Research

The Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium was formed to facilitate genome-wide association study meta-analyses and replication opportunities among multiple large and well-phenotyped longitudinal cohort studies. These cohorts have an extensive collection of genomic data as well as repeated measures of risk factors, subclinical disease indicators, and cardiovascular events on over 50,000 multi-ethnic participants.

The goal of the NHLBI GO Exome Sequencing Project (ESP) is to discover novel genes and mechanisms contributing to heart, lung and blood disorders by pioneering the application of next-generation sequencing of the protein coding regions of the human genome across diverse, richly-phenotyped populations and to share these datasets and findings with the scientific community to extend and enrich the diagnosis, management and treatment of heart, lung and blood disorders.

The International Stroke Genetics Consortium (ISGC) was created in April 2007 by a group of 16 investigators from Europe and North America interested in stroke genetics research. Since then, the ISGC has held one international workshop every six months, hosted by ISGC members from around the world, and has become an international, multidisciplinary network of more than 200 stroke genetics investigators, representing over 38 countries in 6 continents.

The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) is a study of the characteristics of subclinical cardiovascular disease (disease detected non-invasively before it has produced clinical signs and symptoms) and the risk factors that predict progression to clinically overt cardiovascular disease or progression of the subclinical disease. MESA researchers study a diverse, population-based sample of 6,814 asymptomatic men and women aged 45-84. Approximately 38 percent of the recruited participants are white, 28 percent African-American, 22 percent Hispanic, and 12 percent Asian, predominantly of Chinese descent.