About

Genomena is a forum for discussing how genomes inform health, history, and policy. It aims to link scientists and layfolk, convey genomic insights to the public, and thoughtfully consider the broader societal implications of such insights.

The site’s founder and moderator is Nathaniel Pearson, Principal Genome Scientist at Ingenuity, a company that helps people interpret genomes and other big biological data. Pearson studied biology and linguistics at Stanford University, working with the renowned Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Joseph Greenberg, and Spencer Wells, and earned a doctorate in evolutionary genetics from the University of Chicago, working with Bruce Lahn and Marty Kreitman.

In his current work on methods for interpreting whole genome sequences, and through lab and field work in the Americas and across much of Eurasia, he has sought to cast light on how genetic variation in people, and in other great apes, reflects key aspects of health and history. Views expressed here by him, and other authors, are personal, and are not to be taken as those of any institutions with which authors are affiliated.