LifeNet Health LifeSciences Chosen for Ground-breaking Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) Project
In 2010, the National Institutes of Health established a Common Fund Project titled: “The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) Project.” Its overall aim was to create a data resource to investigate genetic variation and gene expression across multiple human tissues from the same individuals. RNA expression changes from these tissues were then compared to variations in the genetic sequences to identify expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). These eQTLs, in turn, can now be analyzed for their association with common human diseases to identify which genes are involved and further investigate their mechanisms within these diseases.
LifeNet Health LifeSciences was one of eight biospecimen providers chosen to participate in these groundbreaking studies. To date, over 17,000 samples from nearly 1,000 individuals across 54 non-diseased tissues have been processed using state-of-the art protocols. The GTEx portal, which houses all the data from this project, continues to be accessed by research investigators worldwide.