• First phase published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Behind this achievement is the INMEGEN, first science institute created by Congress

México presented the world with the first draft of its genomic map, being the first developing country to describe at the most fundamental level its own population's specific features.

During the act, President Felipe Calderón underlined the fact that this instrument will get in the short term important savings, but above all a fast movement towards prevention and treatment strategies for sicknesses that directly ail mexican people.

The document that describes this progress, published last night in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says the first look at the genome of a predominantly mestizo population indicates that even though there are regional differences, the similarities are enough to imagine a common profile, distinct from the other demographic genomes previously determined.

Calderón Hinojosa said the effort behind this first map is "a scientific and technological advance that ratifies the enormous quality of mexican researchers".

The snapshot the map offers is a partial window to the genetic composition of mexican peoples: researchers processed samples from three thousand volunteers from Yucatán, Zacatecas, Sonora, Guanajuato, Veracruz, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Campeche, Tamaulipas and Durango, many of them being mestizos, and of four indigenous groups: tepehuanos from Durango, mixtecos and zapotecos from Oaxaca, and mayad from Campeche.

The research was done at the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genómica, one of the twelde pillars of México's health system, created in july 2004, five years ago, thought its director Gerardo Jiménez Sánchez (the one in the photo) remembered farther roots.

“Ten years ago, when variations in the human genome were being systematically discovered, the Mexican Health Foundation (FUNSALUD) formed a working group coordinated by doctor Guillermo Soberón to analyze the impact genomic medicine could have in México”, said doctor Jiménez Sánchez.

Besides the foundation itself, the Secretaría de Salud, UNAM and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología did a viability study and then a promotional consortium to present before Congress a law project to create INMEGEN.

Julio Frenk Alatorre, at present dean of the Public Health School at Harvard University but back then secretary of Health, rememberd in a radio interview that it was his own replacement, José Ángel Córdova Villalobos, who pushed ahead to get the INMEGEN created.

“Five years ago, in the Chamber of Deputies, he presented the project along with the rest of the Health Commision”, said Frenk. The project “was voted in both chambers and it was creater: this is the first national institute created by an act of Congress”.

President Calderón also rememebered this in yesterday's speech, when he congratulated not only the institute's members but specifically all  researchers that worked to build the Genomic Map of the Mexicans, which he called "an important step" for México to step in the genomic era.

The President said the map would have to be tuned and build in such a way  that it get converted into a decisive tool for, among other things, "be able to make much more precise medical diagnosis, to fight more efficaciously the illnesses and, above all, to prevent common ailmentss we mexicans have to suffer".

Calderón Hinojosa reminded everybody the health contingency México s going through, a set of unavoidable challenges, "and to face them and overcome them we need scientific research and a more predictive and preventive medicine; that is, precisely, one of the advantages that genomic medicine offers us".

Frenk Alatorre agreed with the President's words and went beyond, saying that mexicans "have to see science as the mid-term solution to our problems". The former secretary of Health accepted we have many short-term issues to attend, but also judged innaceptable to stop paying attention; we need to sow "the seeds of solutions that will turn out to be permanent".

The Harvard officer used an interesting metaphot: genomic medicine will allow for a very precise work. "Instead of a shotgun spread we'll be able to fire precision shots because we'll know in detail the risks for each individual person".

Córdova Montoya also underlined yesterday the important role of research for sustainable growth. Research, he said, "should be seen as a mid- and long-term investment, with results both in the economic and the social planes; an investment that fosters growth in enterprises and in society".

The first phase, said INMEGEN researchers, implied studying 100 thousand point variations in the genomes of the studied population. The following phases will widen the search to 1.5 million variations and will included a more varied and abundant demographic sample.

Everything will be reflected in the interactive genomic map over at: http://diversity.inmegen.gob.mx.