Gene-Mappers Take New Aim at Diseases

The human genome project, which mapped every gene in the body, will soon have a new and improved counterpart to guide genetic researchers. The International “HapMap” project will chart the location of large blocks of unchanged DNA in an attempt to track down variant genes that cause common diseases such as cancer, asthma, and diabetes. The global implications of the mapping project go beyond a new approach to viewing the world of genetics. Genomes of four ethnic groups – the Japanese, Chinese, Yoruba people of Nigeria, and Americans of Northern and Western European ancestry -- will be studied. Views on the mapping project are not wholly positive, with some critics arguing that the International HapMap's "factory approach" isn't the best way to find complicated causes of disease. – YaleGlobal