Genetics Research – Genealogy Approach

The Faroe Islands is regarded as an genetics isolate and could be well suited for genetics research. The inhabitants possess an reletive homogenous ancestry in that the Faroese people, to a large degree, are descended from a limited number of early settlers in the 800s.

Since that time, the population has grown without any major influx from abroad. Furthermore, the genealogy of the Faroese, in comparison to many other countries, is relatively well-documented for several hundred years because church records, censuses, cadastre and other written sources are available.

In addition, the registration over time of diseases and of patients has been good. For these reasons, it is quite probable that the Faroe Islands will be of interest, both with regard to public research organizations and private entities involved with genetics research grounded in genealogical data

The purpose of the Genetic Biobank is to develop the infrastructure to establish and maintain an active biobank, and to utilize such a resource in conjunction with medical and genealogical data to support research projects aimed at discovering the relationship between genetic background, environmental influences and disease onset and progression. Such biobanked resources, integrated with healthcare and genealogical data, will help fullfill the goals of providing additional statistical power to family-based linkage, case-control association and quantitative-trait approaches being performed in other countries. These approaches will lead to greater understanding of the causes of common and rare diseases including cancer, and eventually better diagnostics, prevention strategies and therapeutics for these diseases.