Planning for Aotearoa's genomic medicine future

If the future of healthcare is personalised genomics, how can we ensure that it is used to lessen inequities, rather than strengthen them? This week, Our Changing World speaks to two of the co-leaders of the Rakieora programme - a pilot to develop a New Zealand-specific national database for genomic research.

If the future of healthcare is personalised genomic medicine, how can we ensure that genomic data can be used to reduce health inequities, rather than double down on them?

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For Associate Professor Phillip Wilcox from the University of Otago, empowering Māori to develop and lead indigenous genomic databases and genomic research can go some way to achieving this.

Phillip is one of the co-leads of a Genomics Aotearoa programme of work called Rakieora. The goal is to set up an infrastructure that allows the safe acquisition, storage and use of genomic and health data here in Aotearoa. One that upholds tikanga, centres the research needs of the community and minimises negative outcomes.

To pilot Rakieora, the team have looked at two ends of the healthcare spectrum - primary care in rural Tairāwhiti, and tertiary care of cancer patients in urban Tāmaki Makaurau.

It's the latter that is the focus of Professor Cris Print of the University of Auckland. "Our research is really around understanding how tumours can evolve and resist therapy, and really understanding what's the best way for us to implement some of this knowledge about tumours in the clinic," he says.

While initially a pilot, they hope that Rakieora will eventually be scaled up to allow national collaborative research into genomics.

Phillip is also involved in the Aotearoa Variome project, the aim of which is to add to our knowledge of the natural variation in genomes by sequencing Māori genomes. This will help address the current bias in genomic databases towards people of European ancestry and identify specific variations important for Māori healthcare.

Listen to the episode to hear Phillip and Cris discuss their work developing Rakieora, and what the future of genomic research in Aotearoa might look like.

To learn more:

Listen to last week's episode - Genome sequencing and the pandemic

We also discussed inequities in healthcare research in Business not as usual for heart health

The Detail podcast have an episode about filling in the final pieces of the human genome puzzle

If you want to learn more about DNA, genes, RNA and gene expression, listen to A new way to make vaccines

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details