There has been a recent spate of genome-wide association studies reporting new associations between sequence variations on the human genome and common diseases such as diabetes. These associations can lead to a better understanding of the etiology of the disease, help with diagnosis, predict drug response and identify potential new targets for therapy. Many of the recent findings were reported at the Nature Genetics/Wellcome Trust conference on the Genomics of Common Diseases, held July 7-10, 2007, at the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom, and have recently been published. This meeting summary focuses on some of the recently described associations between genomic variation and common diseases.