Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

SKI - Sharing Knowledge and Insight presents: The War of the Locust 1940-45: an interdisciplinary approach to the archive of the Anti-Locust Research Centre

At the height of the Second World War, the British Empire launched an ambitious campaign to eradicate locusts in East Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. The Anti-Locust Research Centre left behind an extensive and uncatalogued visual and textual archive, consisting of documents and correspondence, photographs and slides, films, maps, journals, scientific notes, field-guides and locust specimens, now housed in the Natural History Museum in London and the National Museum of Wales. The AHRC, through a Science in Culture research award, has funded an interdisciplinary research project, The War of the Locust, 1940 – 1945, which brings together an historian, an artist, a forensic entomologist and an ecologist to explore the ALRC through its archive. This SKI event will discuss their collaborative research on the ALRC and this campaign, working with an archive, and the challenges of interdisciplinary work. The project team consists of Dr Robert Fletcher, Associate Professor of Britain and Empire, University of Warwick Dr Amanda Thomson, Painting and Printmaking Department, Glasgow School of Art Dr Katherine Brown, Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth Dr Greg McInerney, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick This SKI event will reflect on the project and discuss working as an interdisciplinary team to explore and make sense of this archiv

The War of the Locust, 1940-1945: an interdisciplinary workshop

The War of the Locust: is an AHRC funded collaborative and interdisciplinary research project bringing together an historian (Dr Robert Fletcher, Warwick, Principal Investigator), an artist (Dr Amanda Thomson, Glasgow School of Art) a forensic entomologist (Dr Katherine Brown, Portsmouth) and an ecologist (Dr Greg McInerny, Warwick). Working through the archive of the Anti-Locust Research Centre material and specimens held at the Natural History Museum and the National Museum of Wales, the research focuses on the remarkable campaign, over the course of the twentieth-century, to monitor and eradicate the desert locust. Outbreaks of the desert locust – Schistocerca gregaria – have plagued agricultural societies for millennia. How states have perceived and dealt with this threat has not only affected the livelihoods of generations of farmers and pastoralists; it has played an important part in the making and unmaking of states’ legitimacy. A collaborative and interdisciplinary project, supported by an AHRC Science in Culture Developmental Award, the project also reflects upon the nature of interdisciplinary work itself. This first seminar, held at the University of Warwick, will reflect on the project so far

iRAP Malaysia training course : Decade of Action for Road Safety

The International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) is a not-for-profit organisation that works in partnership with governments and non-government organisations in all parts of the world to make roads safe. The iRAP Malaysia pilot study on 3,700km of road identified the potential to save 31,800 deaths and serious injuries over the next 20 years from proven engineering improvements. To help ensure the iRAP data and results are available to planners and engineers, iRAP, together with staff from the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) developed a 5-day iRAP training course that covers the background, theory and practical application of iRAP protocols, with a special focus on Malaysian case studies. Funding was provided by a competitive grant from the Australian-Malaysia Institute

iRAP Malaysia training course: Decade of Action for Road Safety. Report to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia-Malaysia Institute

The International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) is a not-for-profit organisation that works in partnership with governments and non-government organisations in all parts of the world to make roads safe. The iRAP Malaysia pilot study on 3,700km of road identified the potential to save 31,800 deaths and serious injuries over the next 20 years from proven engineering improvements. To help ensure the iRAP data and results are available to planners and engineers, iRAP, together with staff from the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) developed a 5-day iRAP training course that covers the background, theory and practical application of iRAP protocols, with a special focus on Malaysian case studies. Funding was provided by a competitive grant from the Australian-Malaysia Institute

Population genomics reveal recent speciation and rapid evolutionary adaptation in polar bears.

Polar bears are uniquely adapted to life in the High Arctic and have undergone drastic physiological changes in response to Arctic climates and a hyper-lipid diet of primarily marine mammal prey. We analyzed 89 complete genomes of polar bear and brown bear using population genomic modeling and show that the species diverged only 479-343 thousand years BP. We find that genes on the polar bear lineage have been under stronger positive selection than in brown bears; nine of the top 16 genes under strong positive selection are associated with cardiomyopathy and vascular disease, implying important reorganization of the cardiovascular system. One of the genes showing the strongest evidence of selection, APOB, encodes the primary lipoprotein component of low-density lipoprotein (LDL); functional mutations in APOB may explain how polar bears are able to cope with life-long elevated LDL levels that are associated with high risk of heart disease in humans

Population genomics reveal recent speciation and rapid evolutionary adaptation in polar bears

Polar bears are uniquely adapted to life in the High Arctic and have undergone drastic physiological changes in response to Arctic climates and a hyperlipid diet of primarily marine mammal prey. We analyzed 89 complete genomes of polar bear and brown bear using population genomic modeling and show that the species diverged only 479-343 thousand years BP. We find that genes on the polar bear lineage have been under stronger positive selection than in brown bears; nine of the top 16 genes under strong positive selection are associated with cardiomyopathy and vascular disease, implying important reorganization of the cardiovascular system. One of the genes showing the strongest evidence of selection, APOB, encodes the primary lipoprotein component of low-density lipoprotein (LDL); functional mutations in APOB may explain how polar bears are able to cope with life-long elevated LDL levels that are associated with high risk of heart disease in humans. PaperClip © 2014 Elsevier Inc