National Initiative Launched to Study Genetic Variation in Human Cells and Tissues.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a $140 million program, the Common Fund’s Somatic Mosaicism Across Human Tissues (SMaHT) Network, to investigate the extent of genetic variation in human cells and tissues. Somatic mosaicism, a type of genetic variation that occurs when somatic cells are genetically different from each other, can alter how cells function and may influence human development, disease, aging, and other physiological measures across the lifespan. The SMaHT Network aims to discover and catalog the breadth of somatic mosaicism in human tissues, providing foundational knowledge for research on the role that somatic genetic variation plays in human development and aging, as well as a wide range of diseases and disorders.