DOHA: A groundbreaking study first conducted by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) has been expanded upon by an international team of scientists, leading to a detailed genetic map of human proteins.
The work, led by scientists at the University of Cambridge and MSD, characterised the genetic underpinnings of the human plasma ‘proteome’, identifying nearly 2,000 genetic associations with almost 1,500 proteins. Previously, only a small fraction of these associations were known, mainly because researchers could measure only a few blood proteins simultaneously in a robust manner.
The researchers used technology (“SOMAscan”) developed by a company, SomaLogic, to measure 3,600 proteins in the blood of 3,300 people. They then analysed the DNA of these individuals to see which regions of their genomes were associated with protein levels, yielding a four-fold increase on the study previously published by WCM-Q.
The new study has been published in Nature. The earlier study was supported by the Biomedical Research Program (BMRP) of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, a programme supported by Qatar Foundation. Dr Karsten Suhre (pictured), Professor of Physiology and Biophysics and Director of Bioinformatics Core at WCM-Q, led the earlier research in Qatar last year, which revealed many previously unknown links between genetic variations and a series of debilitating conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, autoimmune disorders and cancer.
Dr Suhre was asked to participate in the latest study. He said, “It was a great honour to part of this huge study. It takes our own research to the next level, but it is also gratifying to see that Qatar was there at the start, providing our own contribution to the global knowledge of human biology and genetics. It is also demonstrable proof that WCM-Q and the Qatari leadership’s goals of transforming Qatar into a knowledge economy and a hub of world-class scientific research in the region have come to fruition.”
