Getting genetic ancestry right for science and society

Anna C.F. Lewis; Santiago J. Molina; Paul S. Appelbaum; Bege Dauda; Anna Di Rienzo; Agustin Fuentes; Stephanie M. Fullerton; Nanibaa A. Garrison; Nayanika Ghosh; Evelynn M. Hammonds; David S. Jones; Eimear E. Kenny; Peter Kraft; Sandra S.J. Lee; Madelyn Mauro; John Novembre; Aaron Panofsky; Mashaal Sohail; Benjamin M. Neale; Danielle S. Allen

doi:10.1126/science.abm7530

Getting genetic ancestry right for science and society

Anna C.F. Lewis^*, Santiago J. Molina, Paul S. Appelbaum, Bege Dauda, Anna Di Rienzo, Agustin Fuentes, Stephanie M. Fullerton, Nanibaa A. Garrison, Nayanika Ghosh, Evelynn M. Hammonds, David S. Jones, Eimear E. Kenny, Peter Kraft, Sandra S.J. Lee, Madelyn Mauro, John Novembre, Aaron Panofsky, Mashaal Sohail, Benjamin M. Neale, Danielle S. Allen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Science in Human Culture

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Glaring health disparities have reinvigorated debate about the relevance of race to health, including how race should and should not be used as a variable in research and biomedicine (1). After a long history of race being treated as a biological variable, there is now broad agreement that racial classifications are a product of historically contingent social, economic, and political processes. Many institutions have thus been reexamining their use of race and racism and stating intentions about how race should be used going forward. One common proposal is to use genetic concepts-in particular, genetic ancestry and population categories-as a replacement for race (2). However, the use of ancestry categories has technical limitations, fails to adequately capture human genetic diversity and demographic history, and risks retaining one of the most problematic aspects of race-an essentialist link to biology-by allowing genetic ancestry categories to stand in its place.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	250-252
Number of pages	3
Journal	Science
Volume	376
Issue number	6590
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm7530
State	Published - Apr 15 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Lewis, A. C. F., Molina, S. J., Appelbaum, P. S., Dauda, B., Di Rienzo, A., Fuentes, A., Fullerton, S. M., Garrison, N. A., Ghosh, N., Hammonds, E. M., Jones, D. S., Kenny, E. E., Kraft, P., Lee, S. S. J., Mauro, M., Novembre, J., Panofsky, A., Sohail, M., Neale, B. M., & Allen, D. S. (2022). Getting genetic ancestry right for science and society. Science, 376(6590), 250-252. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm7530

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title = "Getting genetic ancestry right for science and society",

abstract = "Glaring health disparities have reinvigorated debate about the relevance of race to health, including how race should and should not be used as a variable in research and biomedicine (1). After a long history of race being treated as a biological variable, there is now broad agreement that racial classifications are a product of historically contingent social, economic, and political processes. Many institutions have thus been reexamining their use of race and racism and stating intentions about how race should be used going forward. One common proposal is to use genetic concepts-in particular, genetic ancestry and population categories-as a replacement for race (2). However, the use of ancestry categories has technical limitations, fails to adequately capture human genetic diversity and demographic history, and risks retaining one of the most problematic aspects of race-an essentialist link to biology-by allowing genetic ancestry categories to stand in its place.",

author = "Lewis, {Anna C.F.} and Molina, {Santiago J.} and Appelbaum, {Paul S.} and Bege Dauda and {Di Rienzo}, Anna and Agustin Fuentes and Fullerton, {Stephanie M.} and Garrison, {Nanibaa A.} and Nayanika Ghosh and Hammonds, {Evelynn M.} and Jones, {David S.} and Kenny, {Eimear E.} and Peter Kraft and Lee, {Sandra S.J.} and Madelyn Mauro and John Novembre and Aaron Panofsky and Mashaal Sohail and Neale, {Benjamin M.} and Allen, {Danielle S.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health administrative supplements 5000747-5500001474 to 3R37MH107649-06S1. B.M.N.and D.S.A.contributed equally to this work. A.C.F.L. owns stock in Fabric Genomics. E.E.K.has received personal fees from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,23&Me,and Illumina and serves on the advisory boards for Encompass Biosciences and Galateo Bio.B.M.N.is a member of the scientific advisory board at Deep Genomics and RBNCTherapeutics,a member of the scientific advisory committee at Milken,and a consultant for Camp4Therapeutics and Merck. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved.",

year = "2022",

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Lewis, ACF, Molina, SJ, Appelbaum, PS, Dauda, B, Di Rienzo, A, Fuentes, A, Fullerton, SM, Garrison, NA, Ghosh, N, Hammonds, EM, Jones, DS, Kenny, EE, Kraft, P, Lee, SSJ, Mauro, M, Novembre, J, Panofsky, A, Sohail, M, Neale, BM & Allen, DS 2022, 'Getting genetic ancestry right for science and society', Science, vol. 376, no. 6590, pp. 250-252. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm7530

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AU - Lewis, Anna C.F.

AU - Molina, Santiago J.

AU - Appelbaum, Paul S.

AU - Dauda, Bege

AU - Di Rienzo, Anna

AU - Fuentes, Agustin

AU - Fullerton, Stephanie M.

AU - Garrison, Nanibaa A.

AU - Ghosh, Nayanika

AU - Hammonds, Evelynn M.

AU - Jones, David S.

AU - Kenny, Eimear E.

AU - Kraft, Peter

AU - Lee, Sandra S.J.

AU - Mauro, Madelyn

AU - Novembre, John

AU - Panofsky, Aaron

AU - Sohail, Mashaal

AU - Neale, Benjamin M.

AU - Allen, Danielle S.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health administrative supplements 5000747-5500001474 to 3R37MH107649-06S1. B.M.N.and D.S.A.contributed equally to this work. A.C.F.L. owns stock in Fabric Genomics. E.E.K.has received personal fees from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,23&Me,and Illumina and serves on the advisory boards for Encompass Biosciences and Galateo Bio.B.M.N.is a member of the scientific advisory board at Deep Genomics and RBNCTherapeutics,a member of the scientific advisory committee at Milken,and a consultant for Camp4Therapeutics and Merck. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved.

PY - 2022/4/15

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N2 - Glaring health disparities have reinvigorated debate about the relevance of race to health, including how race should and should not be used as a variable in research and biomedicine (1). After a long history of race being treated as a biological variable, there is now broad agreement that racial classifications are a product of historically contingent social, economic, and political processes. Many institutions have thus been reexamining their use of race and racism and stating intentions about how race should be used going forward. One common proposal is to use genetic concepts-in particular, genetic ancestry and population categories-as a replacement for race (2). However, the use of ancestry categories has technical limitations, fails to adequately capture human genetic diversity and demographic history, and risks retaining one of the most problematic aspects of race-an essentialist link to biology-by allowing genetic ancestry categories to stand in its place.

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Getting genetic ancestry right for science and society

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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