Ancestry Paradox in Polygenic Scores

Updated: 2025.12.01 5D ago 2 sources
Polygenic scores trained on European datasets underperform in non‑European populations, yet institutions often deny biologically meaningful group differences. Embryo‑selection tools thus work best for Europeans, creating a two‑tier system while exposing a contradiction between practice and prevailing narratives. — It forces regulators, clinicians, and media to confront ancestry‑specific performance and its ethical and political implications for equity and how we talk about race and genetics.

Sources

Let That Skin In: Ancient DNA and the Evolution of Human Skin Colour
Davide Piffer 2025.12.01 87% relevant
Both items grapple with polygenic‑score portability and ancestry dependence: this article attempts to validate PGS on ancient genomes using a multi‑ancestry Pan‑UKBB pigmentation GWAS and by recovering known geographic clines, directly engaging the same methodological concerns about applying PGS across ancestries and time.
How Embryo Selection Technology exposes the Transferability Paradox
2025.10.07 100% relevant
The article’s 'Race Transferability Paradox' framing and Herasight’s own benchmarks showing significantly lower PGS accuracy outside white British ancestry.
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