MOvE-ECG · Moving from genome wide association to elucidating causal mechanisms of electrocardiographic traits
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2015-07-01 → 2017-09-30
- EU contribution
- €196,381
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-GF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Moving from genome wide association to elucidating causal mechanisms of electrocardiographic traits
Understanding how genes and genetic variants influence heart function is of major importance, not only from a basic science viewpoint but also as a foundation for future innovation in medicine and health-care. In this proposal, Dr. Niek Verweij has been working on the identification of genes and mechanisms that underlay heart growth and other ECG parameters. This has been performed in collaboration with the Dr. Chris Newton-Cheh (Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT) and Dr. Laurie Boyer (MIT). This project was mainly focussed on the QRS-complex of the electrocardiogram in population-based studies as this reflects electrically active cardiac mass. The main objectives were as follows. 1) To search for novel low-frequency genetic variants associated with the QRS-complex within the CHARGE consortium and within a Dutch population using dedicated reference panels. 2) To interrogate loci through the use of published and unpublished in silico big-data sets to further prioritize variants and regions for experimental follow-up aimed at elucidating biological mechanisms. This overall aim of this project was to better understand heart failure susceptibility by bridging the gap between population-based genetic association studies and functional biology; to provide novel insights into cardiomyocyte functioning. This is a fundamental step to provide novel avenues for studying heart disease vulnerability and designing new treatment options.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Understanding how genes and genetic variants influence heart function is of major importance, not only from a basic science viewpoint, but also as a foundation for future innovation in medicine and health-care. In this proposal, Dr. Niek Verweij aims to identify novel genes and mechanisms underlying heart growth. This will be done in collaboration with the top-scientist Dr. Chris Newton-Cheh (Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT) and Dr. Laurie Boyer (MIT). As heart growth accompanies many forms of heart disease, this project will focus on the QRS-complex (of the electrocardiogram) in population based studies as this reflects electrically active cardiac mass. We will search for novel low-frequency genetic variants associated with the QRS-complex within the CHARGE consortium and within a Dutch population using dedicated reference panels. Loci will be interrogated through the use of published and unpublished in silico big-data sets to further prioritize variants and regions for experimental follow-up aimed at elucidating biological mechanisms. This project will bridge the gap between population based genetic association studies (with Dr. Newton-Cheh) to functional biology (with Dr. Laurie Boyer). This proposal will provide novel insights into cardiomyocyte functioning and provide novel avenues to study heart disease vulnerability and design innovative treatment.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- ACADEMISCH ZIEKENHUIS GRONINGEN · GroningenCoordinatorNetherlands
- THE GENERAL HOSPITAL CORPORATION · BOSTON MAUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union