Doug Higgs (WIMM) and Peter Donnelly (WTCHG) have been awarded a collaborative Wellcome Trust Strategic grant (~£3M) to develop a systematic approach to understanding the biology underpinning GWAS hits. Our aim is to establish a pipeline for identifying causative SNPs and the genes they regulate. Initially we will study red cell traits (with David Roberts and Dominic Kwiatowski), type 2 diabetes (with Mark McCarthy and Anna Gloyn) and multiple sclerosis (with Lars Fugger and Calli Dendrou). The pipelines for analysing RNA expression, chromatin modifications, and chromosme conformation capture will be developed by Doug Higgs, Anna Gloyn and Jim Hughes and we intend that these will ultimately be generally available to others studying human genetic and epigenetic diseases in the WIMM. Tudor Fulga and Tatjana Sauka Spengler will help develop the tools for genome editing of primary cells and iPS lines (from Zam Cader). High end statistical genetics and computational biology will be undertaken by Peter Donnelly and Gil McVean. Hopefully this will be an exciting new venture for the WIMM.