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DIYgenomics Crowdsourced Health Research Studies: Personal Wellness and Preventive Medicine through Collective Intelligence

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  • DIYgenomics

Abstract

The current era of internet-facilitated bigger data, better tools, and collective intelligence community computing is accelerating advances in many areas ranging from artificial intelligence to knowledge generation to public health. In the health sector, data volumes are growing with genomic, phenotypic, microbiomic, metabolomic, self-tracking, and other data streams. Simultaneously, tools are proliferating to allow individuals and groups to make sense of these data in a participatory manner through personal health tracking devices, mobile health applications, and personal electronic medical records. Health community computing models are emerging to support individual activity and mass collaboration through health social networks and crowdsourced health research studies. Participatory health efforts portend important benefits based on both size and speed. Studies can be carried out in cohorts of thousands instead of hundreds, and it could be possible to apply findings from newly-published studies with near-immediate speed. One operator of interventional crowdsourced health research studies, DIYgenomics, has several crowdsourced health research studies in open enrollment as of January 2012 in the areas of vitamin deficiency, aging, mental performance, and epistemology. The farther future of intelligent health community computing could include personal health dashboards, continuous personal health information climates, personal virtual coaches (e.g.; Siri 2.0), and an efficient health frontier of dynamic personalized health recommendations and action-taking.
DIYgenomics Crowdsourced Health Research Studies: Personal
Wellness and Preventive Medicine through Collective Intelligence
Melanie Swana,b
aMS Futures Group and bDIYgenomics
P.O. Box 61258, Palo Alto, CA, 94306, USA
m@melanieswan.com
Abstract
The current era of internet-facilitated bigger data, better
tools, and collective intelligence community computing is
accelerating advances in many areas ranging from artificial
intelligence to knowledge generation to public health. In the
health sector, data volumes are growing with genomic,
phenotypic, microbiomic, metabolomic, self-tracking, and
other data streams. Simultaneously, tools are proliferating to
allow individuals and groups to make sense of these data in
a participatory manner through personal health tracking
devices, mobile health applications, and personal electronic
medical records. Health community computing models are
emerging to support individual activity and mass
collaboration through health social networks and
crowdsourced health research studies. Participatory health
efforts portend important benefits based on both size and
speed. Studies can be carried out in cohorts of thousands
instead of hundreds, and it could be possible to apply
findings from newly-published studies with near-immediate
speed. One operator of interventional crowdsourced health
research studies, DIYgenomics, has several crowdsourced
health research studies in open enrollment as of January
2012 in the areas of vitamin deficiency, aging, mental
performance, and epistemology. The farther future of
intelligent health community computing could include
personal health dashboards, continuous personal health
information climates, personal virtual coaches (e.g.; Siri
2.0), and an efficient health frontier of dynamic
personalized health recommendations and action-taking.
Introduction
Bigger Data, Better Tools, and Collective
Intelligence Computing Communities
The internet has facilitated the advent of new models of
collective intelligence that are shaping and advancing
Copyright © 2011, Association for the Advancement of Artificial
Intelligence (www.aaai.org). All rights reserved.
humanity in ways that may have been unthinkable
previously. Millions of people creating and using content
on the internet has generated large data sets and tools for
interpreting and manipulating these data that are
themselves recursive enablers of subsequent advance.
Artificial intelligence is one area that has realized
substantial benefits from the new era of bigger data and
better tools, particularly regarding machine learning,
anomaly detection (e.g.; fraud and spam), and natural
language processing (e.g.; question answering systems like
IBM’s Watson). A quintessential example is Google’s
success in spelling correction and language translation:
progress in natural language machine learning allowed
statistical methods to be applied to the large datasets that
have arisen on the web (Halevy 2009). Simple data
analysis techniques were successful after decades of
specially-designed algorithms showed little progress; a key
point was finally having a very large corpus of data.
One effect of bigger data and better tools is that humans
themselves start to serve as a computing community, both
as individual nodes and through mass collaboration.
