New AI model helps discover genetic risk factors for motor neurone disease
The Hindu
The 690 new genes identified by RefMap lead to a five-fold increase in discovered heritability, a measure that describes how much of the disease is due to a variation in genetic factors
Scientists have developed a new machine learning model for the discovery of genetic risk factors for ailments such as Motor Neurone Disease.
Designed by researchers from the University of Sheffield in the U.K. and the Stanford University School of Medicine in the U.S., the machine learning tool, RefMap, has been used by the team to trace 690 risk genes for motor neurone disease (MND), many of which are new discoveries.
One of the genes highlighted as a new MND gene, called KANK1, has been shown to produce neurotoxicity very similar to that observed in the brains of patients.
