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https://theconversation.com/uncovering-the-genetic-basis-of-mental-illness-requires-data-and-tools-that-arent-just-based-on-white-people-this-international-team-is-collecting-dna-samples-around-the-globe-185997>
"Mental illness is a growing public health problem. In 2019, an estimated 1 in
8 people around the world were affected by mental disorders like depression,
schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. While scientists have long known that many
of these disorders run in families, their genetic basis isn’t entirely clear.
One reason why is that the majority of existing genetic data used in research
is overwhelmingly from white people.
In 2003, the Human Genome Project generated the first “reference genome” of
human DNA from a combination of samples donated by upstate New Yorkers, all of
whom were of European ancestry. Researchers across many biomedical fields still
use this reference genome in their work. But it doesn’t provide a complete
picture of human genetics. Someone with a different genetic ancestry will have
a number of variations in their DNA that aren’t captured by the reference
sequence.
When most of the world’s ancestries are not represented in genomic data sets,
studies won’t be able to provide a true representation of how diseases manifest
across all of humanity. Despite this, ancestral diversity in genetic analyses
hasn’t improved in the two decades since the Human Genome Project announced its
first results. As of June 2021, over 80% of genetic studies have been conducted
on people of European descent. Less than 2% have included people of African
descent, even though these individuals have the most genetic variation of all
human populations.
To uncover the genetic factors driving mental illness, I, Sinéad Chapman and
our colleagues at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have partnered with
collaborators around the world to launch Stanley Global, an initiative that
seeks to collect a more diverse range of genetic samples from beyond the U.S.
and Northern Europe, and train the next generation of researchers around the
world. Not only does the genetic data lack diversity, but so do the tools and
techniques scientists use to sequence and analyze human genomes. So we are
implementing a new sequencing technology that addresses the inadequacies of
previous approaches that don’t account for the genetic diversity of global
populations."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
