Most genetics and genomics research has centered on individuals of European ancestry, though Jennifer Raff writes at Forbes that there has been a growing awareness of this lack of representation.
Raff, though, says some researchers are putting in the effort to build trust with under-represented communities. For instance, researchers who presented a study recently at the American Society of Human Genetics that examined the genomes of dozens of individuals from different populations in Africa worked with the local communities on the project. Likewise, the Human Heredity and Health in Africa study also aims to work with local populations and include African scientific leadership. That, Raff says, is important as scientists from under-represented communities are better poised to understand their concerns.
Still, the University of California, San Diego's Keolu Fox tells her that the research should give back to the community it relied upon. Technological independence, self-governance, and democratizing the tools should always be the long-term goal of ethical partnerships in genomics," Fox says.