Human Genome Project: Contribution To Society
The Human Gnome Project was one of the greatest research efforts that determined the DNA sequence of the entire human genome. Researchers had to compose many studies for research purposes and many individuals of European ancestry contributed their DNA for this purpose. While, this contribution has been exceedingly helpful, it has come into debate about how this population representation impacts genomic finding. Well, there is a lack of diversity in genetic research as it corrupts our ability to understand human health and hinders precision medicine. Genetic research has been using European ancestry for quite a while, but this needs to be changed in order to diversify their research. This will then give us great insight on human health and genetic code.
To begin with, this population representation impacts genomic findings because it corrupts our ability to understand human health. In our world today, we are filled with diversifying populations, each with a unique genetic code. If researchers only used approximately 80% of European ancestry in their studies, which they make up only about 16 percent of the global population, then how are they supposed to account for the rest of the population. By focusing on only a subset of the human population, we’re bound to miss important determinants of health” (Wu, 2019, para. 9). Researchers only really know about the genetic code and health of European ancestry. This poses a problem for the rest of the population because there is incomplete data on our genetic code. The data and results of these studies can’t still be useful for studies in other populations from around the world because we need to start diversifying our research. To continue using the same data would not make us any progress. If we started using diverse populations in research, we would be able to know more about their genetic code and possibly discover something that could help them with a cure or something more. Tishkoff stresses that ignoring genomic diversity means that right now, genetically informed health care is worse, in some cases, for populations of non-European descent (Lambert, 2019, para. 20). Therefore, we need a more diverse population in research in order to better understand human health, without it this could cost us.
Furthermore, this population representation impacts genomic findings because it hinders precision medicine. Precision medicine is a form of medicine that uses a person’s genetic information to prevent, diagnose, or treat disease. We would need more diverse information to do that, but we don’t have that. These different patterns of linkage can spell trouble for comparing across populations, as the markers associated with a disease-causing gene in European populations might exist in a totally different part of the genome in African or Hispanic populations, according to Tishkoff (Lambert, 2019, para. 19). Researches need the information for a certain population in order to help them. But if they get the information from a different population then how can we ensure its effective or that they haven’t missed something. For example, say you have a pitbull dog and a chihuahua. The pitbull is sick and you give it medicine that was made from research from a chihuahua. Yes, it still worked, but how can you ensure that we could have found something different or could have had a different outcome if we hadn’t gotten research from the pitbull. The same concept applies to the research in genomic findings. The bottom line is that if we had more diverse populations in genetic and genomic studies, it would hold a potential to benefit future genetic research and improve human health. By including diversity in genetic data, scientists can explore the resilience and flexibility inherent to human biology. (Wu, 2019, para.14). For that reason, diversity would play an important role in genomic findings.
To conclude, we all can say the Human Genome Project has made a lasting contribution to society. However, the lack of diversity in genetic research has posed a problem. This population representation impacts genomic finding because there is a lack of diversity in the genetic research as it corrupts our ability to understand human health and hinders precision medicine. Our genome is constantly evolving, and this is why we need diversity in our research. We need to able to understand as many populations as we could. Researchers have been using the same European data and it may hard to change, but we need to in order to benefit us as a society.
