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Our first Nature Conference in China emphasized the value of extending genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to populations worldwide as a way to promote cooperation and high standards in research while gaining a wealth of biological insights into common and complex diseases and traits.
Community review of proposed standards is a good strategy to broaden consensus on ways to conduct principled, ethical and efficient research. We are pleased to welcome new partners for our Nature Precedings Data Standards initiative and suggest other standards that could be usefully presented as citable preprints.
More data than we can handle is no excuse to give up our efforts to promote data access, but it may make us think about new ways to make it sustainable.
The first Human Variome microattribution review shows that data citation and publication credit can work as incentives for systematic curation of gene variant and phenotype data. Analysis of the formal assertions in both databases and journal articles argues for better separation of data structures from narrative so that they can better support one another to communicate meaning.
The substantial $10 million purse of the Archon Genomics X PRIZE (AGXP) is being offered for the generation of rapid, accurate and complete human DNA sequences. Because so many genomics researchers have a stake, we offer to help with a process of community consultation to help evolve fair and efficient methods to validate contestant data for the competition.
As genome sequencing becomes more versatile and easier, the journal prioritizes those genomic sequences that maximize the prospects of harnessing genome variation and understanding evolutionary processes.