Pinpointing How Genes Interact

Lorin Crawford explains how he uses math to analyze interactions
between genes. Your DNA (the biological instruction manual in all
of your cells) contains a mind-boggling amount of information
represented in roughly 20,000 genes that encode proteins, plus a
similar number of genes with other functions. As the cost of
analyzing an individual's DNA has plummeted, it has become possible
to search the entire human genome for genetic variants that are
associated with traits such as height or susceptibility to certain
diseases. Sometimes, one gene has a straightforward impact on the
trait. But in many cases, the effect of one gene variant depends on
which variants of other genes are present, a phenomenon called
"epistasis." Studying such interactions involves huge datasets
encompassing the DNA of hundreds of thousands of people.
Mathematically, that requires time-intensive calculations with
massive matrices and a good working knowledge of statistics.