Common human diseases and most other traits vary in a continuous manner, modified by multiple genes and environmental influences. Rapidly expanding information about genome sequence variation is making it possible for the first time to perform well-powered searches for the inherited contributors to common diseases and other complex phenotypes. Success will provide insight into the genetic architecture of quantitative characteristics, the evolutionary history of trait variation, and the etiology of common human diseases. This meeting aims to bring together investigators from population genetics, genomics, quantitative genetics, epidemiology and medical research to examine these problems from a variety of perspectives. ? ? The root causes of most common human diseases remains unknown, with one of our most promising clues to causation being the familial clustering of disease. Leveraging information from the human genome projects, genetic epidemiology, quantitative and population genetics, it is increasingly practical to find the genetic determinants of common diseases. By bringing together leading investigators in each of these disciplines, this meeting will lead to improved methods to discover genetic contributors to disease, which will in turn improve the effectiveness and safety of interventions used to improve public health. ? ?
