deCODE leads the world in the discovery of genetic risk factors for common diseases. Our gene discovery engine is driven by our unique approach and resources, including detailed genetic and medical information on some 500,000 individuals from around the globe taking part in our discovery work and proprietary statistical algorithms and informatics tools for gathering, analyzing, visualizing and storing large amounts of data. Finding genetic risk factors for disease requires the ability to correlate two large sets of data: on variations in the sequence of the genome on the one hand, and on variations in phenotype or condition, such as a disease or some physical trait, on the other. Our advantage arises from the complexity of the challenge. The common diseases – such as heart attack, asthma, stroke and cancer – arise from the interplay of multiple genetic and environmental and lifestyle factors.