In popular media and common speech, the words "genetic" and "genomic" are often used interchangeably. However, to a geneticist, these terms have specific meanings. To appreciate the difference, we must first understand something about the structure of genetic material.

Genetic information is stored in the molecule DNA, which consists of a string of chemicals called bases. The order of bases on the string, called the "sequence", determines the meaning of the genetic message. A gene is a specific stretch of bases that provides instructions for making a particular product, such as a piece of a hormone or enzyme. Humans have many thousands of genes, spaced across the entire set of DNA, which is packaged into 23 pairs of chromosomes. However, there are many DNA sequences in-between genes that do not directly encode specific products. Some of these sequences modify the way that genes are expressed. Other sequences do not have a known function.

The role of genes may seem obvious when we are discussing physiologic disease, but less so when considering social and behavioral phenotypes. Social and behavioral scientists will need no convincing that biology isn't the whole story, and geneticists are learning more about the importance of environment. However, there is ample evidence of a biological contribution to behavior, which lays a foundation for understanding how genes and environment may interact.

Behavior often is species specific.

A chickadee, for example, carries one sunflower seed at a time from a feeder to a nearby branch, secures the seed to the branch between its feet, pecks it open, eats the contents, and repeats the process. Finches, in contrast, stay at the feeder for long periods, opening large numbers of seeds with their thick beaks. Some behaviors are so characteristic that biologists use them to help differentiate between closely related species.

Behaviors often breed true.

Purpose

The National Coalition for Health Profession Education in Genetics (NCHPEG), with support from the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR), developed this site to provide sufficient genetics background to allow social and behavioral scientists (SBS) to engage effectively in interdisciplinary research with genetics researchers. The overarching goal of this project is to create an educational program that will improve social scientists' genetics literacy in the following areas:

• Conversation: Users will demonstrate structural genetics literacy, which is defined as the ability to understand genetics conceptual schemes, understand procedural knowledge and skills, and explain genetics concepts in the user's own words.
• Imagination: Users will show increased ability to conceive of progressive but feasible studies
• Evaluation: Users will demonstrate skills necessary to assess genetics research for validity and utility
• Integration: To provide sufficient knowledge to support the integration of genetics concepts into the user's own research, and to allow for collaborative studies with geneticists.