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Wikipedia To Host Human Gene Repository

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hope-i-can-anonymously-edit-it dept.

schliz writes "US scientists are developing a 'Gene Wiki' with the aim of fostering a flexible, organic archive of human genetic information. The project exists within Wikipedia, and is expected to speed up the process of deciphering genome sequences."

3 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Original research? by coffeepriest · · Score: 2, Interesting

    the article states that the researchers hope to speed up research by doing this, and goes on to say that they're using a computer program to copy the information into Wikipedia... If the only thing they are doing is copying data to Wikipedia, how will this speed up research? It's against Wikipedia's rules to post original research, so I'm assuming this is all they CAN do. While it is neat, I'm not sure I understand how this will speed up new research...

    1. Re:Original research? by Chyeld · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Citation needed? ^_^

      Should we start a pool on how quickly the project is tagged for speedy deletion due to lack of noteability?

    2. Re:Original research? by philspear · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I could be wrong, but doesn't wiki allow you to submit your research as long as it's been published somewhere you can reference? If you discover a gene, you're going to publish it somewhere you can put on your CV.

      Anyway, this will be pretty redundant. NCBI already has a gene database that is well crosslinked.

      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=gene

      As this database is powered by published research and updated by a government sponsored organization, it also cannot easily be vandalized, unlike wiki.

      Lastly, a lot of researchers put information about their favorite gene up on wiki currently.
      Example: reelin. I couldn't help noticing the last time I looked that one of the major contributors was referencing her own (peer-reviewed published) research on reelin.