Both ‘zip code’ and ‘genetic code’ are known to influence health outcomes but the extent to which they synergistically impact health is not well understood. The goal of this project is to leverage Mass General Brigham Biobank (MGBB) to intersect environmental and genetic exposures onto individual health outcomes. Each individual’s address will be mapped to a census tract, and the individual will be assigned to the environmental conditions associated with the census tract. We will also use polygenic risk scores (PRS), which are an aggregated genetic predictor derived from catalogued disease-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Our analysis aims to further our understanding of environmental and genetic predictors of health outcomes at a phenome-wide level.

I am participating in the superUROP program because I am interested in gaining more experience in medical computational genomics research. I have previously worked on utilizing computational techniques with phenome-wide data and am excited to apply my knowledge to dissect various predictors of diseases at a large scale. Furthermore, I hope to learn how to conduct an impactful, long-term research project.