Saturday, November 22, 2025

23andMe Research Institute helps reconnect African diaspora to their roots with release of 250+ high-resolution African Genetic Groups

Major scientific expansion provides the most detailed look at African ancestry on the market, helping to bypass historical 'brick walls' for individuals with African heritage

23andMe Research Institute

PALO ALTO, Calif. - November 20, 2025 - For millions of Americans in the African diaspora, genealogical ties and records were severed by the transatlantic slave trade, creating a "brick wall" for those seeking to know their full heritage. Today, 23andMe Research Institute announced a landmark expansion of its genetic ancestry reports and features, unveiling more than 250 high-resolution Genetic Groups across Africa. This significant update provides members with African heritage the most detailed and scientifically rigorous look at their roots currently available on the market, further establishing 23andMe Research Institute as the leader in detailed genetic ancestry.

"This is more than a scientific update; it’s a new chapter in the right to know your own story," said Steven Micheletti, Ph.D, senior scientist of population genetics at 23andMe Research Institute. "For too long, individuals of African descent have hit a 'brick wall' in traditional genealogy, their paper trails erased by time and history. This update uses our advancements in the field of genetics to help bypass that wall. Seeing your West African ancestry trace to one of 57 specific groups in Nigeria, for example, can be a profound experience. We are incredibly proud to apply our science to help facilitate these powerful discoveries that restore human connection and a piece of lost heritage."

The update represents an improvement by a factor of 10, moving from 25 African Genetic Groups to more than 250 — significantly improving the accuracy and specificity of ancestry results for the continent. More than 80% of 23andMe's Black and African American customers on the latest V5 genotyping chip will now see matches to one or more of these high-resolution genetic groups, offering a new, more specific starting point for their ancestral journey.

Prior to this expansion, the organization’s ancestry reports and features already held one of the highest ratings from the International Society of Genetic Genealogy for “overall accuracy and sophistication of the biogeographical ancestry analysis.”

This landmark update was made possible by the willing participation of thousands of research-consented 23andMe Research Institute members with documented ancestry in Africa. Their participation enabled the development of a more inclusive and detailed map of human history for everyone.

The expanded groups, which span Eastern, Middle, Southern, and Western Sub-Saharan Africa, include:

57 Nigerian genetic groups
44 Angolan & Congolese genetic groups
40 Ethiopian & Eritrean genetic groups
32 Ghanaian, Liberian & Sierra Leonean genetic groups
And a total of 28 Somali, 22 Senegambian & Guinean, and 9 Sudanese genetic groups, among others.

While the vast majority of Black and African American 23andMe Research Institute members on the latest genotyping chip will receive one or more of these new groups, there is more work to do. The organization is committed to expanding its reference panels and refining its industry-leading science to bring this level of detail to all members.

23andMe Research Institute Continues to Innovate Genetic Ancestry

The expansion of African Genetic Groups follows closely on the heels of the organization’s major update to Ancestry Composition. The Ancestry Composition update provided:

Unmatched granularity in ancestry percentages with 33 new populations in Europe and 6 new populations in the Americas. With these two updates, there are now a total of more than 4,500 populations for members to explore.
The platform’s algorithm was updated to eliminate “Broadly” and “Unassigned” categories in the default results view.
A new state-of-the-art DNA phasing pipeline reduces errors and gives a more accurate estimate of genetic ancestry percentages, even if ancestry isn't from Europe or the Americas.

The Ancestry Composition update (Version Seven) was particularly focused on improving two major metrics: precision and recall. Precision confirms how often a piece of DNA is correctly predicted from a specific population. Recall confirms how much DNA from a specific population is correctly identified. Working to maximize both precision and recall is critical to making Ancestry Composition and other ancestry features as accurate as possible.

The update improved the underlying science behind member reports and features including, Ancestry Composition, Ancestry Timeline, Parental Inheritance, and DNA Painting, among others, ensuring 23andMe Research Institute continues to deliver the most precise and reliable ancestry results in the industry.

About 23andMe Research Institute

23andMe Research Institute is a nonprofit medical research organization that enables people everywhere to access their genetic information, learn about themselves and participate in the world's largest crowdsourced research initiative. The Institute aims to be the world's most significant contributor to scientific advancement, uniting people with the common goal of improving health and deepening our understanding of DNA — the code of life.

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Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

People

JUNO experiment delivers first physics results two months after completion

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters

The successful completion of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) and the release of its first physics results were announced by the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) at a press conference held in Jiangmen City on Nov. 19.

After more than a decade of design, construction, and international collaboration, JUNO has become the world's first next-generation, large-scale, high-precision neutrino detector to begin operation. The detector's key performance indicators fully meet or surpass design expectations, confirming that JUNO is ready to deliver frontier measurements in neutrino physics. An article describing the detector performance has been submitted to Chinese Physics C and was posted on arXiv on Nov. 18.

