Multi-Ethnic Genotyping Array (MEGA) Consortium
MEGA Consortia Overview
The Multi-Ethnic Global Array (MEGA) Consortium sought a cost-effective, high-throughput approach for large-scale population research across diverse human populations. Consortium partners designed MEGA microarrays using tagging strategies with the power to detect both common and rare variants in the most commonly studied 5 superpopulations.
Content was leveraged from participating genomics consortia, including the Consortium on Asthma among African-ancestry Populations in the Americas (CAAPA) and the Population Architecture in Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) study, to produce arrays with comprehensive multi-ethnic coverage, and updated functional and exome content.
The Expanded Multi-Ethnic Genotyping Array (MEGAEX) was developed to provide extensive genotyping coverage of European, East Asian, and South Asian populations.
Biobanks Use MEGAEX to Analyze Tissue Collections
Institutions combine genomic data with clinical research information to gain insights into complex diseases.
Read Press ReleaseCommercially Available MEGA Products
- Infinium Global Diversity Array-8 Kit: This powerful, cost-effective microarray offers optimized, multiethnic, genome-wide content. This array is an updated version of the Infinium Multi-Ethnic Kits below, which have been discontinued.
- Original MEGA products (replaced by the Infinium Global Diversity Array-8 Kit):
- Infinium Multi-Ethnic Global BeadChip: designed to enable complex disease research in diverse human populations
- Infinium Multi-Ethnic AMR/AFR BeadChip: focused on Hispanic and African American populations
- Infinium Multi-Ethnic EUR/EAS/SAS BeadChip: focused on European, East Asian, and South Asian populations
MEGA Consortia Participants
Consortium on Asthma among African-ancestry Populations in the Americas (CAAPA)
The CAAPA consortium seeks to facilitate the discovery of genes conferring risk to asthma among individuals of African ancestry, and catalog genetic diversity in populations of African descent, especially those whose ancestry reflects the African Diaspora in the Americas.
Read PublicationPopulation Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE)
The PAGE consortium seeks to guide genomic and epidemiologic studies by defining how genetic variants identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are related to a person’s biological and physical characteristics.
Visit PAGE Website