Novel statistical methods for genetic epidemiology

我们正处于基因组学革命的中心，它正在改变流行病学、医学和药物发现。然而，缺乏复杂的统计技术来处理复杂疾病的遗传调查中固有的复杂问题，这是目前限制人类基因发现计划成功的关键因素。统计遗传方法学是目前流行病学发展最快的领域之一。在诸如遗传流行病学、基因组学和蛋白质组学等信息密集型领域，对数据分析和统计技能有很高的需求。西澳在学术界和工业界的统计科学方面都有一些世界级的专业知识。然而，这种专门知识尚未系统地应用于遗传数据分析。我们建议在统计遗传学和生物信息学方面进行先进的方法学研究，生产易于使用和可访问的软件工具和资源，使澳大利亚研究界能够访问方法学的进步，并将我们的新方法和工具应用于特定疾病研究和发展中的人类基因组流行病学（HuGE）企业。这些方法学研究方面的新举措将汇集一些目前独立的研究领域，并将提供新的工具和资源，使应用澳大利亚项目能够提高其对重要原因的研究效率。生物信息学和统计遗传学的方法学发展是公认的国际需要领域。

We are in the midst of a genomics revolution that is transforming epidemiology, medicine and drug discovery. However, the scarcity of sophisticated statistical techniques to deal with the complicated problems inherent in genetic investigations of complex diseases is currently the critical factor limiting the success of human gene discovery programs. Statistical genetic methodology is currently one of the fastest developing areas of epidemiology. In information-intensive' areas such as genetic epidemiology, genomics, and proteomics, there is a high demand for data analysis and statistical skills. WA has some world class expertise in statistical science, both in academia and in industry. However, this expertise has not yet been applied in a system way to genetic data analysis. We propose to undertake advanced methodological research in statistical genetics and bioinformatics, to produce easy-to-use and accessible software tools and resources that allow methodological advances to be accessed by the Australian research community, and to apply our new methods and tools both to specific disease research and to the developing human genome epidemiology (HuGE) enterprise in WA. These new initiatives in methodological research will draw together a number of currently separate research strands and will provide new tools and resources that will allow applied Australian programs to improve the efficiency of their research into the causes of important. Methodological development in both bioinformatics and statistical genetics are recognized international areas of need.