The JUNO experiment’s first physics results were presented by Prof. WEN Liangjian, physics analysis coordinator of the JUNO Collaboration, at the press conference. An article reporting these findings has been submitted for publication, and was posted on arXiv on Nov. 18.

Using data collected between Aug. 26 and Nov. 2, 2025—59 days of effective data after the start of operation—JUNO has already measured the so-called solar neutrino oscillation parameters, θ12 and Δm221, with a factor of 1.5 to 1.8 better precision than previous experiments.

These parameters, originally determined using solar neutrinos, can also be precisely measured by reactor antineutrinos. Earlier results from the two approaches showed a mild 1.5-sigma discrepancy, sometimes called the solar neutrino tension, hinting at possible new physics. The new JUNO measurement confirmed this difference, which in future can be proved or disproved by the JUNO experiment only using both solar and reactor neutrinos.

"Achieving such precision within only two months of operation shows that JUNO is performing exactly as designed," said WANG Yifang, JUNO project manager and spokesperson. "With this level of accuracy, JUNO will soon determine the neutrino mass ordering, test the three-flavor oscillation framework, and search for new physics beyond it."

With its unprecedented detection sensitivity, JUNO will determine the neutrino mass ordering and measure oscillation parameters with sub-percent precision. It will also study solar, atmospheric, supernova, and geoneutrinos, and search for physics beyond the Standard Model.

Designed for a scientific lifetime of about 30 years, JUNO can be upgraded into one of the world’s most sensitive detectors for neutrinoless double-beta decay, probing the absolute neutrino-mass scale and testing whether neutrinos are Majorana particles. "JUNO will continue to produce important results and train new generations of physicists for decades to come," said CAO Jun, director of IHEP and JUNO deputy spokesperson.

JUNO is a major international collaboration led by IHEP. The project involves more than 700 scientists from 75 institutions across 17 countries and regions. "As Chair of the JUNO Institutional Board, I am proud to see this global effort reach such a milestone. JUNO’s success reflects the commitment and creativity of our entire international community," said Marcos Dracos of the University of Strasbourg and CNRS/IN2P3 in France.

"Many factors contributed to this success, among which the convergence of experience and expertise in liquid scintillator detectors and related analysis techniques—brought together by groups from around the world—was surely pivotal in achieving JUNO’s unprecedented level of performance," added Gioacchino Ranucci of University and INFN of Milano in Italy, deputy spokesperson of JUNO.

Journal

Chinese Physics C

Population-specific genetic risk scores advance precision medicine for Han Chinese populations

New study from Academia Sinica demonstrates improved disease prediction through locally developed genomic models

Academia Sinica

Vertical bars show the accumulated number of genetic variant–trait associations for dichotomized disease status (top) and quantitative traits (bottom) in TPMI phenome-wide GWAS. — image:
Researchers identified more than two thousand genetic variant–trait associations in TPMI genomic analyses, including 95 previously unreported associations, providing a foundation for developing population-specific polygenic risk score models.
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Credit: Academia Sinica / Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative(adapted from Fig. 2 in the Nature article).

Researchers at Academia Sinica have developed the first population-specific polygenic risk score (PRS) models for people of Han Chinese ancestry, achieving unprecedented accuracy in predicting risks for common diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disorders. The study, published in Nature on October 15,2025, analyzed genomic and health data from more than half a million Taiwanese participants of the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative (TPMI) and demonstrates the transformative potential of ancestry-specific genetics in improving precision medicine across East Asia.

Unlocking population diversity in genomic research

Polygenic risk scores combine the effects of millions of genetic variants to estimate an individual’s likelihood of developing complex diseases. However, most existing PRS models were built from studies of European ancestry populations, leading to reduced accuracy when applied to others. To close this gap, TPMI scientists conducted the largest genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Han Chinese individuals to date, analyzing 695 diseases and 24 quantitative traits across 463,447 participants. The team identified 2,656 independent genetic associations, including 95 previously unreported variants, and found that the genetic risks collectively explain up to 10.3 percent of total health variation in the Taiwanese population.

“This project marks a milestone for precision medicine in East Asia,” said Dr. Cathy S.-J. Fann, senior corresponding author at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica. “By integrating large-scale genomic and clinical data, we are building predictive models that truly reflect the real genetic architecture of our population.”

Improved disease prediction through population-specific models

Using state-of-the-art algorithms such as LDpred2 and PRSmix+, the researchers developed and validated PRS models for hundreds of diseases, achieving area-under-the-curve (AUC) values exceeding 0.8 for ankylosing spondylitis and around 0.7 for psoriasis, atrial fibrillation, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 2 diabetes. When applied to independent cohorts from the Taiwan Biobank, UK Biobank, and All of Us Project, TPMI-derived PRS consistently outperformed models trained on European data for East Asian populations.

