Researchers analysed thousands of laboratory-made plasmids and discovered that nearly half of them had defects, raising questions of experimental reproducibility.
Medical Students’ DNA – and Psychology – on Display in Classroom
In a recent CBS News video segment,
Eric E. Schadt, chair of the Department of Genetics and Genomic
Sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, enthusiastically discussed
the benefits of whole-genome sequencing. When asked about the
technology’s potential down sides, he answered:
The social implications, what sorts of policy we should be thinking about, those are the discussions we should be having right now, about how to leverage this information in ways that are benefitting humankind, not biasing the type of population through unnatural selection of traits.
Given this view, one would imagine that Schadt’s department is
deeply engaged with these discussions. In at least one way, it is. He
explained that the school is addressing the social and ethical
complexities of whole-genome sequencing by offering a first-of-its-kind
course in which students analyze entire genomes (either their own or an
anonymous sample) and then take part in a research study on the effects
of getting this information.
Put another way, the school is
hoping to determine the ethics of a new technology they’ve adopted by
performing it on their students and taking stock of the damage.
The
course is called “Practical Analysis of Your Personal Genome” and
currently has 20 people enrolled, including MD and PhD students, genetic
counseling students, and junior faculty. The students will be able to
use Mount Sinai’s own equipment to sequence and analyze more than four
million genetic variants, at no cost to them. Though most of these
variants are not fully understood, they will be the basis of predictions
about the students’ risks of developing thousands of diseases, their
responses to medicine, and clues to their ancestry. The information will
be relevant not just to them, but also to their family members,
including any children they may have. The department is covering the
expenses, which will be a few thousand dollars per genome.
But
the students’ sequencing and analysis work is just one aspect of the
course. Through a questionnaire-based study, the students will also be
taking part in a research project that aims to assess the utility of
whole-genome sequencing, the degree to which the exercise improves their
knowledge of genomics, and the impact of so much sensitive information
on their psychological well-being. The school hopes the results of this
research will shed light on how to deal with the complexities and
sensitivities of genomic data. The results will be available after the
class concludes in December and, as Assistant Professor of Genetics and
Genomic Sciences Randi E. Zinberg noted in Mount Sinai’s press release,
the school has big plans for how it will utilize the study. “We look
forward to sharing our learning from this course with other medical
schools and graduate schools worldwide to help advance the breadth and
depth of medical genetics education.”