Resources for researchers

Genetic Epidemiology Sites

Below you will find useful genetic epidemiology websites with resources for genetic researchers and for data analysis, including structural modelling and genotypic data.

Mx homepage Structural equation modelling

Mx is a matrix algebra interpreter and numerical optimiser for structural equation modelling and other types of statistical modelling of data.

International Society for Twin Studies

Founded in 1974, The Society is an international nonprofit, multidisciplinary organisation focusing on genetic research, in particular twin research. They host an annual conference called the International Congress on Twin Studies.

Other Twin Research Groups

TwinsUK is not the only twin research group. Below is a list of some of the other major twin cohorts around the world, some of which have been established for many years.

The Danish Twin Registry

Set up in the 1950s, the Danish Twin Registry is one of the longest standing registries in the world. The registry has been expanded to include information on almost all twins born in Denmark since the 1870s.

The Netherlands Twin Registry

Established in 1987, the Netherlands Twin Registry started as a birth cohort following the development of sets of twins from birth. The registry now has over 87,000 twins and multiples of all ages, with 175,000 members in total including parents, siblings and spouses.

The Swedish Twin Registry

The Swedish Twin Registry was established in the 1960s and holds information from around 85,000 identical and non-identical twin pairs. Research covers topics such as allergies, cancer, dementia and cardiovascular disease.

Twin Research Australia

This is Australia’s only national twin research centre of excellence, based at the University of Melbourne. The registry comprises over 70,000 twins which represents nearly 20 percent of Australia’s entire twin population.

Queensland Twin Registry

QTwin was set up in 2006. It is a population-based registry of identical and non-identical twins of all ages, living in Australia.

External Data Repositories

On this page you will find a list of sites that hold TwinsUK data that are free to access.

Heritability of human face shape

A repository of 3D images of faces automatically landmarked in 4249 facial points. Four curvature descriptors were computed on all landmarks to create phenotypic traits.

ArrayExpress

This site, an EMBL-EBI repository, hosts multiple TwinsUK gene expression and methylation datasets. These datasets are completely freely available.

GEO

The Gene Expression Omnibus holds multiple TwinsUK gene expression and methylation datasets. These datasets are completely freely available.

EGA

The European Genome-phenome Archive holds TwinsUK gene expression, methylation and whole genome sequence data. These data are under managed access. The TwinsUK governing committee TREC must approve access to these data. Please visit our access our data pages for further information.