kari stefansson of decode genetics in iceland

Within a decade, he says, doctors will create genetic profiles of their patients and be able to take preventive steps to thwart the diseases they are likely to get. Stefansson ultimately hopes to sell DeCode's gene-mining software to hospitals so that they can analyze their patients. DeCode is screening for compounds to target the gene and a key receptor. The finding hints at how the rewiring process may go awry in schizophrenics. Revealingly, the new gene, called neuregulin-1, turns out to be involved in brain cell 'plasticity,' the rewiring process that enables learning. Stefansson is an International Member of the US National Academy of Sciences, he is a member of the. One symptom of schizophrenia is hallucinations. Stefansson was a professor of neurology, neuropathology and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and before that he held the same positions at the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. In July, culminating a three-year search, DeCode pinpointed a gene for schizophrenia, an illness that afflicts Stefansson's brother. Stefansson overcame objections that one company shouldn't have such sweeping access and won permission for the database, now under construction. To find disease genes, he would marry this database to genealogical information and a separate DNA database of Icelanders who had agreed to give blood samples. His plan was to win an exclusive commercial license to the medical records of everyone in Iceland (with names removed). He snagged a $200 million deal with Roche in 1998. Unable to land government grants for his proposal to study Icelanders' genetics, Stefansson left Harvard and founded DeCode Genetics in Reykjavík in 1996. 'There's no genetic operation that can compete with us now,' he says. His team has used the data to narrow the location of 21 genes for a like number of disorders, including arthritis, Parkinson's disease, obesity and stroke. Today Stefansson has collected DNA samples and records from some 70,000 volunteers, a quarter of the population. Its meticulous records from church documents and sagas, a set of semihistorical books, let the 290,000 residents trace their family trees to the earliest days. Iceland, in effect, is a huge extended family that can be used to investigate genetic inheritance.

Vikings settled this chunk of volcanic rock in the North Atlantic in the year 874, and the Icelanders have lived in comparative isolation ever since. His native Iceland presented a genetic gold mine. To identify the key genes involved, he realized he would need a massive source of DNA data. Stefansson had a tenured post at Harvard, where he was searching for the cause of multiple sclerosis. The scientist Kari Stefansson is unlocking the secrets of diabetes, stroke and other killers by probing the genetics of an entire country.Ī decade ago Dr. Now progress against afflictions like schizophrenia is in view. A quarter of its population has stepped up to aid the effort. Kari Stefansson left Harvard to map the genes of his native land.

Kari stefansson of decode genetics in iceland