DNA discovery opens door to tailored medicine for Indigenous Australians
14 December 2023
Two studies have been published in the prestigious journal Nature, demonstrating that Indigenous Australians have variations in their DNA that have never been reported anywhere else in the world, reflecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ deep cultural and linguistic diversity.
The findings could help unlock new, tailored treatments that address health inequities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There is a need to develop personalised treatment strategies for a range of conditions including diabetes, coronary disease and cancer – all of which disproportionately impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples compared to the rest of the Australian population – and this research is a major step toward achieving this.
This work was undertaken involving researchers from The Australian National University (ANU), The University of Melbourne and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, including a number of members of the ALIGN network including Professor Alex Brown, Associate Professor Azure Hermes and Dr Hardip Patel.
Read more on the ANU website here.