Protesters taking on systemic racism often talk about how racial bias and discrimination is woven into the DNA of society. A University of Maryland researcher found that it goes to the genomic level.
Timothy O’Connor of the Baltimore-based University of Maryland School of Medicine published a paper in the journal Nature Communication this week stating that two of the top genomic databases in use have racial bias. That means the databases in use by specialists favor genetic data European ancestry over African ancestry.
It’s important work as scientists seek to understand the origin of diseases in certain populations. Researchers set out to find whether there was a reason at the gene level that people of African descent in the Americas are more susceptible to asthma. But given the mix of ancestry that many people in this part of the world have, the work has wider implications.
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