Ireland sees 110 new cases of motor neurone disease every
year, says Prof Orla Hardiman, who will lead Project Mine activity in Ireland.
Scientists are still learning about the disease, but there is undoubtedly a
genetic component, hence the need for an initiative such as this.
“The project is based on looking at the population
genetics of motor neurone disease; whole genome
association studies, ” says Hardiman, a professor of neurology at Trinity
College Dublin and a
consultant neurologist at Beaumont
Hospital. “It is based on looking at genes, but being able to do
this is all about computers, maths and statistics.”
“Ireland is a really good place to do this work; it is
good for gene research. It can be easier to do these studies in Ireland because
we have larger families and can compare family genes against the wider
population.”
The complexity of the genetic background here is also
lower than in a country such as the US or mainland Europe.
Members of the consortium will share data freely, and so,
although we will only pay for a part of the project, we will benefit from
having access to all of the resultant data. “We get the data back,” says Vajda.
“It is not giving genetic information away, it is bringing it back to us. It
represents a new era in gene research. We need to be be involved. We need to be
a partner in this to avoid missing out.”
