Grant: Project Grant

Decoding human DNA has become routine, but analyzing it effectively remains challenging. Our six-billion-letter genetic code not only determines our biology but also carries the story of our ancestry. This ancestral information is crucial for personalized medical care - it can help predict disease risks and guide treatment choices. However, current computational tools struggle to handle the complexity of modern DNA data, especially for people with mixed ancestral backgrounds or when analyzing multiple genomes simultaneously. We propose to develop three innovative computational tools to address these challenges. First, we will create methods that can quickly and accurately determine a patient's genetic ancestry from their DNA sequence, working with data from any sequencing platform. Second, we will develop a technology to compare hundreds of genomes simultaneously, revealing important structural differences between them. Third, we will build user-friendly visualization tools that help clinicians and researchers understand these complex relationships. These advances will help healthcare providers choose the most appropriate reference genomes for each patient, leading to more accurate diagnosis and treatment plans. Our tools will be particularly valuable for analyzing diverse populations in Canada and understanding how genetic variations influence health outcomes across different ancestral backgrounds. By making these tools freely available to the research community, we aim to accelerate the adoption of ancestry-aware approaches in precision medicine.