birth Cohorts) and attending school on specific days in 1932 or 1947 undertook a validated test of psychometric intelligence, The Moray House Test. In one study, G2C researchers followed up 101 of these people at age 77 and re-administered the same mental ability test. This is believed to be the longest follow-up study of psychometric intelligence reported to date. It showed that differences in people's mental abilities are surprisingly stable, from childhood to late life.

Peter Visscher, at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, investigates the pattern of disease in families, particularly identical and non-identical twins, to assess the relative importance of genes and environment in a variety of important health problems. To this end, he is conducting human population genetics studies, as well as investigating linkage and performing association analyses for quantitative traits.