To celebrate its fifteenth birthday year, Nature Genetics, in partnership with the Wellcome Trust, announces a conference covering research strategies progressing from genome-wide association studies to untangling the mechanisms of common diseases. The Genomics of Common Diseases conference will take place from 7 to 10 July 2007 at The Wellcome Trust Conference Centre, The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK.

The availability of genome-wide association studies has started to redefine the genetic architecture of common diseases, and over the next three to five years will reveal new susceptibility genes for a wide range of these disorders. This is shifting the strategic emphasis of common disease genetics, from identification of susceptibility genes to understanding of mechanisms and potential applications. The following topics are on the programme:

>The state of the art in genome-wide association studies across a range of common diseases

>The transition from knowledge of susceptibility genes to understanding of mechanism

>Population genetics, genome evolution and structural variation in common disease genetics

>The usefulness of risk prediction based on genetic and other available tests

>Ethical, legal and social implications of personal genetic information.

In the meantime, don’t forget the Question of the Year: What would you do if it became possible to sequence the equivalent of a full human genome for only $1,000? So far, 28 genetics researchers have provided their answers on the Question of the Year website. More answers will be added until October, so contact Nature Genetics if you work in this field and have your own suggestion.