Science Cafe Raleigh: The Personal Genome Project

Letting it All Hang Out: The Personal Genome Project
May 19, 2009
6:30-8:30 p.m. with discussion beginning at 7:00 followed by Q&A
Tir Na Nog 218 South Blount Street, Raleigh, 833-7795
Two years ago no one knew what personal genomics was; now it’s everywhere. For a few hundred dollars, you can have a peak at part of your own genome. You can theoretically learn your genetic risks for various diseases. And some companies say you can find romance based on your DNA. But what is all this stuff really? What does it actually mean? What will genomic privacy look like in the digital age? The Harvard-based Personal Genome Project is exploring large-scale DNA sequencing and seeing what happens when genomic data are made public; its organizers hope to help answer some of these questions.
Misha Angrist, PhD, is Assistant Professor of the Practice at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy. He is also a Visiting Lecturer at the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy inside Duke’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy. He was formerly a board-eligible genetic counselor. He has covered the biotechnology industry as an analyst for a market research firm and worked as an independent biotechnology consultant, writer and editor. In April 2007 he became the fourth subject in Harvard geneticist George Church’s Personal Genome Project. His book, Here is a Human Being: At the Dawn of Personal Genomics, will be published by Smithsonian Books in 2010.