In summary, we generated a resource of iPSC lines from a multi-ethnic cohort of healthy individuals and used them to generate differentiated cells with which to perform informative genome-wide eQTL and ASE mapping in a manner analogous to more traditional primary tissue-based studies such as GTEx. Our studies highlight the utility of population cohorts of iPSCs and iPSC-differentiated cells and functional genomics approaches to elucidate functional variants and genes underlying complex human phenotypes. Furthermore, they set the stage for the use of HLCs for a variety of –omics studies, studies of responses to drugs and environmental perturbations, and other types of studies that can be more easily performed “in the dish” than in living persons. Thus, we anticipate an iPSC-based framework of discovery and validation being broadly applied to gain new insights into a variety of human diseases.
