Any seminar discussing the genetics of osteoporosis needs to start by considering what evidence there is that there is any heritable component to this common bone disease, before time and effort is spent considering how such genes (if they exist) could be mapped.   This opening talk will discuss this very first premise – how do genetic epidemiologists determine whether any disease – and in this case osteoporosis - is genetic; and is so, what type of genetic architecture underpins osteoporosis?  Once this is known, then an appropriate mapping strategy can be developed, which topic will be discussed by subsequent speakers.  How data from gene mapping might be leveraged for disease prediction in osteoporosis – in other words, the use of genetic markers for BMD and/or fracture prediction – will also be discussed.