Genetic Analysis Workshop 14: Introduction to workshop summaries

Abstract

Genetic Analysis Workshop 14 (GAW14) was held September 7-10, 2005, in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. The overarching theme was the comparison of microsatellite and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for genome-wide scans, and the statistical methods that can best exploit the information provided in such scans for linkage and association studies. The 183 contributions submitted to GAW14 were organized into 18 presentation groups of 7-15 papers each. GAW14 participants had the choice of two data sets to analyze. COGA generously donated extensive family data on alcoholism, related phenotypes, pertinent covariates, and a set of previously analyzed genomescan microsatellite marker genotypes. The simulated data were designed to have similarities to the real data set. Extensive new SNP genotyping was performed on DNA provided by COGA for the previously genotyped families. Illumina, Affymetrix, and the Center for Inherited Disease Research performed this work and donated these data to GAW14 and to COGA. The group summary papers collected in this issue present the major findings from GAW14.