kari stefanson founded decode foundation, which mines genetic dna here. >> this population happens topulation where there's a founder fact, which means there's relatively few ancestors which account for a large percentage of the population. >> reporter: because of the founder effected, they find themselves in icelanders rather than diverse populations. it is not just icelandic genetics that make it a gold mine for its work. the country has 800 years of genealogy records. many of them pristine. erica goodmanson is director of the national archives of iceland, which has a treasure trove of records going back centuries. >> a memory of the nation. without that we wouldn't know who we are. >> reporter: decode couples that with a huge amount of genetic information to make discoveries. inside this sub zero freezer, about 15 degrees below zero to be exact, are stored half a million blood samples from half the population of iceland, about 160,000 people. it represents the past, present and future of this research. other countries and companies are trying to emulate the work in iceland includin