13,000 Volunteer To Put Personal Genomes Online

Lucas123 writes "The Personal Genome Project, which opened itself up to the public on April 25, has to date signed up 13,000 of the target 100,000 volunteers needed to create the world's first publicly accessible genome database. Volunteers will go through a battery of written tests and then offer DNA samples from which their genetic code will be derived and then published to help scientists discover links between genes and hereditary traits. While the Personal Genome Project won't publish names, just about everything else will be made public, including photos and complete medical histories. Scientists hope to some day have millions of genomes in the database."

Comments

I once put my genome online

[BadAnalogyGuy]

I was surfing The Hun and accidentally put some of my genome on my keyboard.

Thank goodness for Purell and Kleenex.

Genome?

[Norsefire]

Is there a similar project for KayDE?

bit late

[LiquidCoooled]

its a bit late,

google images already says there are 286,000 pictures of gnomes already online.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=garden%20gnome Results 1 - 20 of about 286,000

Re:bit late

[castorvx]

... Results 1 - 20 of about 286,000

I decided to verify your research.

Results 1 - 20 of about 298,000

OH MY GOD THEY'RE MULTIPL-*CONNECTION LOST*

Data Control

[macbeth66]

Just who is going to control these kinds of databases and prevent the misuse of the data? Once a condition or a hereditary pre-disposition is determined, a subject could be denied medical coverage for that condition. It may well be anonymous today, but that can not be guaranteed into the future.

Re:Data Control

[spydabyte]

Ever watch GATTACA? Think about what they coined "discrimination down to a science". Databases do not need your name to figure out majorities. If insurance companies linked a mole on the left cheekbone to a higher probability of cancer... well, maybe you'd just get the mole removed.

Nevertheless, I'm all for the advancement of science and am interested in contributing to the project. Who knows, maybe if all the pessimists advance the project, it'll be done properly.

Re:Data Control

[macbeth66]

Good point. However, if they are not asking you for information that can be used to link directly back to you, then the database is waste of time. What will stop the mis-creants from stuffing junk into the data points? What will prevent someone with a low priority condition, to submit as multiple people in an attempt to up the priority of their condition.

Re:Data Control

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Luckily, nobody else out there would have access to your medical history and a strong financial interest in knowing what your genome contains. Definitely not an insurance company or anything. And identifying somebody with date of birth, blood type, family history, several facial photos, and a bunch of other information is certainly beyond the powers of science...

Definitely not a problem.

Re:Data Control

[RDW]

'It may well be anonymous today, but that can not be guaranteed into the future.'

It's not that anonymous even today:

'While volunteers won't have their names published with their genomic information, Church said the subjects are completely aware that anyone familiar with them can deduct from the photos and background information who they are.'

Some early volunteers in the pilot program have gone even further than this, and explicitly linked their names to the public data.

Re:Data Control

[timeOday]

Like it or not, keeping your DNA private is just about as difficult as keeping your face private. All it takes is a hair follicle or skin cell, and you leave a trail of those everywhere you go. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but there it is.

Re:Data Control

[Autumnmist]

That's why the US has GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008).

Whether it'll actually work is a separate issue. One of the points of this project is that trying to keep your genetic information private is a losing battle and that it might be better/neutral to just be open about it.

Re:Data Control

[daem0n1x]

Why don't you just scrap insurance companies and just create a public, universal health care service like the rest of the developed world? That way, they can't deny treatment.

Re:Data Control

[Ephemeriis]

what if I'm denied coverage at some point down the road because of it?

It's only a matter of time.

Modern insurance policies can deny you coverage due to a pre-existing condition. It won't be long before we're able to identify all kinds of disorders and diseases with a simple genetic screening. Then we just call having a 90% chance to develop cancer a pre-existing condition, and you're screwed.

It is going to happen.

Names not needed

[Captain Spam]

While the Personal Genome Project won't publish names, just about everything else will be made public [...]

Why do we need the names? Just take the genome data and use it to concoct an unholy abomination, mocking the laws of God and man, making a soulless clone of the person in question, rousing the populace to chase you down with torches and pitchforks in an attempt to stop pure genius their pitifully small minds could never truly understand, and just ASK what his/her name is?