deCODE Receives NIH Grant to Identify Genetic Factors Involved in Nicotine Dependence
deCODE has received a grant from the National Institute on drug abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to search for gene variants that play an important role in nicotine dependence.
Under the four-year grant, deCODE will conduct a large-scale gene discovery effort using both its population resources in Iceland as well as additional studies in the US and Europe. Employing its comprehensive genealogical data and detailed smoking history questionnaires completed by tens of thousands of Icelanders, deCODE will analyze genotypic data from study participants with moderate to severe nicotine addiction from large extended families from across the country. Small regions of particular chromosomes that tend to be shared by those with nicotine dependence will then be genotyped in detail, enabling the identification of variants of specific genes that predispose to dependence. Variants found in Iceland will then be validated in American and European cohorts.
This study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under award number 1 R01 DA017932-01A1.
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