| Title | Largest Whole Genome Sequencing Project Promises Medical Gains | |
| Date | Monday March 30 2015, @12:53PM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the waiting-for-a-DNA-NDA dept. | ||
The New York Times and the BBC are reporting on the largest, human whole-genome DNA sequencing project ever performed on a single population. The research results, entitled "Large-scale whole-genome sequencing of the Icelandic population" was published on March 25, 2015 in the journal Nature Genetics .
From The New York Times article:
Scientists in Iceland have produced an unprecedented snapshot of a nation’s genetic makeup, discovering a host of previously unknown gene mutations that may play roles in ailments as diverse as Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and gallstones.
[...]In a series of papers published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Genetics, researchers at Decode Genetics, an Icelandic genetics firm owned by Amgen, described sequencing the genomes — the complete DNA — of 2,636 Icelanders, the largest collection ever analyzed in a single human population.
With this trove of genetic information, the scientists were able to accurately infer the genomes of more than 100,000 other Icelanders, or almost a third of the entire country.
[More after the break.]
The BBC coverage notes:
The team say they could now find every woman at high-risk of breast cancer "at the touch of a button" and it would be "criminal" not to use the information.
The reports … used the data to make a suite of discoveries including the age of the last common ancestor of men.
DNA is passed from one generation to the next. If you knew everything about the DNA of a child and their grandparents, you could figure out a lot about about the DNA of the parents too.
The potential medical benefits of such large-scale genome sequencing projects in identifying the genetic basis of a variety of diseases is huge, as is the promise of other medical and scientific advancements in a variety of areas.
At the same time, bio-ethicists are calling for better privacy protection, informed consent and restrictions on access to personally-identifying information associated with whole genome sequencing data.
When do the potential benefits of such research outweigh individual privacy concerns? How can we best protect the privacy of individuals and move such research forward?
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printed from SoylentNews, Largest Whole Genome Sequencing Project Promises Medical Gains on 2024-04-18 12:49:09