Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP United Kingdom.
MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TH, United Kingdom.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2022 Mar 1;12(3):a041271. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a041271.
The set of methods discussed in this collection has emerged from the convergence of two scientific fields-genetics and causal inference. In this introduction, we discuss relevant aspects of each field and show how their convergence arises from the natural experiments that genetics offer. We present introductory concepts useful to readers unfamiliar with genetically informed methods for causal inference. We conclude that existing applications and foreseeable developments should ensure that we rapidly reap the rewards of this relatively new field, not only in terms of our understanding of human disease and development, but also in terms of tangible translational applications.
本研究集中讨论的方法源于两个科学领域——遗传学和因果推断的融合。在引言部分，我们讨论了每个领域的相关方面，并展示了遗传学提供的自然实验如何促成了它们的融合。我们提出了一些对不熟悉基于遗传学的因果推断方法的读者有用的入门概念。我们的结论是，现有的应用和可预见的发展应该确保我们能够迅速从这个相对较新的领域中获益，不仅在我们对人类疾病和发育的理解方面，而且在切实可行的转化应用方面也是如此。
