2012 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript
This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2012. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.
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Do you think we will achieve a mapping from genes to social or personality traits?
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Laura Rodriguez, Ph.D.:
I am the Director for the Office of Policy, Communications, and Education at NHGRI. I work to develop and implement policy for research initiatives at the NHGRI, design communication and outreach strategies to engage the public in genomic science, and prepare health care professionals for the integration of genomic medicine into clinical care.?I am particularly interested in the policy and ethics questions related to the inclusion of human research participants in genomics and genetics research and sharing human genomic data through broadly used research resources (e.g., databases).
Good question! Genes are very important for helping to shape what we look like and whether or not we will have certain diseases, but they are very often not the sole factor in determining our "fate". This is likely to be especially true in social and personality traits, because our individual experiences are so very different and they also are extremely important in shaping who we become. Plus, personality and social behaviors are influenced to greater or lesser degrees by our personal will and choice. How we make those choices and why is very much influenced by our environment, culture, and, again, our personal experiences. |
| Lehigh Carbon Community College in PA (Higher Education teacher) |
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