The efforts of bioinformatics company deCode Genetics are starting to pay
off. Earlier this year, the Reykjavik-based company struck a deal with the
Icelandic government that gives it exclusive access to citizens’ medical
records. Now researchers at deCode have identified a gene linked to
schizophrenia, the first of its kind to be found, by scanning the genomes of 400
people with the condition and comparing them to 400 unaffected relatives.
Scientists at Swiss drugs giant Roche will now study the gene to try to
understand its role in the disease.
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