The global pandemic exposed deep inequities in our health care system and highlighted the need for more diversity in scientific and medical research.
The virus hit communities of color the hardest. That in part prompted widespread calls for greater diversity at every level of research.
New models for research
A recently released article in the journal Nature Cell Biology, calls for “new models for basic and disease research.” That new model would “reflect diverse ancestral backgrounds and sex.” This could ensure that diverse populations are included among donors and research participants.
The authors of the article include Dr. Maria T. Millan, CIRM’s President & CEO. Her co-authors are Rick Horwitz Senior Advisor and Executive Director, Emeritus, Allen Institute for Cell Science. Also contributing to the piece were Dr. Ekemini Riley, President, Coalition for Aligning Science, and Dr. Ruwanthi N. Gunawardane. Dr. Gunawardane is the Executive Director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science.
CIRM’s approach
“At CIRM we have incorporated the principles of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in our research funding, education programs and future programs,” said Dr. Maria Millan. “This is essential to ensure that the therapies our support helps advance will reach all patients.”
The article highlights how cultural, environmental, and socioeconomic factors, along with genetic factors play a role in the way disease affects people differently. For example, 50 percent of people in South Asia have genetic traits that increases their risk for severe COVID-19. In contrast only 16 percent of Europeans have those traits. Another example of how risk for certain diseases is higher in some ethnicities than others are African American men, who are at a higher risk for prostate cancer than white men. And yet research studies into these conditions have been done primarly in people of European ancestry.
Efforts are already underway to change that For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s All of Us Research Program, us pushing to build one of the most diverse health databases in history.
The article in Nature Cell Biology stresses the need for diversity at all levels of research. The authors make the point that diversity in clinical trials is essential. Accounting for differences among populations is just good science and more likely toto lead to the development of potential therapies.
Diversity in research helps all people
That’s why the authors write: “If we are to truly understand human biology, address health disparities, and personalize our treatments, we need to go beyond our important, ongoing efforts in addressing diversity and inclusion in the workforce and the delivery of healthcare. We need to improve the data we generate by including diverse populations among donors and research participants. This will require new models and tools for basic and disease research that more closely reflect the diversity of human tissues, across diverse donor backgrounds.”
“Greater diversity in biological studies is not only the right thing to do, it is crucial to helping researchers make new discoveries that benefit everyone,” said Ru Gunawardane,Executive Director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science.
Expanding the diversity stem cell lines used for research
To do this, the researchers propose creating a suite of research cells, including human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) lines from a diverse group of individuals. This diversity would reflect the racial, ethnic, and gender makeup of the population. Human iPSCs come from adult or child tissues, usually skin or blood, and are reprogrammed to behave like embryonic stem cells. As pluripotent cells, they can become any adult cell type.
CIRM has already created one version of this suite through its iPSC Repository, which holds more than 2,600 hiPSC lines from donors of diverse ancestries, including African, Hispanic, Native American, East and South Asian, and European. The Allen Institute for Cell Science also maintains a model repository. Its 50+ hiPSC lines have been thoroughly analyzed at genomic and biological levels and could also be organized by donor ethnicity and sex.
Researchers currently use cells from different lines and follow different procedures, making it hard to compare results across studies. A diverse, well‑defined collection of research cells created with standardized methods would make comparisons easier and allow scientists to share results more effectively. Building diversity into early‑stage research gives scientists and therapy developers a fuller picture of disease biology and potential treatments.
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