Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network

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A vision set by arms of the U.S. National Institutes of Health is the utilization of genomics to assist in disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. To achieve this goal, more emphasis is being placed on existing cohorts with large biorepositories for application to genomic association studies. One such study is the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network. This Network currently comprises ten mixed-ancestry US biobanks, with densely genotype and sequence data, linked to electronic health records. This project is on the forefront of precision medicine and discovery using mined phenotypes. Through eMERGE, our research group has witnessed this field transition from genetic discovery, to interpretation and integration of genetic data into the electronic health records for clinical decision support. Faculty in our Department have led and published genetic discovery on numerous eMERGE Network-wide phenotypes derived from the EHR including white blood cell count, monocyte count differential, and susceptibility to herpes zoster, and supported numerous other phenotype analyses. Our faculty are also affiliated with the eMERGE Network Coordinating Center, primarily focused on genetic bioinformatic data activities.