No, dietary habits, environment, genetics, and a myriad other factors come together to form a complex matrix that impacts our weight.
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The scientist Kari Stefansson is unlocking the secrets of diabetes, stroke and other killers by probing the genetics of an entire country.
Other explanations, such as genetics, may explain the association.
She said it was difficult to predict the risk to an individual person, which was also influenced by many other factors such as lifestyle and genetics.
But the law says little about other spheres, such as what consumer genetics companies may do with all the data they collect.
Patient groups are sponsoring drug discovery at other firms, including Iceland's Decode Genetics and England's Oxford BioMedica, which is plying a gene-therapy approach.
Dr. Hsu was also interested in the genetics of cognitive ability, so the pair joined with other colleagues to launch the BGI intelligence project.
Other competitors in the healthcare sector include: NewLink Genetics Corp (NLNK), Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (PPHM), and BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BPAX).
"If you can identify kids who are going to have trouble learning, you can intervene" early on in their lives, through special schooling or other programs, says Robert Plomin, a professor of behavioral genetics at King's College, London, who is involved in the BGI project.
Several companies are already seeking to take advantage of the new field, called synthetic biology, which combines chemistry, computer science, molecular biology, genetics and cell biology to breed industrial life forms that can secrete fuels, vaccines or other commercial products.
Decode Genetics makes headlines for its pioneering discoveries linking genes to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other deadly diseases.
"This is the first evidence that myostatin regulates muscle mass in people as it does in other animals, " said Dr Se-Jin Lee, professor of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University and one of those involved in the study.
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