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From determining where an individual’s ancestors can first be found to mapping migration patterns of humankind, IBM and the National Geographic Society expect that there will be many discoveries (both big and small) that will take place during their five-year research partnership known as the Genographic Project.
This is the most ambitious genetic anthropology research initiative in history, with plans to gather one of the largest collections of DNA samples to map how humankind populated the planet. IBM’s role in the partnership will be to handle all aspects of storage and analysis of this complex data.
Dr. Ajay Royyuru, IBM Research’s lead scientist for the Genographic Project, recently shared his thoughts about IBM Research’s role in this exciting and innovative initiative.
What is IBM Research’s role in this project?
Dr. Royyuru: The objective is to understand human migration, the journeys our ancestors traveled over the last 50 thousand years. The only way to get to an answer to a question like that is by digging deep. We have to gather large quantities of genetic data that describes our deep ancestral history; geographic, anthropological and cultural data that describes the diverse tapestry of peoples around the world, and find the correlations between these to draw conclusions on the migratory history of humankind. Our research team will be working closely with National Geographic and scientists worldwide to analyze the data and draw those conclusions.
How did IBM Research get involved?
Dr. Royyuru: The National Geographic Society approached IBM with the idea for this project on the recommendation of Dr. Spencer Wells, a geneticist and anthropologist, who said that he needed the company’s expertise. After meeting with IBM Research, Wells was convinced that he had found the perfect partner for this enormous undertaking.
It’s certainly not every day that a scientist in a corporate research institution is asked to participate in a project that seeks to trace the migration patterns of humankind, going back tens of thousands of years. Fortunately, the company doesn’t shy away from big challenges, so we were able to pursue this remarkable opportunity.
Have you always thought of mapping the migratory history of humankind as a big challenge that you would like to attempt?
Dr. Royyuru: Trying to find these patterns of humankind has always been an attractive goal to those who do genetics. This holds true for me too, of course, as a researcher in computational biology. Finding the answers has been possible all along, but not practical because of the number of people you’d have to have to draw meaningful conclusions.
But this project goes far beyond what’s been done before. It asks the questions that literally every person on the planet wonders at one time or another: Who am I? Where am I from? I can go back six generations myself. But what is that? Two hundred years? And it’s all geographically in one place, too. But beyond that, there’s no information. We know the human species originated in Africa and spread from there sometime in the last 100,000 years or less. Who were my ancestors and how did they get to be in that part of the world?
Which aspects of this study do you consider most remarkable?
Dr. Royyuru: I must confess I’d take part in the project solely for the opportunity to understand human diversity. But I also feel that the scale and scope of it will allow researchers to learn things that we don’t already know in an area that we are eager to study – information-based medicine.
The understanding of how medicine relates to a population, why one solution works for some people and not for others, how to minimize side effects and maximize benefits, these are all very important for the future of healthcare. And to reach this understanding, you have to get to the root of what population diversity means. The data from the Genographic Project, while not having any medical content, will far exceed anything we could ever get in a medical study.
The potential benefits of a study such as this are clear. Are there any potential controversies that might arise?
Dr. Royyuru: Yes, the fact is that we are asking people to volunteer something that is very personal, sequencing regions of their genomes – this is what defines them, what’s unique to them. There is an enormous amount of sensitivity to such data, which we fully respect. Confidentiality and privacy cannot be compromised. (See sidebar for more information on the security and privacy systems that are in place.)
There also might be some controversy from those who challenge the theory of evolution itself. But I’m a scientist, I believe in what the data tell me and I go with that. I’m not here to question someone else’s beliefs. Our team is looking solely at what the scientific facts tell us.
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