South Asian genetic research data is sparse. This program wants to collect more.

A new initiative seeks to fill a gap of genetic information used in scientific research from people of South Asian descent.

While 25 percent of the world’s population come from South Asia according to estimates from the U.N., only 1 percent of genetic data comes from that region, Lakshmi Maithel — program director of “Map the Gap” at GenomeAsia 100K, a nonprofit that seeks to sequence DNA for scientific research — said.

That can be especially problematic as South Asians experience genetic diseases at a higher rate than the global average, Maithel noted. Yet even doctors she’s approached to collaborate around the project did not know the scale of the gap.


Source : nbcnews