NASS has just awarded a grant of £62,000 over 3 years to support the employment of a post-doctoral research assistant in bioinformatics to work on the identification and validation of genes involved in ankylosing spondylitis. Many NASS members will have already contributed to this important set of studies either by giving a small blood sample
- the method of donating a genetic sample used in the early years - or more recently by providing a saliva sample.
An individual's risk of developing AS is primarily determined by their genetic make up. Identifying as many of the genetic factors involved in AS as possible will help us to understand the mechanisms involved in causing the disease. It is now the goal to find as many as possible of the genes involved in AS to identify other targets for drug treatment with the aim of reducing symptoms, curing or preventing the condition in the long term.
The post that NASS is funding, due to start in April 2011, is part of a very large long-term programme of work with the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) which has conducted a series of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in AS using cases from a large AS sample collection. This has subsequently been supplemented by the Triple A (Australo/Anglo/American) Spondylitis Consortium (TASC) and the National Institute of Health and a second comprehensive GWAS by WTCCC. As a result of these investigations a "long list" of genes likely to be implicated in susceptibility to AS has been created: the person appointed to this post will work on analysing some of this vital data.
Date posted: 28/4/11