Stanford Radio

The Future of Everything with Russ Altman: "Carlos Bustamante: Genomics has a diversity problem" A geneticist explains how the relatively young science of genomics has the potential to reveal the mysteries of the living world, but first it has to be more inclusive. Carlos Bustamante is an expert in genomics—the study of genetic variation and its effects on the living world. He says genomics holds tremendous promise but, so far, virtually all sequenced DNA comes from European blood lines and this presents a problem. Without greater diversity in the genomic data that is collected, he notes that we cannot fully reap the benefits of this knowledge, particularly in areas such as healthcare. "Genomics is the new oil," Bustamante says, of the opportunities that lie ahead. It's being used for everything from studying rare diseases to developing more effective drugs. Before its potential can be fully realized,however, genomics will have to address its diversity problem. The more genetic variants that are represent