Can genomics conquer genetic diseases? The sequencing of the human genome 10 years ago was heralded as the start of a new era of medicine in which genetic diseases would be conquered. Emma Dorey examines what has happened to this revolution.(News feature)

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Ten years after the human genome was sequenced, teasing out the genetics of complex diseases still seems frustratingly slow. With relatively few medical products resulting from the first deluge of genomewide association studies, some researchers say the focus of such research must switch from genetic markers commonly found in healthy people to those with specific disease subtypes, if further progress is to be made.

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In July 2010, researchers at Boston University, US, said they had found a way of determining whether someone will live beyond 100. To explore the genetic contribution of ageing, they conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of exceptional longevity in 1055 centenarians and 1267 regular people. By comparing the genomes of the two groups, the researchers identified 150 key genetic variants (SNPs), which they then incorporated into a model that could predict with 77% accuracy whether someone would be a centenarian (C&/2010, 13, 9). The researchers also found that 90% of the centenarians had one of 19 genetic signatures for long life that correlated with differences in the prevalence and the start of onset of …