Opinion: Why the world’s genomic revolution is incomplete

Karoline Kuchenbaecker - European and American scientists dominate the field of genomic research. A lack of diversity leads to major missed opportunities, writes Professor Karoline Kuchenbaecker (UCL Genetics Institute and UCL Psychiatry) with a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine colleague. The last few decades have seen a genomic revolution. Researchers like us have interrogated the genomes of millions of people and uncovered gene variants that increase risks of diseases such as breast cancer, kidney disease, diabetes and schizophrenia. These help us understand the causes of the conditions, identify people at risk and develop new drugs. However, currently in genomic research there is a drastic lack of diversity. In our new perspective piece, published this week , we show that 86% of genomics studies use data from people of European descent - despite only making up 16% of the world's population.