On a recent episode of The Genetics Podcast, Patrick was joined by Andres Moreno-Estrada, population geneticist and head of the Human Evolutionary Genomics Lab at LANGEBIO in Mexico. They discussed the creation and insights of the Mexican Biobank, the genetic diversity of Latin America, ancient human migration, and the role of locally-led research in shaping public health and scientific equity.
A search for human roots through genomics
Andres didn’t initially set out to become a geneticist. Driven by deep questions about human origins, biology, and disease, he chose medical school hoping it would help him understand why we are the way we are. But traditional medicine didn’t offer the evolutionary lens he craved.
His curiosity eventually led him to Stanford University, where he trained under renowned population geneticist Carlos Bustamante. There, he developed the foundational tools and questions that would guide his future work, including the need for large-scale, locally relevant genomic studies across underrepresented regions like Latin America.
Building the Mexican Biobank: a grassroots genomic infrastructure
In 2023, Andres and collaborators published the landmark results of the Mexican Biobank Project, which appeared on the cover of Nature Genetics. The study was the first of its kind in Mexico: a large, population-wide genomic resource deeply integrated with national health survey data. But the idea began nearly a decade earlier.
Back in 2014, Andres had already published work characterizing the genomic variation among 15 indigenous groups across Mexico. That study offered a glimpse into the country’s rich genetic landscape, but it was clear the diversity extended far beyond those communities. When he returned to Mexico to establish his lab at LANGEBIO, he partnered with the National Institute of Public Health and secured funding from a UK-Mexico bilateral research call to scale up that vision.
The biobank combined genomic data from over 6,000 individuals with detailed health and environmental phenotypes, all genotyped locally using an Illumina microarray platform that Andres had helped design. The entire process was executed within Mexico, a major achievement in local capacity-building. Remarkably, only 20 samples failed genotyping, underscoring the project’s technical success.
Uncovering a deeper genetic story of Mexico
One of the central findings of the biobank was how seamlessly indigenous ancestry persists across urban and rural populations. Contrary to long-held assumptions, genetic signatures typically associated with isolated indigenous groups were found throughout the country, blurring the lines between socially constructed labels and biological ancestry.
Using local ancestry inference, Andres and his team also revealed the mosaic of contributions to the Mexican genome: indigenous, European, African, and even Asian ancestry from unexpected sources. For example, they uncovered clear evidence of Filipino and Indonesian ancestry in individuals from the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, representing a genomic trace of the Manila Galleon trade that connected the Philippines to Acapulco during the colonial era.
Genetics meets medicine: surprising results on BMI and ancestry
While the biobank is a rich anthropological resource, its public health potential is equally profound. A major aim of the study was to explore how genetic and non-genetic factors contribute to disease-relevant traits like cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose levels, and body mass index (BMI).
A surprising result was that higher indigenous ancestry was actually associated with lower BMI, contradicting a common narrative that genetic predisposition explains Mexico’s obesity epidemic. Instead, this points to environmental and lifestyle factors, such as diet and urbanization, as primary drivers.
Andres’ team did find clinically important variants that influence metabolic health and drug metabolism, including variants that affect response to statins and fentanyl. These variants varied dramatically by ancestry, highlighting the importance of ancestry-informed medicine.
Toward public health genomics: building tools for impact
With the biobank now established, the next phase is translation. Andres’ team is developing tools to make the data actionable for clinicians and researchers. One example is a platform that lets users query allele frequencies of known pathogenic or pharmacogenetic variants by ancestry and region. In the future, such data could help guide vaccine prioritization during pandemics or determine optimal dosages of common drugs.
Beyond Mexico: a continental vision for genomic equity
Andres is also helping coordinate Latin American participation in global initiatives like the Human Cell Atlas, which aims to map gene expression in every human cell type. In Latin America, the team is focusing on immune cells and gallbladder tissue, with an eye toward diseases like gallbladder cancer, which disproportionately affects Chileans.
The project spans over eight countries and includes hubs in Mexico, Chile, and Brazil. Each of these centers is processing single-cell RNA sequencing data locally. This decentralization is not only a scientific innovation but a political statement about the importance of locally-led science.
Despite limited government funding, these efforts are being propelled by international support (e.g., Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) and the dedication of Latin American scientists. Andres emphasized that while infrastructure and talent exist across the region, what’s missing is the political will to invest in long-term, national genomic strategies.
Ancient DNA and a 1,000-year-old mystery
One of the most poetic threads in Andres’ research comes from an ancient DNA project. His team extracted DNA from human remains at an archaeological site in central Mexico and made two surprising discoveries.
First, a single family buried together (a mother and son) showed ancestry from both northern and southern Mexico, suggesting long-distance movement well before colonization.
Second, one set of remains was carbon-dated to be 1,000 years older than the pyramid in which it was found. The genetic and archaeological evidence together suggest a culture that valued its dead so deeply that ancestors were physically moved and reburied generations later. It’s a powerful representation of the history of Mexican traditions still alive today in Día de los Muertos.
A call for global inclusion in genomics
Andres closed with a meaningful message that for genomics to be truly global, equity and inclusion must go beyond token diversity. It’s not enough to collect diverse samples; research must be led by local scientists, driven by local priorities, and designed to benefit local populations.
Latin America has the people, infrastructure, and scientific vision. What it needs is recognition and investment, from both its own governments and the global research community.
Listen to the full episode below.
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