Topic: diseases

This lecture examines traits and diseases influenced by many genetic variants. It introduces genome-wide association studies, pleiotropy and polygenic risk scores, then considers their use in precision medicine. Outstanding limitations include unexplained heritability and the uneven representation of human populations in genomic research.

Sleep is generally associated with the brain but poor sleep impacts the entire body - many diseases are caused or exacerbated by sleep loss. Our work is uncovering ways in which sleep and the body interact. We found a special, two-way relationship between sleep and the gut: the gut is uniquely impacted by sleep loss, and it actively controls sleep quality. These findings could help us understand the origins of sleep as well as develop strategies to offset the negative consequences of inadequate sleep.