Thursday, February 9, 2012

African Genetics International Conference


"The roles of genetic/genomic variations in health disparities among African descended peoples remain greatly understudied. This conference will provide a bridge of knowledge that will begin to fill the gaps in our current understanding of the magnitude of genetic diversity in Africa and the Americas, its origins, ecological context, geographical distributions, and biomedical significance. The conference will provide data on African genetic variants, the presence of African genetic retentions in the Americas, as well as evidence for new genetic configurations.

Additionally, the conference will explore the more relevant non-genetic factors that have differentially influenced the 21st Century profiles of African genetic and genomic variations and the impact of some of these factors on gene expression, disease susceptibilities, and health disparities.

The conference will introduce some of the newest technology available to understand human genetics and genomics and discuss the relevance of this technology to studies among continental Africans and African-descended groups of the Americas. The conference will begin to articulate a set of roadmaps for future studies among populations of recent African descent.

These kinds of data and opportunities for their discussion are expected to be profoundly important to both researchers in the field, particularly those working in the vast and understudied continent of Africa, and for the general biomedical community, particularly individuals working with African-descended individuals and groups in the Americas in clinical settings. For the former group of field researchers, the conference will contribute a more nuanced and enriched historical framework for interpreting African human genetic variation and its impact on disease patterns as well as more standardized, trans-disciplinary, and accurate terminologies for use in reporting this observed genetic and genomic diversity. For the general biomedical community, this conference will synthesize knowledge that is at the foundations of some of the most important health disparity issues facing African-descended peoples in the Americas."

http://africangenetics.web.unc.edu/program-plenary-sessions-and-speakers/

This looks like it will be an informative conference with some notable geneticists speaking.


I'll update this post as I get more information.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so much wanting to go to this conference, which Dr. Jackson, the organizer, invited me to! Then I could let people know of our research on Y-Haplogroup A, and hear the latest from some major people in the field. But unfortunately, at my job, they think they won't be able to find enough staff at that time, if I'm gone. So please just pray for a miracle!

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  2. The very best of luck to you in attending the conference, and please do update any novel information that you may find at the conference re: African genetics; YDNA, mtDNA or Autosomal.

    Be well!

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