BioVU, Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s biobank, has reached another milestone — deep-freeze storage of more than 300,000 biological samples.

Vanderbilt researchers report genotype-specific reference ranges to improve interpretation of laboratory blood results in African Americans with a common gene variant that lowers white blood cell counts.

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that a genetic predisposition to elevated body mass index increases the risk of diastolic dysfunction — a cardiac condition that can lead to heart failure.

BioVU is celebrating its 15th year and has enabled hundreds of studies and publications exploring the genetic underpinnings of a host of conditions including cancer, heart disease and diabetes. 

Including polygenic risk scores for blood pressure may improve predictive models to identify people at risk for treatment-resistant hypertension.