Individuals take in data, process it, and turn it back into the
network in new forms with added value. One public good
that has arisen through community computing and
collective intelligence is the wikipedia (Fallis 2008). The
annotation of street map data, creating crowdsourced
wikipedias of the Earth, is another example (Kamel Boulos
2011). Community computing models are arising in the
health sector as well. All of these examples display the
predicted progression of engagement in online
communities, escalating in three stages from information-
sharing to cooperating to participating in collaborative
action (Shirky 2008). Another benefit of internet-based
models is that a wide range of diverse participants can be
engaged. Crowdsourcing can be used to obtain needed
participants, services, ideas, or content at low cost by
AAAI Technical Report SS-12-05
Self-Tracking and Collective Intelligence for Personal Wellness
54
soliciting contributions from a large group of people via
the internet. Better quality outcomes may be obtained
through wisdom-of-the-crowds benefits that accrue as
people with diverse backgrounds analyze data and propose
novel interpretations. On average, the wisdom of crowds
arrives at a better answer than any individual can provide,
including outperforming small groups of experts in making
decisions and predictions (Surowiecki 2004).
Participatory Health: Bigger Data, Better Tools,
and Collective Intelligence Models
Health may be generating big data faster than any other
sector: the number of people participating is growing, the
amount of data per person is growing, and the demand for
easy accessibility and robust searchability of these data is
growing. In 2009, it was estimated that all human-created
content to date comprised one zettabyte of information, but
that within five years, it would be routine to be generating
one zettabyte of information in much shorter time frames,
particularly in the field of medicine, due to imaging and
personalized profiling (Enriquez 2010) where billions of
data points per individual could become the norm (Hood
2011). Better tools are also proliferating in participatory
medicine and health 2.0, for example with self-tracking
devices, mobile health applications, personal electronic
medical records, health social networks, and crowdsourced
research studies. A next generation of tools will be
required to integrate burgeoning health data streams
(genomic, phenotypic, microbiomic, metabolomic, self-
tracking data, etc.) into personally meaningful
recommendations.
Health community computing models may offer some
help, for example health social networks and crowdsourced
health research studies are emerging to support both
individual activity and mass collaboration. Health social
networks are online communities for individuals to discuss
and inform themselves about conditions, symptoms and
treatments, provide and receive support, track disease
progression, and potentially engage in health studies. At
present, there are dozens of health social networks, for
example, general communities like PatientsLikeMe which
has over 125,000 patients in 1,000+ conditions as of
January 2012, and condition-specific communities like
SugarStats for diabetes.
Crowdsourced health research studies are investigative
projects conducted by individuals or groups for the purpose
of understanding and/or improving a health-related issue.
Studies may be researcher-organized or participant-
organized. So far, researcher-organized studies have been
non-interventional studies organized by professional
researchers using crowdsourced cohorts or crowdsourced
data as the input or research focus, for example studies
organized by PatientsLikeMe and 23andMe. Participant-
organized studies have been interventional studies
designed and operated by citizen scientists, for example
those conducted by PatientsLikeMe patients, DIYgenomics
citizen scientists, and Quantified Self individual
experimenters (Swan forthcoming 2012). The studies
organized by DIYgenomics serve as a particular example
of the emerging collective intelligence health model that is
becoming a complement to traditional clinical trials and
defining a new ecosystem of preventive medicine (Swan
Personalized Medicine 2012).
DIYgenomics Health Research Studies
DIYgenomics is a non-profit research organization
established in 2010 for the purpose of organizing group
collaboration health research studies with the goal of
realizing preventive medicine. Inspired by the
democratization of health experimentation, studies seek to
apply the wisdom of crowds to personal health
management. The generalized hypothesis for studies is that
one or more genetic polymorphisms (e.g.; mutations) may
lead to out-of-bounds phenotypic measures (for example,
deficient vitamin B levels) that may be ameliorated with
personalized intervention. Part of realizing preventive
medicine is establishing individualized baseline markers of
wellness, for example a normal level of total cholesterol
for one person might be 130 mg/dL whereas for another
180 mg/dL would be normal. It is important for individuals
to have a sense of their own normal levels, and effective
measurement tools for learning if there is deviation from
these norms. At present, the focus of DIYgenomics studies
is linking genetic mutation with phenotypic evidence and
personalized intervention. Additional health data streams
such as microbiome profiling and whole human genome
sequencing will be integrated as they become feasibly
available to consumers. Seven studies have been launched
in the areas of vitamin deficiency, aging, mental
performance, and epistemology, and are available for
ongoing open enrollment. These studies are operated on
the Genomera personal health collaboration and genome
sharing platform, and links to the studies are available from
the DIYgenomics.org homepage.
Vitamin Deficiency Studies
DIYgenomics has two vitamin deficiency studies
underway, investigating the possibility that one or more
genetic polymorphisms (e.g.; mutations) may lead to
current blood marker levels that are already out-of-bounds
per recommended levels, and that simple vitamin
supplementation may be able to restore blood markers to
recommended ranges. The flagship study “Vitamin B-9
and MTHFR variants” examines the potential role of
MTHFR genetic polymorphisms in vitamin B deficiency
55
and homocysteine levels, and attempts to determine which
supplement solutions are best from an individual
perspective.
