Scientific and ethical imperatives for opening up genomic research

22nd May 2019

From the event website:

“Your genome is all of the 6 billion letters of DNA code found in each of your cells. This evening we are hosting two scientists who will tell you about some of the things we can learn from all that information. You will also hear from a scientist who works on understanding how social disparities can be reflected or even reinforced by genome science, and how we can make sure this doesn’t happen.”

Scientific and ethical imperatives for opening up genomic research

Jerome Atutornu (PhD student at the Society and Ethics Research group at the Wellcome Genome Campus, Lecturer in diagnostic radiography at the University of Suffolk)
@JeromeAtutornu

Identification of disease risk, design of targeted therapies and prediction of drug response have all been enabled by genomics. This progress has resulted in growing optimism that genomics has the potential to revolutionise healthcare. However, due to existing inequalities in health systems, genomics is in fact at risk of perpetuating disparities. Research already suggests a lack of representation for minority ethnic groups in genomic research. This talk will discuss the scientific imperative and the issues of social justice that underpin the need for increased diversity in genomic research.

• Event information on the Pint of Science website