Discovery of phenotypes influenced by the season of birth

Background: It has been evidenced for model organisms, e.g. mouse, that the perinatal photoperiod can have long term influence on behaviour and regulation of the Circadian clock genes.

Goal: The goal of this project is to use the Cohorte Lausannois (CoLaus) data to discover phenotypes with statistical evidence of being influenced by the season of birth of the individual. Special emphasis will be on psychological traits.

Mathematical tools: Statistics. The students will learn how to use Matlab to read in large data sets, conduct linear and logistic regression analysis.

Biological or Medical aspects: The effect of imprinting on complex human traits is poorly understood, we aim to elucidate a special aspect of it.

Supervisors: Zoltan Kutalik & Diana Marek

Students: Loic Spinazza & Charles Lehmann

Presentation: Media:GWAS_projects_intro.ppt

Final Report: Media:GWAS_season_of_birth.pdf

References: <biblio>

  1. ciarleglio2011 pmid=21131951
  2. colaus Firmann M, Mayor V, Vidal PM, Bochud M, Pécoud A, Hayoz D, Paccaud F, Preisig M, Song KS, Yuan X, Danoff TM, Stirnadel HA, Waterworth D, Mooser V, Waeber G, Vollenweider P.The CoLaus study: a population-based study to investigate the epidemiology and genetic determinants of cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2008 Mar 17;8:6.
  3. formula How to calculate the length of day and the duration of twilight for any latitude and for any day of year, using some basic trigonometry http://herbert.gandraxa.com/length_of_day.xml

</biblio> see Genome Wide Association Studies, Media: McCarthy_review_GWAS.pdf , GWAS papers

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