The GeneStroke project is a consortium of research groups who share the same interest in elucidating the genetic markers implicated in stroke. It was established in 2008 and is open to groups from all over Spain. The consortium’s main goal is to create collaborations between stroke research groups who work in the fields of genetics or genomics, in order to obtain sufficient sample sizes to analyze variables with great power and accuracy and promote the sharing of ideas and data in the scientific community.

The GeneStroke consortium has a particular great interest in performing genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which methodology consists in screening about 95% of the human genome in an effort to identify associations of gene variants with observable traits or the presence or absence of a disease. GWAS involve generally scanning thousands to ten of thousands of samples for hundreds of thousands of SNPs. In contrast to candidate gene studies, GWAS allow a meticulous scan of the genome in an unbiased manner and thus have the potential to identify totally new susceptibility factors. They require the availability of efficient analytical tools and large sample sizes. Very few genome-wide association studies have been performed up to date in the genetics of stroke.