Eden R. Martin, Ph.D., professor of human genetics and director of the Center for Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics at the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, was awarded a $1.6 million grant by the National Institutes of Health to study genetic differences in ancestry among Latinos.
The project is called “Genomic Origins and Admixture in Latinos (GOAL).” Martin is the co-principal investigator along with Carlos Bustamante, Ph.D., from Stanford University. The grant started Sept. 1. Other Institute investigators on this grant are: Michael Cuccaro, Ph.D., Dale Hedges, Ph.D. and Jacob McCauley, Ph.D.
Genomic studies of Hispanics/Latinos, the largest and fastest growing minority group in the US, reveal that they are a highly genetically diverse group with immense variation among individuals and populations in the proportions of African, European, and Native American ancestry. While there have been studies of Mexican populations, there have been few of Caribbean or South American populations. To ensure the accuracy of genetic studies of this diverse group, participants must come from a variety of Latin-American countries of origin.
This project will extend current studies of population genetic structure in U.S. Hispanics/Latinos by densely genotyping 150 families (both parents and an offspring) and sequencing the genomes of 30 families from six U.S. populations of Caribbean descent: Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Colombia.
Martin will combine her sequencing data with other publicly available genomic resources including the International HapMap project and the 1000 Genomes project to understand the complex genetic architecture of Hispanic/Latino populations in the U.S.