High-throughput, sensitive approach helps reveal what’s ‘real’ in genome-wide association data

Tackling one of the key challenges facing current human genetics, two multi-institutional research teams have demonstrated a tool that should help untangle which genetic variants actually create risk for heart disease, diabetes and a host of other diseases. The research employs an experimental technique called the ‘massively parallel reporter assay’ that lets researchers probe thousands of DNA variations to identify ones that affect gene regulation — how genes are turned on and turned off.