In a new study, researchers investigated whether 25 rare gene variants known to be associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) play a role in risk for African Americans. While the rare variant associations were recently discovered in individuals of European ancestry, contributing to about 15% of cases, it was unknown if and how those same rare gene variants might affect risk for African Americans. Co-authors of the study are Greg Gibson, Regents Professor, Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, Director of the Center for Integrative Genomics, and member of the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience; and Courtney Astore, Ph.D. Bioinformatics scholar. (This study was also covered in ScienMag.)