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Dr Wonkam’s vision for 3MAG, as outlined in Nature, a scientific journal, is for 300,000 African genomes to be sequenced per year over a decade. That is the minimum needed to capture the continent’s diversity. He notes that the UK biobank is sequencing 500,000 genomes, though Britain’s population is a twentieth the size of Africa’s. The plummeting cost of technology makes 3MAG possible. Sequencing the first genome cost $300m; today the cost of sequencing is around $1,000. If data from people of African descent in similar projects, like the UK biobank, were shared with 3MAG, that would help. So too would collaboration with genetics firms, such as 54Gene, a Nigerian start-up.
旺坎博士在科學雜志《自然》上概述了對3MAG的設想，即在未來十年內，每年要對30萬個非洲基因組進行測序。這是捕捉非洲大陸多樣性所需的最低限度。他指出，英國生物庫正在對50萬個基因組進行測序，盡管英國的人口是非洲的二十分之一。技術成本的急劇下降使3MAG的開展成為可能。第一個基因組的測序花費了3億美元；如今測序的成本約為1000美元。如果類似項目（英國生物庫）中的非洲人后裔的數據能與3MAG共享，那將有所幫助。與基因公司的合作也是如此，比如尼日利亞初創公司54Gene。
The 3MAG project is building on firm foundations. Over the past decade the Human Heredity and Health in Africa consortium, sponsored by America’s National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust, a British charity, has supported research institutes in 30 African countries. It has funded local laboratories for world-class scientists such as Dr Wonkam and Christian Happi, a Nigerian geneticist.
3MAG項目正在堅實的基礎上開展著。在過去的十年里，由美國國立衛生研究院和英國慈善機構惠康信托基金會贊助的“非洲人類健康與遺傳新方案協會”為30個非洲國家的研究機構提供了支持。它為旺坎博士和尼日利亞遺傳學家克里斯蒂安·哈皮等世界級科學家所在的當地實驗室提供了資金支持。
There are practical issues to iron out. One is figuring out how to store the vast amounts of data. Another is rules around consent and data use, especially if 3MAG will involve firms understandably keen to commercialise the findings. Dr Wonkam wants to see an ethics committee set up to review this and other matters.
有一些實際問題需要解決。一個問題是找出存儲大量數據的方式。另一個是關于同意和數據使用的規則，特別是如果3MAG讓熱衷于將研究結果商業化的公司（這是可以理解的）參與進來。旺坎博士希望成立一個倫理委員會來審查這個問題和其他問題。
At times he has wondered whether his plan is “too big, too crazy and too expensive”. But similar things were said about the Human Genome Project. Its researchers used the Rosetta Stone as a metaphor for the initiative and its ambition. In a subtle nod, Dr Wonkam has a miniature of the obelisk on a shelf in his office. It is also a reminder of how understanding African languages, whether spoken or genetic, can enlighten all of humanity.
有時他會懷疑自己的計劃是否“過于龐大、瘋狂和昂貴”。但人類基因組計劃也有類似的說法。其研究人員用羅塞塔石碑來比喻這一舉措及雄心壯志。默默認同的旺坎博士在辦公室架子上放了一個方尖碑微型模型。它也提醒我們，了解非洲語言，無論是口頭語言還是遺傳語言，都能啟發全人類。
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