How far you go in school is partly down to your genes

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-04-01 02:00

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A study that analysed 3 million people's full genetic code has found that our DNA might explain 12–16 per cent of our education level. The researchers also found that a lot of the impact of genes was likely to be due to indirect effects from the way genes interacted with the environment. They found that many of these genetic variations can also help predict people's risk of ten diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and asthma.

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Journal/
conference: Nature Genetics

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Queensland, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), University of South Australia, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), University of Newcastle, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Funder: H.J, M.B., D. Cesarini and P.T. were supported by the Ragnar Söderberg Foundation (E42/15 to D. Cesarini); A.O. and P.K. by the European Research Council (consolidator grant 647648 EdGe to P.K.); H.J., M.B., S.M.N., T.G., C.W., J.J., M.N.M., D. Cesarini, P.T., J.P.B., D.J.B. and A.I.Y. by Open Philanthropy (grant 010623-00001 to D.J.B.); R.A. and S.O. by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (grant P18-0782:1 to S.O.); N.W., G.G., C.W., L.Y. and D.J.B. by the National Institute on Aging (NIA)/National Institutes of Health (NIH) (grants R24-AG065184 and R01-AG042568 to D.J.B.); D.J.B. by the NIA/ NIH (grant R56-AG058726 to T. Galama); P.T. by the NIA/National Institute on Mental Health (grants R01-MH101244-02 and U01-MH109539-02 to B. Neale); J.S. and P.M.V. by the Australian Research Council (grant FL180100072 to P.M.V.); and Y.W., L.Y. and P.M.V. by the National Health and Medical Research Council (grant GNT113400 to P.M.V.). The study was also supported by Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research VENI (grant 016.Veni.198.058 to A.O.); the F.G. Meade Scholarship and UQ Research Training Scholarship from the University of Queensland Senate (Y.W.); the Swedish Research Council (grant 2019-00244 to S.O.); an MRC University Unit Programme Grant (MC_UU_00007/10, QTL in Health and Disease, to C.H.); the Swedish Research Council (grant 421-2013-1061 to M.J.); Pershing Square Fund of the Foundations of Human Behavior (D.L.); the Li Ka Shing Foundation (A.K.); the Australian Research Council (grant DE200100425 to L.Y.); the NIA/NIH (grant K99-AG062787-01 to P.T.); the Government of Canada through Genome Canada and the Ontario Genomics Institute (grant OGI-152 to J.P.B.); the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (J.P.B.); and the Australian Research Council (P.M.V.).

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