“Our results show how locally developed risk prediction can substantially enhance healthcare precision,” added Dr. Hung-Hsin Chen, the first and corresponding author at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica.

Shared genetic architecture across diseases

Analyses of genetic correlations revealed three major clusters of traits — cardiometabolic, autoimmune/infectious, and kidney-related — suggesting shared biological mechanisms (see Figure 4 in the paper). Multitrait PRS models further improved predictive performance, especially for cardiometabolic diseases, where the explained variance increased 1.77-fold.

Novel insights into hepatitis B and immune diseases

Leveraging Taiwan’s unique hepatitis B (HBV) epidemiology, the team also identified 19 new genetic loci associated with HBV infection and found inverse genetic correlations between HBV and autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren’s syndrome, psoriasis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. These results highlight how population-specific datasets can uncover gene–environment interactions invisible in European cohorts, offering new insights into both infection susceptibility and immune regulation.

Toward equitable precision medicine
The researchers emphasize that genetic diversity is essential for fair global health. Despite representing almost a quarter of the world’s population, East Asian people account for under 4 percent of participants in past genome-wide studies. By making TPMI data available for research, the team hopes to inspire similar efforts worldwide.

“Precision medicine should serve everyone, not just the populations that have been most studied,” said Dr. Chen. “Our work offers a blueprint for other countries to develop population-specific risk prediction frameworks.”

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-025-09350-y

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Population-specific genetic risk scores advance precision medicine for Han Chinese populations

Avian Flu, from ‘FluWarning’ early alerts for virus spillovers

A system developed by Researchers at the Politecnico di Milano and the University of Milan detects changes that may indicate cross-species transmission and anticipate possible epidemics

Politecnico di Milano

image:
Reassortant virus
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Credit: Politecnico di Milano

How can we monitor the cross-species transmission of avian flu? The answer is FluWarning, a digital system that reports abnormal changes in flu viruses, developed by a research team from the Politecnico di Milano and the University of Milan. The system analyses the genetic code of flu viruses, looking for subtle but significant changes that could indicate cross-species transmission (for example, from birds to cattle or to humans), a process known as spillover.

The study, which was recently published in the prestigious journal Science Advances, was developed under the NRRP-funded PRIN 2022 – SENSIBLE project (Small-data Early warNing System for viral pathogens In puBLic hEalth). The FluWarning research team includes three members from DEIB – Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering at the Politecnico di Milano, SENSIBLE’s Principal Investigator Anna Bernasconi, Professor Stefano Ceri and Researcher Tommaso Alfonsi, along with Matteo Chiara, Professor in the Department of Biosciences at the University of Milan.

The study relied on data from GISAID, a platform for sharing virus sequences and the related metadata produced by laboratories all around the world. FluWarning was developed using data from the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009, a well-documented example of a virus being transmitted from animals to humans. It was then applied to H5N1 bird flu, a highly pathogenic strain among birds, which in the past year has also begun to spread among US cattle.

The system uses a statistical method to recognise anomalies. Depending on the settings, it can be used to recognise individual anomalous sequences or groups of anomalous sequences. FluWarning learns the normal sequences of influenza viruses and issues an alert whenever the code of the sequences changes significantly. For each alert, virologists analyse the corresponding sequences and confirm or reject the presence of spillover.

‘With its simple installation and analysis that can be done for specific locations and over specific time periods, the FluWarning software can potentially be used by many laboratories or regional genomic surveillance institutions, enabling important discoveries on both small and large scales,’ Anna Bernasconi notes. ‘In fact, the system is perfectly operational. It can give feedback on these changes day by day.’

In 2024–2025, two H5N1 genotypes were linked to independent outbreaks in the US, where numerous heads of dairy cattle were found to be infected with bird flu. ‘FluWarning identified clusters of viral activity in several US states, particularly in California, where a state of emergency was declared on 18 December 2024 due to the risk of bird flu contamination in cattle. Surprisingly, some FluWarning alerts appeared before official reports were published. The system also detected specific mutations in the haemagglutinin (HA) gene, a key protein that affects the way the virus infects the host cells,’ Matteo Chiara says. The tool monitored the evolution of the virus and identified characteristic markers of the California strains.

‘FluWarning is an important step towards more effective detection of viral changes that could pose a risk to animals or humans. By making this technology widely available, we hope to strengthen global surveillance on a health issue of global significance’ Stefano Ceri concludes.

Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adz7312

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Lightweight multiscale early warning system for influenza A spillovers

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