Is there a GWAS on that?

A great online resource to find whether a genome-wide association study (GWAS) has been published on a certain trait or disease is the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) webpage where they maintain a curated catalog of published GWAS.  Here trained curators are constantly scanning PubMed publications and other genomic resources looking for association studies linking a genomic position (usually a tagging SNP) to a disease trait of interest.  Details listed include study size, population, locus, risk allele, odds ratio, p-value, and other pertinent statistics.  Recently, the NHGRI in collaboration with the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) released an interactive version of the GWAS catalog called the GWAS Diagram Browser.  This provides a great way to visualize and filter many of the genome-wide significant findings from genome-wide associations studies.  Highlights include filtering by disease, time series views, and some useful downloads.

Another noteworthy resource is the HuGE Navigator GWAS Interagator.  This is a search tool similar to the NHGRI GWAS catalog, but more focused on a search terms.  Handy links are provided to other resources.  Of particular interest are links to visualize the variants in the UCSC Browser.

I am sure other GWAS resources exist as well, but these were the two main ones that first came to mind for me.  If you know other great GWAS resources capable of linking a genomic marker with a disease, please share in the comments below.

The Health Hazards of Sitting

Anyone who spends considerable amounts to time managing, analyzing, and interpreting data ultimately spends much of it sitting at a computer.  While you may be familiar with the typical stiff neck or sore buttocks from spending hours at a desk, there are a number of other health risks you may not be aware.  Such negative health impacts include increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, muscle degeneration, and soft bones.  A recent piece in the Washington Post highlights these health hazards and presents some exercises and recommendations to avoid these negative health outcomes.  Such preventative measures include taking breaks to stretch and walk as well as changing sitting posture.  Anyways, a small health tidbit to add to the Genome Toolbox to hopefully make you more productive and potentially prevent some negative health outcomes.