The Social Science Genetic Association Consortium, abbreviated SSGAC, is a consortium of scientists dedicated to studying the role of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

in important life outcomes in the

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

s. It has received media coverage for its research looking for genetic variants associated with

educational attainment Educational attainment is a term commonly used by statisticians to refer to the highest degree of education an individual has completed as defined by the US Census Bureau Glossary. See also *Academic achievement *Academic degree *Bachelor's degree ...

. For instance, the Consortium's first study, published in 2013, found three such variants in a sample of 101,000 people. The SSGAC was founded by Daniel Benjamin (

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

David Cesarini David Alexander Cesarini is an associate professor in the Department of Economics & Center for Experimental Social Science at New York University, a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, as well as affiliated resear ...

(

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

), and Philipp Koellinger (

VU Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

). According to Benjamin, "One major impetus for the formation of the SSGAC was the growing recognition that most effects of individual genetic markers on behavioral traits are very small and that, consequently, very large samples are required to accurately detect them". It was founded during a meeting of the

Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology, abbreviated CHARGE, is a consortium formed to facilitate meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies of aging and cardiovascular traits, and the replication of genotype–phenotype ...

(CHARGE) consortium on February 12, 2011. The SSGAC continues operates with support from CHARGE.

References

External links

* Genomics organizations Population genetics organizations Scientific organizations established in 2011 Social sciences organizations Technology consortia {{Genetics-stub