How does the Genographic Project differ from the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) proposed in the early 1990s?
The Genographic Project has been designed from inception to consider the limitations of other studies such as HGDP—especially in terms of objectives, approach, and methodology. The Genographic Project is studying the human journey—how we are all related and how we arrived at where we live today. There is no medical research of any kind in the Genographic Project. It is nonprofit, nongovernmental, nonpolitical, and noncommercial. No cell lines will be created, and we will not patent any genetic data resulting from the project. All the information belongs to the global community and will be released into the public domain. The scientific consortium comprised of the ten regional research centers will author scientific papers based on their analysis. At the time of publication, the data associated with the research will be made public. At the end of the project, the findings will be released into the public domain. The Genographic Project is a nonprofit effort, and its noncommercial focus
