Life Technologies and EdgeBio said this week that they are partnering with researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University on a large-scale sequencing study of schizophrenia.
The study, which involves a cohort of 1,500 patients and controls, is using a whole-genome approach to find methylation patterns associated with schizophrenia.
For the project, scientists at EdgeBio will use Life Tech's MethylMiner Methylated DNA Enrichment kit to selectively enrich methylated DNA from the 1,500 samples and sequence it on the SOLiD system, along with 75 technical replicates. VCU researchers will analyze the data and plan to study the most promising markers further in an additional 1,600 patients and controls.
According to the partners, the study represents the first large-scale genome-wide sequencing study to detect epigenetic markers in order to understand the causes of a complex disease.