In the MTHFR gene (methylenetetrahydrofolate
reductase), two small variations in DNA (SNPs
rs1801133/C677T and rs1801131/A1298C) may prevent
vitamin B9 (or folic acid) from being metabolized into its
active form (folate). Without this form of vitamin B,
homocysteine can accumulate which may lead to
nutritional deficiencies and symptoms associated with
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, vascular damage, nerve
damage, and blood clots and pregnancy loss. Over 50% of
the population may have some form of MTHFR mutation.
The Vitamin B study protocol is to find individuals with
MTHFR polymorphisms by collecting genotype data from
volunteers who have used genetic testing services like
23andMe, try simple interventions like vitamin B
supplements available over-the-counter, and see if they
work by asking participants to share results from blood
tests performed at commercial labs. Drug companies will
not do this type of study as there is little money to be made
in over-the-counter treatments, but citizen science cohorts
can, and the results could be extremely useful to
individuals. The tools to do this kind of experiment,
looking at genomic information, measuring treatment
results, and analyzing the data, are now cheap or free.
The participant tasks are to review a list of Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs), submit data regarding MTHFR
genetic variants, and participate in at least 3 different 2
week trials involving taking over-the-counter vitamins and
measuring homocysteine levels with a blood draw each
time (blood tests are about $70 each). Participant
exclusions (self-selected) are those with known vitamin B
deficiencies, those that might not be able to follow the
outlined vitamin protocol, or those who might have health
problems related to high homocysteine levels. Two
MTHFR gene variants are reviewed, rs1801131 and
rs1801133. Blood test and genomic profile data results are
available to study organizers and all participants.
The methodology and pilot study results were published
in December 2010 (Swan JOPM 2010). The study
continues in ongoing open enrollment and has 25
participants as of January 2012.
A second vitamin deficiency study, the “Vitamin D
Study,” examines vitamin D serum levels and tests how
different supplementation doses and vitamin D receptor
gene polymorphisms may interrelate in attaining optimal
vitamin D levels. Low levels of Vitamin D have been
linked to cancer risk (Laino 2011), and since some
individuals are unable to raise their blood levels despite
supplementation, genetic factors may be involved which
could be worthwhile to study (Jacobs 2010).
The participant tasks are to take a vitamin D3
supplement, obtain a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test, record
results, and review their genetic data for the main vitamin
D receptor gene polymorphism, rs10735810. Participants
self-experiment regarding optimal supplement dosage,
using Vitamin D Council guidelines recommending 1,000
IU per 25 pounds of body weight as a starting dosage
(Cannell 2011). A person who weighs 150 pounds, for
instance, would start taking 6,000 IU per day. A blood test
would test results after at least eight weeks, and then
supplement dosage can be modified. Each 1,000 IU
increase in vitamin D is estimated to produce an
approximate 10 ng/ml increase in vitamin D blood level.
Participant exclusions are those that have underlying
kidney disease or a history or genetic risk of vitamin D
problems. The study has 15 participants as of January
2012.
Aging Studies
Aging is an important systems biology and preventive
medicine challenge where crowdsourced cohorts can make
a contribution with detailed self-tracking, data reporting,
and longitudinal analysis. DIYgenomics has three aging-
related studies. The first is “Aging: telomere length and
telomerase activation therapy” which investigates telomere
length (shorter telomeres are thought to cause earlier-onset
disease and aging (Willeit 2011)) the efficacy of a natural
product based remedy, TA-65, and potential linkage with
telomerase-related TERT and TERC gene polymorphisms.
With aging, telomeres shrink by about 100 base pairs per
year. Research from 2009 Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth
Blackburn and former Geron Chief Science Officer Cal
Harley has been used to develop a potential remedy in the
form of the TA-65 telomerase activation therapy (Harley
2011). More than one thousand individuals are currently
taking TA-65. This study seeks to establish quantitative
and qualitative measures of the efficacy of TA-65 or
astragalus supplements, and whether personal genome
profiles make a difference, specifically whether individuals
with TERT and TERC polymorphisms have shorter
telomeres to start with and therefore may be more likely to
benefit from telomerase activation therapies.
