Collins as consumer
More from the Consumer Genetics Conference:
Francis Collins revealed that he has had genome scans from 23andMe, Navigenics and deCODEme. He likes the websites and says the genotyping is accurate. He notes that substantial differences in interpretation exist, in part because of different sets of SNPs that are tested by different companies. But, he notes, even with the same markers, interpretations sometimes vary. “Companies need to get together on this.” Family history is not factored in by companies, interventions are recommended by them, but the evidence is often weak, as is the likelihood of change in health behaviors. “We need to know more about what people do with the information.”
I work as an Assistant Professor in the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (although this site and its content are my own).
In 2007 I became the fourth subject in Harvard geneticist George Church's Personal Genome Project. As the PGP moves forward, I am chronicling the dawn of personal genomics, that is, people obtaining their genomic information for whatever reason(s) and figuring out what to do with it. I am interested in the relevant technologies and especially the attendant privacy and other ethical/legal/social issues.
This blog may also discuss some of my non-genome interests or, to paraphrase Dwight Yoakam, "Guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music, etc etc."
The header image comes from the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's multimedia performance piece, "Ferocious Beauty: Genome."