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The Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) was started by Stanford University's Morrison Institute in 1990s along with collaboration of scientists around the world.[1] It is the result of many years of work by Luigi Cavalli-Sforza, one of the most cited scientists in the world, who has published extensively in the use of genetics to understand human migration and evolution. The HGDP data sets have often been cited in papers on such topics as population genetics, anthropology, and heritable disease research.[2][3]
The project has noted the need to record the genetic profiles of indigenous populations, as isolated populations are the best way to understand the genetic frequencies that have clues into our distant past. Knowing about the relationship between such populations makes it possible to infer the journey of humankind from the humans who left Africa and populated the world to the humans of today. The HGDP-CEPH Human Genome Diversity Cell Line Panel is a resource of 1,063 cultured lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from 1,050 individuals in 52 world populations, banked at the Fondation Jean Dausset-CEPH in Paris.
The HGDP is not related to the Human Genome Project (HGP) and has attempted to maintain a distinct identity.[4] The whole genome sequencing and analysis of the HGDP was published in 2020, creating a comprehensive resource of genetic variation from underrepresented human populations and illuminating patterns of genetic variation, demographic history and introgression of modern humans with Neanderthals and Denisovans.[5][6]