An article titled "Large-scale whole-genome sequencing of three diverse Asian populations in Singapore" which was published in the Cell Journal, underlies the need for precision medicine.
Under-representation of Asian genomes has hindered population and medical genetics research on Asians, leading to disparities in precision medicine. Through genome sequencing on 4810 people in Singapore, it was found that over half of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Chinese, Malays and Indians are novel.
SNPs are inherent to the genetic population and are the most common type of genetic variation in people. They can account for different disease progressions and responses. This study is important to better understand the genetic-environment factors involved in complex diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular, neurological conditions and cancers.