Tech Luminaries to Reveal Genomes

Ten prominent players in science and technology—many of them local to the Boston area—are reportedly today going to reveal about 20 percent of the genome sequences, along with their medical records on the Web. The group, including Harvard Medical School’s George Church and legendary venture capitalist Esther Dyson, are the first volunteers in Church’s Personal Genome Project, which is aiming to sequence 100,000 people’s genomes as a way of helping understand the links between gene variations and human health and sppeding progress toward more individualized health care.

Author: Rebecca Zacks

Rebecca is Xconomy's co-founder. She was previously the managing editor of Physician's First Watch, a daily e-newsletter from the publishers of New England Journal of Medicine. Before helping launch First Watch, she spent a decade covering innovation for Technology Review, Scientific American, and Discover Magazine's TV show. In 2005-2006 she was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. Rebecca holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Brown University and a master's in science journalism from Boston University.