The participant tasks are to have telomere length
measured (from commercial vendors such as SpectraCell
or RepeatDiagnostics), take an over-the-
counter astragalus supplement or TA-65 (available from
TA Sciences or Recharge Biomedical), journal product
reactions and take a photo on a weekly basis, and re-
measure telomere length at 6 months or 1 year. TERT and
TERC polymorphisms are reviewed: rs10511887,
rs12696304, rs16847897, rs2293607, and rs610160. The
study has 20 participants as of January 2012 and a 250-
member randomized cancer study is currently in design
(breast and prostate cancer chemotherapy patients in
56
remission will be sought) to examine the potential benefits
of TA-65 in rebuilding the immune system.
A second aging study, “Aging: risk reduction for
common aging conditions through monitoring and
intervention,” is a longitudinal study of aging to establish
personal baseline norms for 50 blood markers, their
potential correspondence to 1,000 gene variants associated
with aging, and to experiment with personalized
intervention. The study provides an opportunity to apply
the dozens of genome-wide association studies (GWAS)
which relate to general and specific conditions of aging in
a comprehensive preventive medicine approach. Genomic
data is linked with corresponding measures of phenotypic
biomarkers and interventions. The top twenty biological
mechanisms of aging in GWAS include: neurodegenerative
disease, osteoporosis, IGF-1/insulin signaling, lipoprotein
metabolism, inflammation, immune system function, DNA
damage repair, telomere length, transcription (ex: RNA
editing), catabolism, mitochondrial health, cell cycle/stem
cell health, protein function, and blood operations. The top
twenty phenotypic biomarkers of aging include: blood
pressure and hypertension, cholesterol (HDL, LDL, and
triglycerides; LDL particle size), BMI, Framingham Risk
Score, VO2 max, erythrocyte glycoslyation, telomere
length, lymphocyte growth capability, and granulocyte
strength. The participant tasks are to complete an annual
blood test (a comprehensive panel of approximately 50
markers available through DirectLabs ($79) or another
source), and if willing, share the data with the cohort, and
self-experiment with relevant interventions. 1,000 genetic
variants are reviewed that have been linked to a variety of
conditions of aging (Swan 2011). The study has 15
participants as of January 2012.
A third aging study, “Retin-A: wonder cream for acne
and wrinkles?” examines a potential connection between
skin-related genetic variants and the widely-experienced
negative side effects of using Retin-A skin care products.
Retinoids (vitamin A compounds), particularly a tretinoin
product Retin-A, are often used to treat acne and wrinkles.
Remedies are available by prescription or over-the-counter.
Retin-A peels or thins the outer layer of the epidermis, and
thickens the layers below by stimulating collagen
production. When first using a Retin-A product, some
individuals experience a period of irritation with red, flaky,
peeling skin. This study investigates whether underlying
genetic profiles might make a difference and predict
product response ahead of time. The participant task is to
complete a 10 minute online survey of regarding
experience with Retin-A products. Gene variants related to
skin allergy and irritation are reviewed: rs1800629,
rs3793784, rs6661961, rs6700998, rs7538876, rs7927894,
and rs8011 (Wadyka 2006). The study has 8 participants as
of January 2012.
Mental Performance Study
There are many health studies which can be performed
without the cost and other drawbacks of blood tests,
linking genomics with phenotype per online tests.
DIYgenomics has such a study, “Processing Reality:
Impact of Dopamine Modulation on Memory Filtering,”
examining how genetic variants may be related to
dopamine processing in the brain and how this may impact
the processing of memories.
The brain is able to adapt to the unexpected using an
inbuilt network that makes predictions about the world and
monitors the results of those predictions. An area at the
front of the brain, called the orbitofrontal cortex, plays a
central role and studies have shown that patients with
damage to this area confuse memories with reality and
continue to anticipate events that are no longer likely to
happen (Elsevier 2011, Nahum 2011). This study seeks to
determine if genetic variants in the dopamine processing
pathway impact this process in normal, healthy volunteers.
The study is being conducted in collaboration with the
Center of Cognitive Neurorehabilitation at the Geneva
University Hospital in Switzerland. The participant tasks
are to complete a background demographic survey (10
minutes), and a memory filtering task (30 minutes), which
shows a series of images and asks the viewer whether the
image has been shown previously. Genetic variants in
dopamine-processing genes are reviewed: COMT
(VAL158MET rs4680), DRD2 (rs1076560, rs2283265,
rs7131056), and SLC6A3 (rs40184, rs27048, rs27072).
Participant exclusions include those with psychological or
neurologic disorders (e.g.; bipolar disorder, schizophrenia,
epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, prior stroke, traumatic brain
injury, or dementia). The study has 27 participants as of
January 2012.
