Introduction
Personal genomics provides robust tools for analyzing people’s genomes and understanding how they work. It utilizes the power of the scientific method to explore them and see how they regulate the organism’s life. As more and more scientific insights and discoveries about DNA expression, its regulation, and metabolic pathways emerge, people can know more about the genome’s activity and how it relates to their lives.
Scientific Method
The scientific method must be used to elucidate evidence and understand how something works. It should be clearly defined and distinguished from pseudoscience, which sometimes tries to mimic actual science (Science & Pseudoscience, 2019). At first, there is a hypothesis or set of assumptions, which should be clearly defined, and experiments should be possible to reject or confirm them.
Experiments should be reproducible and give similar results in conditions similar to those of other scientists. Machine learning algorithms are widely used to build hypotheses based on vast biological data available (Voit, 2019). It enables researchers to obtain and check various assumptions and generate insights about how things work, which is valuable for multiple cutting-edge scientific areas, including personal genomics.
How Personal Genomics Works
DNA, a deoxyribonucleic acid, works as a scaffold and matrix for ribonucleic acid (RNA), which is then used, in turn, as a matrix to synthesize proteins. It is a Central Dogma of molecular biology, as our understanding of how DNA works is based on it. According to their websites, companies such as 23andMe allow their customers to sequence their DNA for just several hundred dollars (23andMe, 2023). Personal genomics allows people to obtain a transcript of their DNA with commentaries from scientists on how each gene works in combination.
Personal Genomics Results
The result is the sequenced DNA, enabling one to see what one’s genes look like and how they work. Descriptions and interpretations from professional genomics biologists are necessary to understand this information (Whitley et al., 2020). As there will be more and more genomics data, it can be used anonymously to be treated by machine learning algorithms and generate new insights about how genes work (Voit, 2019).
People can use their genomics data to understand their strengths and weaknesses and how they can enhance their organism (23andMe, 2023). These data are properly encrypted and inaccessible to any third parties to ensure they will never be abused (Grishin et al., 2019). Thus, personal genomics provides scientifically based descriptions of how one’s organism works, which is highly valuable information.
Advantages and Disadvantages
There are two primary advantages to knowing one’s genetic information. It gives a deeper understanding of one’s body and provides clues about which dangers and diseases can occur later in life. It enables one to see one’s strengths and weaknesses and genetic predispositions and become aware of how to avoid diseases (23andMe, 2023). To understand this information, one should know how genes work, a complex subject, as can be read in two scholarly articles (Berg, 2019; Whitley et al., 2020).
In addition, it is essential to keep genomics data private and encrypted to ensure that third parties will not access it, which can also be read in scholarly articles (Grishin et al., 2019; Middleton, 2018). Thus, the advantages are the ability to understand one’s predispositions and weaknesses and significantly improve public health. Disadvantages include privacy breaches and misunderstanding risks, leading to potential problems of genomic data usage with malicious intentions.
Social Implications and Ethics
Genomics data provides endless opportunities, such as improving public health and predicting, diagnosing, and treating diseases. However, the danger of abusing this highly personal data always exists, and such ease in genome sequencing gives a powerful tool that malefactors can use. Privacy and encryption of genomic data are essential questions that should be addressed by personal genomics companies, as researched by Grishin et al. (2019) in their article. In addition, raising public awareness and understanding of how genomics works and how to use DNA data correctly is crucial, as Berg (2019) stated in his article. These social implications would ensure the benefits of personal genomics.
Discussion
I do not know whether I will obtain my DNA sequence soon, but I am not against this technology and think its potential benefits outweigh the risks. A proper understanding of the received information is necessary to ensure that one can use it to enhance one’s health and improve one’s well-being (23andMe, 2023; Berg, 2019). However, the risk is high, and the usage of the scientific method and a strong understanding of ethical consequences are necessary. Privacy breaches can lead to unpredictable consequences, as rates of progress in biology are exceptionally high, and new instruments to influence genomes are often created (Middleton, 2018).
While there are no apparent risks, as an ordinary person will barely understand something from these sequences without bioinformatic software, possible unidentified risks can be present as the industry develops. Another issue is a lack of public understanding of how DNA genes work (Whitley et al., 2020). Consumers must understand what genomics data means to avoid wrong interpretations, which can be dangerous (Berg, 2019). Therefore, while there are risks, they can be overcome by an increased understanding of genomics, while the benefits for health are significant and precious.
Conclusion
Personal genomics is a powerful technology that makes genetic sequencing available for everyone and explores how it works using the scientific method. Everyone can know their genetic code, which costs only several hundred dollars. This information provides a deep understanding of one’s predispositions, strengths and weaknesses, and risks of diseases. However, there are risks connected with privacy breaches and the subject complexity, which can be overcome by improved encryption, genomic data protection policies, and raising public awareness about how DNA works.
References
23andMe. (2023). The science behind 23andMe – our science & testing process. 23andMe. Web.
Berg, J. (2019). Consuming personal genomics. Science, 364(6437), 213–213. Web.
Grishin, D., Obbad, K., & Church, G. M. (2019). Data privacy in the age of personal genomics. Nature Biotechnology, 37(10), 1115–1117. Web.
Middleton, A. (2018). Society and personal genome data. Human Molecular Genetics, 27(R1), R8–R13. Web.
Science and pseudoscience. (2019). Weber State University. Web.
Voit, E. O. (2019). Perspective: Dimensions of the scientific method. PLOS Computational Biology, 15(9), e1007279. Web.
Whitley, K. V., Tueller, J. A., & Weber, K. S. (2020). Genomics education in the era of personal genomics: Academic, professional, and public considerations. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(3). Web.