title: South Africa: from species cradle to genomic applications.
abstract: The South African government is committed to science and technology innovation, to establishing a knowledge-based economy and to harnessing life-sciences research for health and economic development. Given the constraints and the early stage of development of the field as a whole in South Africa, we found an impressive amount of research on human genomic variation in this country. Encouragingly, South Africa is beginning to apply genomics to address local health needs, including HIV and tuberculosis (TB) infections. We document a number of initiatives in South Africa that are beginning to study genetic variation within the various local indigenous populations. Other early initiatives focus on pharmacogenetic studies, mutation characterization in individual disease genes and genome-wide association studies. Public engagement in genomic issues is spear-headed by The Africa Genome Education Institute.
authors.affiliation: McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, Program on Life Sciences, Ethics and Policy, University Health Network and University of Toronto, MaRS Centre, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada.
authors.forename: Billie-Jo
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: Béatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Séguin
authors.forename: Raj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramesar
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.forename: Abdallah S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Daar
mesh_terms: D001709:Biotechnology; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D011057:Politics; D013019:South Africa