International HapMap Project

OFFLINE A recent computer security audit has revealed security flaws in the legacy HapMap site that require NCBI to take it down immediately. We regret the inconvenience, but we are required to do this. That said, NCBI was planning to decommission this site in the near future anyway (although not quite so suddenly), as the 1,000 genomes (1KG) project has established itself as a research standard for population genetics and genomics. NCBI has observed a decline in usage of the HapMap dataset and website with its available resources over the past five years and it has come to the end of its useful life. The International HapMap Project is a multi-country effort to identify and catalog genetic similarities and differences in human beings. Using the information in the HapMap, researchers will be able to find genes that affect health, disease, and individual responses to medications and environmental factors. The Project is a collaboration among scientists and funding agencies from Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Nigeria, and the United States. All of the information generated by the Project will be released into the public domain. The goal of the International HapMap Project is to compare the genetic sequences of different individuals to identify chromosomal regions where genetic variants are shared. By making this information freely available, the Project will help biomedical researchers find genes involved in disease and responses to therapeutic drugs. In the initial phase of the Project, genetic data are being gathered from four populations with African, Asian, and European ancestry. Ongoing interactions with members of these populations are addressing potential ethical issues and providing valuable experience in conducting research with identified populations. Public and private organizations in six countries are participating in the International HapMap Project. Data generated by the Project can be downloaded with minimal constraints. The Project officially started with a meeting in October 2002 (https://www.genome.gov/10005336/) and is expected to take about three years.

近期一次计算机安全审计揭示了HapMapLegacy网站遗留的安全漏洞，迫使NCBI立即将其关闭。对此造成的不便，我们深感遗憾，但此举实属必要。尽管如此，NCBI原本计划在未来不久（尽管并非如此突然）淘汰该网站，因为1,000基因组（1KG）项目已确立为群体遗传学和基因组学的研究标准。在过去五年中，NCBI观察到HapMap数据集和网站的使用率以及可用资源的下降，表明其已步入使用寿命的尾声。国际HapMap项目是一项多国合作，旨在识别和编目人类基因中的相似性和差异性。借助HapMap中的信息，研究人员能够发现影响健康、疾病以及个体对药物和环境因素反应的基因。该项目由来自日本、英国、加拿大、中国、尼日利亚和美国的科学家及资助机构共同协作。项目生成的所有信息都将进入公共领域。国际HapMap项目的目标是对比不同个体的遗传序列，以识别遗传变异共有的染色体区域。通过使这些信息免费获取，项目将有助于生物医学研究人员寻找与疾病和治疗药物反应相关的基因。在项目的初期阶段，从具有非洲、亚洲和欧洲血统的四个群体中收集遗传数据。与这些群体成员的持续互动正在解决潜在的伦理问题，并为在已识别群体中进行研究提供了宝贵的经验。六个国家的公共和私营机构参与了国际HapMap项目。项目生成数据可在最少的限制下下载。项目于2002年10月正式启动（https://www.genome.gov/10005336/），预计历时约三年。