GWA studies of malaria present many methodological challenges, which largely arise from the great genetic diversity of African populations. To examine these methodological issues, we began this project with an initial GWA case-control study of severe malaria in which 500,000 SNPs were genotyped in 2500 Gambian childen, in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium.

Analysis of these data has been completed and a manuscript describing these findings has been submitted for publication. As well as identifying several regions of the genome that have interesting associations with severe malaria, and merit further investigation as we enlarge this project, these data provide important information about genetic population structure in Africa and how this structure affects the analysis of GWA data.

Researchers who wish to access these GWA data for their own analyses may apply to do so through the Independent Data Access Committee. Find more information about the permitted uses of MalariaGEN GWA data, and about how to apply for access to these data.