The Genographic Project

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Genographic Project, launched in April 2005, is a five-year genetic anthropology study that aims to map historical human migration patterns by collecting and analyzing DNA samples from over 100,000 people across five continents. Field researchers will collect DNA samples from indigenous populations but uniquely the project will also allow for public participation. For US$100 (in 2005) someone anywhere in the world can order a self-testing kit. They send a mouth scraping (saliva swab) to National Geographic. It will be analyzed and their DNA information will be placed on an Internet accessible database. The process will be completely anonymous and will not test for any genetic traits. Instead genetic markers on Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomes will be used to trace distant ancestry, and each participant is provided with their genetic history. As of February 2006, more than 115,000 intrigued people have participated.

The US$40m project is a privately-funded collaboration between the National Geographic Society, IBM and the Waitt Family Foundation[1]. All proceeds from the sale of self-testing kits will be ploughed into a Legacy Fund to be spent on cultural preservation projects nominated by indigenous communities.

Prominent team members are:

Spencer Wells, Team leader and moving force (National Geographic scientist)
Himla Soodyall, principal project investigator, Sub-Saharan Africa
Ajay Royyuru, head of computational biology, IBM

This work is analogous to that of Professor Bryan Sykes, who pioneered the usage of mitochondrial DNA to trace lineages. Sykes documented his work in The Seven Daughters of Eve.

The project has drawn comparison with the failed Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) from the 1990s, which ended after a range of controversies emerged about how the DNA information would be managed. The Genographic Project leaders have said that they will make the information from their project public, and that the project is undertaking widespread consultation with indigenous groups. A number of the key members of the Genographic Project were key members of the HGDP as well; the Advisory Board, for example, is chaired by Luigi Cavalli-Sforza, the geneticist who originally proposed the HGDP.[2]

Shortly after the announcement of the project in April 2005, the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, (IPCB), released a statement protesting the project, its connections with the HGDP, and called for a boycott of IBM, Gateway Computers, and National Geographic.