Epistemology Study
Self-experimentation studies conducted individually and in
groups are emerging as an important complement to
traditional clinical trials and other established mechanisms
of health knowledge generation. To validate crowdsourced
health research studies, it is important not only to conduct
and report on these efforts in a scientifically-acceptable
manner, but also to provide a philosophical context for
understanding their role and impact. The epistemology
project seeks to investigate, characterize, and provide a
structure and context for knowledge derived through
individual and group-based self-experimentation.
Participants are asked to complete an online questionnaire
(15-20 min) regarding self-experimentation activities in
any area including health, time-management, stress-
reduction, or nutrition, exercise, sleep optimization, etc.
57
Potential Future Studies
DIYgenomics has several other potential future studies,
and has been designing studies at two levels, one for
ongoing on-demand citizen science participation, and one
for professional studies that have at least 100 participants
in a randomized, controlled, double blind format (Swan
Personalized Medicine 2012). One such study is being
designed to investigate cholesterol, in possible
collaboration with the California Walnut Commission,
examining genetic polymorphisms and remedies including
statins, niacin, green tea, and walnuts in lowering LDL and
raising HDL, and in increasing LDL particle size. Another
study is in design to investigate calcinosis, which is an
aging disease of the arteries like atherosclerosis, in this
case where calcium builds up unhealthily. In collaboration
with a Silicon Valley-based biotechnology firm, novel
biomarkers for calcinosis will be sought, their potential
link to vitamin K metabolism polymorphisms investigated,
and vitamin K2 tested as a supplement intervention. A
sleep study is contemplated in potential collaboration with
Zeo to investigate genetic polymorphisms and sleep
performance. An extension of the Blueberry Study
(www.BlueberryStudy.com) is under discussion to
examine genetic linkage as a follow-on to the
demonstration of blueberry consumption leading to
enhanced mental performance. Another potential study is
testing the efficacy of an anti-aging supplement (Juvenon,
based on acetyl-L-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid) in a
genetically-stratified cohort. Finally, there is a possible
collaboration to investigate loving style preference and
genomics in collaboration with the University of Pavia,
Italy to extend a ‘genetic loading on human loving styles’
study (Emanuele 2007) in a citizen science cohort.
Conclusion
Summary
The current era of internet-facilitated bigger data, better
tools, and collective intelligence community computing is
accelerating advances in many areas ranging from artificial
intelligence to knowledge generation to public health. In
the health sector, data volumes are growing with genomic,
phenotypic, microbiomic, metabolomic, self-tracking, and
other data streams. Simultaneously, tools are proliferating
to allow individuals and groups to make sense of these data
in a participatory manner through personal health tracking
devices, mobile health applications, and personal electronic
medical records. Health community computing models are
emerging to support individual activity and mass
collaboration through health social networks and
crowdsourced health research studies. Large groups, both
patient registries and communities of healthy individuals,
are searchable publicly in real-time based on deep
attributes. One operator of interventional crowdsourced
health research studies, DIYgenomics, has several
crowdsourced health research studies in open enrollment as
of January 2012 in the areas of vitamin deficiency, aging,
mental performance, and epistemology.
Limitations of Participatory Health
There are important challenges to the conduct of
participatory health efforts. Perhaps less than 10% of
individuals are interested in health, perceiving it as a
deterministic area where the only incoming information
will be negative, and that health is a physician’s
responsibility, not one’s own. It could take a while for
widespread responsibility-taking for health to arise as few
individuals may have the time, interest, or incentive to self-
manage their health. Crowdsourced cohorts may be too
slow to help with the more fundamental public health
system problems of budget shortfalls, rising health care
costs, expected physician shortages, and the exorbitant cost
of bringing new drugs to market (currently estimated at
$1.3 billion (Gavura 2011)). Health social network
participation is growing but slowly. Only some few
100,000 individuals have subscribed to personal genome
services since they launched in 2007, even though costs
have dropped to $99 with 23andMe. Consumers are still
wondering about the meaning and use of the non-
deterministic genetic information, and questions about the
validity and utility of services persist as risk interpretations
vary across services (e.g.; the risk of heart attack is high
according to 23andMe, but low according to deCODEme)
(Swan Gen Med 2010). Even if the cost of genotyping has
fallen, blood-testing and other monitoring and
experimental measures remain prohibitively expensive.
Future Implications
However, in the end, the bigger data, better tools, and
intelligent community computing models of participatory
health might be the right solution at the right time.
