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Ancestry of cells must be considered in bioengineering

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Bioengineered platforms, intended to be used in the investigation of human health and disease, often incorporate cells of unknown ancestry or that lack diversity. To develop tools and platforms that benefit the entire human population, we must consider the ancestry of cells and intentionally diversify the cells we use in our designs.

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Fig. 1: Ancestry should be included at all levels in biomedical research.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express gratitude to K. Stevens, A. N. Koppes and S. Lindström for helpful discussions and framing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Erika Moore & Josephine B. Allen

  2. Department of Anthropology, Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Connie J. Mulligan

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Elizabeth C. Wayne

Authors
  1. Erika Moore
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  2. Josephine B. Allen
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  3. Connie J. Mulligan
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  4. Elizabeth C. Wayne
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erika Moore.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Reviews Materials thanks Aylwyn Scally and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Moore, E., Allen, J.B., Mulligan, C.J. et al. Ancestry of cells must be considered in bioengineering. Nat Rev Mater 7, 2–4 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00397-7

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