BUSSELTON residents have again assisted the advancement of medical science, with the publication of groundbreaking research on Monday.
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Researchers from the University of Western Australia published two papers in Nature Genetics, an online scientific journal, outlining new genetic links relating to diabetes, which was made possible using samples collected through Busselton’s world-renowned Busselton Health Survey.
The researchers identified a substantial number of previously un-researched loci (the specific location of a gene on a chromosome) linked with glycemic traits and type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease making up 90 per cent of all diabetes cases.
The papers outlined new information which could potentially help doctors screen patients for susceptibility to the disease.
Senior Scientist at the Busselton Health Study, Dr Michael Hunter, said this new discovery followed on from research compiled in Busselton since 1966, when it was founded by Dr Kevin Cullen.
“Over the last five years we have started to see the data collected over the past 40 years being used by the international community.
The Busselton Health Study is one of the world’s longest running epidemiological research programs in the world, and has contributed to understandings of health and disease through its unique pooling data and methodology, which has been described as a population laboratory.
