NSU Horizons Spring 2016

27 NSU HORIZONS T he list of countries and geographic regions that have been the subject of national population genome projects is extensive. Yet one vast region that occupies 1/10 of the earth’s landmass and 1/50 of its people has yet to participate in any such project—the Russian Federation. That is about to change, because of a consortium of genetics researchers from Russia with some advice and urging from Stephen J. O’Brien, Ph.D., a professor and research director at NSU’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography. “Mapping human genome diversity has enormous implications for medi- cine as well as natural human history, but we need to ensure that all areas of the world are part of the research. The ‘Genome Russia’ Project’s goal is to fill a large void in our understanding of human genetics,” said O’Brien. O’Brien splits his time between Nova Southeastern University and the Theodosius Dobzhansky Center for Genome Bioinformatics in St. Petersburg, Russia, which he directs and founded in early 2012. He is coordinating a large consortium that will be undertaking this work. He is no stranger to genetics research, having had tremendous success work- ing with the genome of the African cheetah, among other research. Working with the Dobzhansky Center; BGI-Shenzhen in China (a genome sequencing powerhouse); and the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, O’Brien is part of a 35-author team that published a detailed analysis of the cheetah. The research was supported, in part, by Russian Ministry of Science Mega- grant @11.G34.31.0068. n NSU RESEARCHER PART OF TEAM MAPPING GENOME OF RUSSIAN CITIZENS Moscow, Russia AROUND NSU