Bulletin

Issue: July 2005

Research in action

‘Moon shot’ of anthropology – La Trobe helps map how humans populated the Earth

La Trobe authority on human genetic variation, Dr John Mitchell, has been invited to play a leading role in a five-year research initiative to trace the migratory history of the human species.

Called the ‘Genographic Project’, the large research undertaking will see the establishment of 10 centres around the world to collect and study more than 100,000 DNA samples from indigenous populations.

A Reader and Associate Professor in La Trobe’s School of Molecular Sciences, Dr Mitchell will head the research team that will cover the Oceania and Pacific areas which contain some of the world’s oldest populations.

Dr Mitchell will head one of the ten teams which will collect samples from volunteers. The results will contribute to a comprehensive attempt to better understand the history and roots of modern humans.

The study will use sophisticated laboratory and computer analysis of DNA contributed by thousands of Indigenous people to map how the Earth was populated.

Dr Mitchell’s initial training was in biological anthropology and, coupled with an intense interest in how humans have travelled and inhabited the planet, led to his research career in human genetic variation.

‘Conducting the DNA research for such projects gives us the power to delve into history, both at a local population level and even at the whole species level,’ Dr Mitchell said. ‘Before the detection of variability at the DNA level, such detailed investigations were impossible.’

His work will involve travel to remote areas of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and other areas.

A research partnership of the National Geographic Society and IBM, the project is headed internationally by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Dr Spencer Wells.

The Waitt Family Foundation, established in 1993 by the founder and Chairman of the company, Gateway Computers, to fund projects aimed at discovering our past, is funding the project.

Dr Mitchell’s team will take samples for DNA analysis from Indigenous volunteers in his research area. These include some of the oldest populations in the world including Australian Aborigines and peoples of the island of New Guinea as well as some of the youngest, including the Maoris of New Zealand.

The project is expected to reveal rich details about global human migratory history and the connections and differences that make up the human species.

‘We see this as the “moon shot” of anthropology, using genetics to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of human history,’ says Dr Wells.

‘Our DNA carries a story that is shared by everyone. Over the next five years we’ll be deciphering that story, which is now in danger of being lost as people migrate and mix to a much greater extent than they have in the past.’

The resulting public database will house one of the largest collections of human population genetic information ever assembled and will serve as an unprecedented resource for geneticists, historians, linguists and anthropologists.

Further information, including details about public participation in the Genographic Project – which involves purchase of a kit that allows people to take a cheek swab sample from themselves – is available on the website www.nationalgeographic.com/genographic.

Proceeds from the sale of the sample kits will help fund future research and support educational and cultural preservation projects among participating Indigenous groups. •

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