16 FT.COM/MAGAZINEMARCH 7/
◀in women in her native Nigeria. In 2018,she co-
authored the first-everstudytouse sophisticated
genomicsanalysis of African women. The results
couldchangethe waywethink about howbreast
cancerdevelopsandhowitshouldbescreenedfor
–regardlessofwhereyoucomefrom.
“Foraverylongtime,wehavethoughtthat
cancerwentthroughasystematic,slowgrowth,so
youwaituntil 50 andyou get your mammogram
onceevery twoyears andyou’regoing to be OK,”
says Olopade,aMacArthurgeniusgranteeand
directoroftheCenterforClinicalCancerGenetics
and GlobalHealthat the Universityof Chicago.
“Ithinkthisreallyhasjustturnedthatonitshead,
because youmay need to start earlier... And it
showsthatweneedtodomoregeneticsresearchin
Africa, because otherwise we willhavethe wrong
policies, we will start in the wrong place,and
that’swhywehavenothadthekindofprogresswe
neededtohave.”
Advancesinsequencingmeanfindingmuta-
tionsisincreasinglyeasy. Determiningwhichones
matterisfarmoredifficult.Researchershavefound
that includingeven afew blackpeople in stud-
iescan improve results.But most analysis is still
done on European-ancestry populations,because
theyare the mostcommoninscientificliterature.
WithoutrobustdatafromAfricanpopulations,sci-
entistsare missingoutonthesecretsofthousands
ofgenerationsofhumanevolution.
Arecent studyofjust 910 people of African
descentrevealedthat 300 millionbase pairs –out
of morethan 3billion–arenot foundin the refer-
ence genome. “That’smassive.That meansthat
potentiallyyouhave10percentoftheareathatyou
just don’t know...and that completelyharms our
capacity as scientiststodogood science,” says Dr
AmbroiseWonkam,associateprofessorinthedivi-
sion of humangeneticsat the Universityof Cape
Town, who is studying the longevity of sicklecell
patients.“So when we sayequityinsciencenow is
important,specificallywiththeAfricanpopulation,
it’snot about charity...It’ssomething that is abso-
lutely necessary for us to do thescience the wayit
shouldbedone.Otherwise,wealllose.”P
ointGHospitalisadustycom-
plexoflow-slungbuildingsona
sandstonebluffaboveBamako.
Down below, theNiger river
windsthrough Mali’ssleepy,
sandblastedcapital.ImeetDr
GuidaLandouré,anH3Africa-
fundedresearcher,inthefaded
baby-blueneurologybuildingwherehisofficeislit
byfluorescentbulbsandthemiddaySaheliansun.
His white coat hangsfrom the curtainrod.Stacks
of burstingManilafolders arepiledhalf-a-metre
high around his smalllaptop.Hegrins wanlyas
heunfoldshisgangly frametogreetme,movinga
handtowelinabashfuleffortatcleaningup.
Landouréwas born in centralMali, the last of
28 children to aKoranicschoolteacherand his
threewives.His familytendedcattle. Afterhe
completedhis PhD at UniversityCollege London,
LandouréreturnedfortwoweekstotheUS,where
he’d previouslyworked at the NIH. “People were
saying,‘Why don’t youstay?’Isaid,‘No,Icame to
the country to look for something Icould not get
at home’,” hesays.“PhDsarethousandsin the US,
thousands in the UK, but aPhD in neurologyor
neurogenetics in Mali?Thereare none. My goal is‘Wehavelivedthelongestashumans
ontheAfricancontinent,andthathas
very,veryimportantimplicationsfor
understandinghowforcesthat
existedonthecontinenthelped
shapepresent-dayhumangenomes’
CharlesRotimi,Maryland,USNATE PALMER