Mountain Laboratory of Anthropological Genetics

:-)




Race, Ethnicity, and Genetic Variation

Geneticists have understood for thirty years or more that the greatest proportion of genetic variation lies within human populations, however those populations are defined. Recently, however, the question of the extent of the correspondence between genetic variation and ethnic ancestry has arisen in a number of contexts (e.g. medicine, forensics, public policy, the search by individuals for information regarding their ancestry). Members of the Mountain lab are interested in exploring the correspondence between patterns of human population genetic structure and patterns of cultural diversity, and the social implications of relating genetic variation and ethnicity. In medical genetics research, for instance, the search for a genetic basis for disease often begins with a focus upon an ethnically defined group with a particularly high frequency of that disease. The efficiency and social impact of this approach has yet to be explored fully.

For further information, please contact the Mountain lab.