Approved research

Deciphering complex traits - phenotypic and genetic associations between traits in the UK Biobank Cohort

Lay summary

Most diseases are categorized as complex. These diseases or health-related outcomes result from a complex interplay of genes and environment/lifestyle factors. Investigating relationships between health-related outcomes can provide a unique opportunity to unravel common causes of complex diseases and shed light on the biological mechanisms underlying these diseases. With particular interests on complex diseases that confer a major impact on public health, we will primarily focus on mental disorders, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infections and autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases. Specifically, we aim to identify genetic markers of complex diseases, assess the phenotypic associations between complex diseases, evaluate the genetic associations across complex diseases, and identify brain imaging markers linking genetic makeup to mental symptoms/disorders. Our findings may have the potential to significantly advance our knowledge of the biological basis for health-related complex diseases, leading to refined disease prevention and novel markers for early detection and/or intervention. The proposed program will last for three years but it might be prolonged due to advances in methodology and novel findings which may require external validations.