Research summary
Genetics concerns the transmission of inherited traits, while genealogy refers to the descent of a person, family or group from ancestors. Both are of increasing interest to the public, particularly in relation to various diseases. Dr. Simon Girard, Canada Research Chair in Genetics and Genealogy, aims to shed light on how population structure influences genetic analyses of complex traits and rare diseases.
Girard and his research team are basing their work on genealogies that integrate both population structure and family information, and on genetic data to improve genetic studies. Their goal is to combine genetic data (from sequencing and genotyping) and family data (from genealogy) to analyze population structure in all its complexity and integrate this structure into genetic studies of neurodevelopmental diseases.