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South Africa: from species cradle to genomic applications

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 9, pages S19–S23 (2008)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 January 2009

Abstract

The South African government is committed to science and technology innovation, to establishing a knowledge-based economy and to harnessing life-sciences research for health and economic development. Given the constraints and the early stage of development of the field as a whole in South Africa, we found an impressive amount of research on human genomic variation in this country. Encouragingly, South Africa is beginning to apply genomics to address local health needs, including HIV and tuberculosis (TB) infections. We document a number of initiatives in South Africa that are beginning to study genetic variation within the various local indigenous populations. Other early initiatives focus on pharmacogenetic studies, mutation characterization in individual disease genes and genome-wide association studies. Public engagement in genomic issues is spear-headed by The Africa Genome Education Institute.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute. The McLaughlin–Rotman Centre for Global Health, Program on Life Sciences, Ethics and Policy is primarily supported by Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute, the Ontario Research Fund, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Other matching partners are listed at the The McLaughlin–Rotman Centre for Global Health web site. A.S.D. and P.A.S. are supported by the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Billie-Jo Hardy, Béatrice Séguin, Peter A. Singer and Abdallah S. Daar are at the McLaughlin–Rotman Centre for Global Health, Program on Life Sciences, Ethics and Policy, University Health Network and University of Toronto, MaRS Centre, South Tower, Suite 406, 101 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada.,

    Billie-Jo Hardy, Béatrice Séguin, Peter A. Singer & Abdallah S. Daar

  2. Béatrice Séguin is also at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3M2, Canada.,

    Béatrice Séguin

  3. Division of Human Genetics, Raj Ramesar is at the MRC Human Genetics Research Unit, Institute for Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.,

    Raj Ramesar

  4. Peter A. Singer and Abdallah S. Daar are also at the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine, MaRS Centre, Toronto Medical Discovery Tower, Suite 701, 101 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada.,

    Peter A. Singer & Abdallah S. Daar

Authors
  1. Billie-Jo Hardy
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  2. Béatrice Séguin
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  3. Raj Ramesar
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  4. Peter A. Singer
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  5. Abdallah S. Daar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abdallah S. Daar.

Related links

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FURTHER INFORMATION

African Genome Education Institute (AGEI)

African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology (AiBST)

African Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG)

Biodiversity Act

Burden of Disease Research Unit FAQs, Medical Research Council

Centre for Proteomic and Genomic Research (CPGR)

Freedom to Innovate report by the African Union High Level Panel on Modern Biotechnology

Gknowmix

Lifelabs

McLaughlin–Rotman Centre for Global Health

National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN), Mexico

The Division of Human Genetics, University of Cape Town

The Living History Project

The Public Understanding of Biotechnology programme

The Skin Colour Education Project

The World Health Organisation's South Africa overview

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Hardy, BJ., Séguin, B., Ramesar, R. et al. South Africa: from species cradle to genomic applications. Nat Rev Genet 9 (Suppl 1), S19–S23 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg2441

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