GEE Seminar – Dr Jennifer Raff, University of Kansas

Academic Host: Adam Rutherford
Abstract: The Americas were the last continents to be peopled by modern humans, but many questions remain about the details of this process. The genetic variation of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, which could give us more insights into this process, is poorly characterized relative to other populations. This is due to a history of abusive research practices which has made many Native American communities—particularly in North America—understandably reluctant to participate in genetics research, or to give consent for their Ancestors’ genomes to be studied. In this talk, I’ll give a brief overview of what we know about the genetic origin of Native Americans, as well as the harms to Native peoples that have resulted from the process of collecting that knowledge. I’ll discuss how this history has shaped the current research landscape in North America, and summarize recommendations from Indigenous geneticists and bioethicists for how to do paleogenomics research with their communities in a good way. Finally, I’ll discuss how our group engages with North American tribes and communities in our research, and some of the successes and challenges we have had in this work.