john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Genetic testing brief

Wed, 2010-02-03 22:47 -- John Hawks

Data point:

This is the time in my introductory class when I discuss genetic disorders, and I described the new Counsyl test as part of my lecture today.

I took a quick poll -- how many of my undergraduates would be interested in getting a test that told them their carrier status for a hundred genetic disorders. More than half of them expressed interest. That just seems huge to me -- I don't think I'd have seen the same result ten or even five years ago. There's been a real change in attitude about genetic testing in the last few years as technology has gotten cheaper and has more public attention.

Tags: 
health
biotech
genomics
testing

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