Participatory health efforts portend important benefits in
both size and speed. Studies can be carried out in cohorts
of thousands instead of hundreds (Do 2011, Dufau 2011),
and it could be possible to apply findings from newly-
published studies immediately in crowdsourced cohorts.
Participatory health efforts and health social networks
are providing direct value to participants, and have also
become useful in a broader social context for clinical trial
recruitment. Pharmaceutical companies and researchers
can recruit crowdsourced cohorts much more quickly and
expediently than traditional cohorts, and at lower cost and
with lower study drop-out rates. Self-organized studies by
health social networks and personal health collaboration
communities could help to surface interesting new
58
findings, particularly related to preventive medicine. Not
everyone needs to be engaged, with the ‘Wikipedia effect,’
1% of individuals actively participating could create a
public asset for all. A million social health collaborators
could benefit hundreds of millions of others.
In the not too far future, it may be possible to see the
next levels of intelligent health community computing:
personal health dashboards integrating multiple health data
streams, a continuous personal health information climate
and body area network that makes unobtrusive behavioral
suggestions, personal virtual coaches in the vein of Siri 2.0,
and an efficient health frontier of dynamic personalized
health recommendations and action-taking.
Conflicts of Interest
The author is the founder of DIYgenomics.
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... Biohackers also include individuals who engage in self-experimentation alone in "N-of-1" studies or collectively in "N-of-us" studies organized in person or on the internet. DIYgenomics is an online platform that hosted several projects in which individuals with genetic polymorphisms took vitamins or supplements to investigate the effect on their health or well-being (128). The MTHFR pilot study, for example, sought to understand the effect of vitamin regimens on individuals genetically predisposed to high homocysteine levels (130). ...
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Citizen science encompasses activities with scientific objectives in which members of the public participate as more than passive research subjects from whom personal data or biospecimens are collected and analyzed by others. Citizen science is increasingly common in the biomedical sciences, including the fields of genetics and human genomics. Genomic citizen science initiatives are diverse and involve citizen scientists in collecting genetic data, solving genetic puzzles, and conducting experiments in community laboratories. At the same time that genomic citizen science is presenting new opportunities for individuals to participate in scientific discovery, it is also challenging norms regarding the manner in which scientific research outputs are managed. In this review, we present a typology of genomic citizen science initiatives, describe ethical and legal foundations for recognizing genomic citizen scientists’ claims of credit for and control of research outputs, and detail how such claims are or might be addressed in practice across a variety of initiatives.
... 17,18 There are some sites with a research focus (DIYgenomics, OpenSNP, dna. land), [19][20][21] while others provide health data based on genome-wide untargeted analysis. 13,14,[22][23][24] In this study, we selected five websites that analyse SNP-based genomic data to provide health-related information: Codegen.eu, ...
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In the wake of recent regulations targeting direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT), an increasing number of websites have emerged that offer consumers alternative means to derive health information from their DTC-GT raw data. While the ethical concerns associated with DTC-GT have been extensively discussed in the literature, the implications of third party interpretation (TPI) websites have remained largely unexplored. Here we sought to describe these services and elucidate their ethical implications in the context of the current DTC-GT debate. We reviewed five popular TPI websites that use SNP-based genomic data to report health-related information: Promethease, Interpretome, LiveWello, Codegen.eu, and Enlis Personal. We found that many of the ethical concerns previously described in DTC-GT also applied to TPI websites, including inadequate informed consent, questionable clinical validity and utility, and lack of medical supervision. However, some concerns about data usage and privacy reported in DTC-GT were less prominent in the five TPI websites we studied: none of them sold or shared user data, and 3/5 sites did not retain data in the long term. In addition, while exaggerated claims and inaccurate advertising have been frequently problematic in DTC-GT, advertising was minimal in the TPI sites we assessed, and 4/5 made no claims of health benefits. Overall, TPI adds a new dimension to the ethical debate surrounding DTC-GT, and awareness of these services will become increasingly important as personal genomics continues to expand. This study constitutes the first detailed ethical analysis of these services, and presents a starting point for further research and ethical reflection.
... The ability of an individual to identify abnormalities is best performed when the person has a familiarity with his/her surroundings. This phenomenon of understanding “normal” applies to self-tracking,20,21 and can be applied more broadly to an environment. In addition, local community members are likely to be the first to report the out-of-ordinary events or anomalies that are not included on any predetermined list of potential health hazards (e.g., HHS EEI). ...
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