National Centre for Indigenous Genomics – Framework Data Initiative

Next-generation sequencing capabilities will be applied to an exceptional collection of biological samples from around 7,000 Indigenous Australians.

These new datasets will be used to improve Aboriginal health and support a broad range of anthropology, historical and genealogy studies.

The most valuable use of the collections will be to provide reference data about genome variation in Indigenous populations that will enable variation associated with health and disease to be appropriately interpreted. The role of genome function and variation in health and disease in Indigenous Australians cannot be understood solely from studies of European populations.

Data from samples in the collection may also provide information about genetic conditions of immediate clinical relevance to the living descendants of sample donors.

This Bioplatforms Australia Framework Data Initiative is led by Professor Simon Easteal from the newly established National Centre for Indigenous Genomics (NCIG) at ANU who will partner with the Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics at the Garvan Institute and the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI).