The genetics of depression in diverse populations

Many people experience depression at some point in their lives. The causes of this disorder are complex. Recently, studies have identified genetic factors linked to depression. Most of these studies used data from white Caucasian people. We want to find out whether the genetic factors for depression are the same in different ethnic groups. We plan to combine and analyse data from existing studies for this purpose. This could yield data for over 26,500 non-white individuals with depression and 764,000 without from across the world. Through this global data resource we could find new genetic risk factors for depression. These can help us understand the biology of this common yet still poorly understood disorder.