Isolates. Last week, the FinnGen biobank went live, and Nature dedicated an entire issue to the launch of this initiative. In brief, FinnGen is a large Finnish research project providing genomic and clinical data from a Finnish biobank with the aim to provide new insights into human disease. Finland is an isolated population, which offers unique insights into the role of rare variants in disease. When I checked the FinnGen database for association with SCN1A, I was surprised that three missense variants have been associated with various diseases. Here is what a founder population can tell us about the various roles of SCN1A in human disease. Continue reading →