Medical researchers have been awarded about $US2 million to investigate whether Pacific people have a genetic predisposition to diseases like gout and diabetes.
Both diseases and other metabolic disorders are rife in the Pacific.
A team of researchers from the University of Otago has been granted the money by New Zealand's Marsden Fund Council.
Principal investigators include Professors Anthony Merriman and Lisa Matisoo-Smith, and Dr Anna Gosling, who will be working with scientists in Guam and Papua New Guinea.
Dr Gosling told Don Wiseman what they are aiming to do.