As
part of a large project aimed at discovering new links between certain
genetic variants, health and disease, scientists have turned towards an
unusual partner — Facebook.
The
researchers aim to screen the genes of at least 20,000 people and they
have developed a Facebook app to recruit people for the study, BuzzFeed
News reported.
The
scientists behind the project titled “Genes for Good” hope that
Facebook users will send a tube of their spit to a laboratory at the
University of Michigan and use a free Facebook app to fill out periodic
surveys about their health, habits and moods.
The
scientists will screen the volunteers’ DNA to try to discover new links
between certain genetic variants, health and disease. To rigorously
establish these links, the researchers will need to enlist tens of
thousands of volunteers from a wide variety of backgrounds.
“We’re
really hoping that the main reason people will join is to say ‘Hey, my
health and genetic information is valuable. I would like to share it and
put it to good use,'” project leader Gonalo Abecasis from the
University of Michigan was quoted as saying.
“Hopefully that will be the major motivator,” Abecasis added.
Abecasis
and his colleagues stress that the Facebook app is a digital portal and
that Facebook will not have access to volunteers’ personal information.
From
the scientists’ perspective, Facebook is simply a communication service
— a smart way to recruit the massive number of volunteers needed to
carry out complex genetic studies.
“The standard ways of collecting information on people don’t really scale,” Abecasis said.
Genes
for Good could go viral if it taps into the public’s philanthropic vein
— as did Facebook’s organ donation status field, get out to vote
campaigns and the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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