Me, Myself and My 23

First Year Seminar 109

 

Instructor: Chris Korey, PhD

Course Location: New Science Center, Room 138/140

Time: Monday, 1-4:00pm


Office: Rita Hollings Science Center, Room 217C

Office Hours:  Wednesday and Thursday from 1-2 pm.  Feel free to make an appointment if you want to meet at a specific time outside of my scheduled office hours.


Would you have your own genome sequenced?  What will your genes reveal about your future health? Will we be able to create medicines personally tailored for each individual patient?  What does genetics tell you about your deep ancestry? How is genetics impacting reproductive choices?This seminar will be exploration of the impacts of modern genetic technology on how we live, die, and reproduce.  It builds off the ideas in this year’s Convocation book, Three Cups of Tea, and the College Read’s literacy theme to examine the type of scientific literacy that will be required of our society as we confront our own genetic information and the legal, ethical, and social issues that will arise.


Readings:  We will be reading from one book, Blood Matters by Masha Gessen.  This book is available at the College Bookstore.  The rest of the readings will either be online or can be downloaded as a pdf from the course website.  If you become really interested in the subject matter, I have created a reading list of blogs, journals and books that you might want to explore.


Course Blog: my23Blog

Course Policies: Policies and Grading

Course Syllabus


August 24th Course Introduction: Personal Genetics, Is This the Future?

  1. •YouTube: Mailing my spit to California

  2. •GENOME: The Future is Now (Webisode 1, Webisode 2, Webisode 3)


August 29th DNA Testing ad Consent

  1. •Genetic Testing Consent Document Discussion: 23andMe Example

  2. •Readings:

  3. “Campus’s DNA Testing Scrutinized at Hearing” The Daily Californian. August 27, 2010

  4. “Indian Tribe Wins Fight to Limit Research of Its DNA” Amy Harmon, NYT, April 22, 2010 (pdf)


  1. •Guest Speaker: Karen Eippert, College of Charleston Pre-Professional Advisor


August 31st Basic Genetics Useful Link: National Library of Medicine Bookshelf

  1. •Readings:

  2. Burke, W. (2004) Genetic Testing in Primary Care.  Annu Rev of Genomics and Hum Genet 5:1-14. (pdf)


September 5th Introduction to Biology/Genetics Resources at Addlestone Library

  1. •Guest Speaker: Dongmei Cao, College of Charleston Librarian


September 7th Huntington’s Disease and Breast Cancer Genetics

  1. •Readings:

  2. Blood Matters, Chapters 1 and 7

  3. “Facing Life with a Lethal Gene” Amy Harmon, NYT, March 18, 2007 (pdf)


September 12th Deciding to Test Part I: Breast Cancer:

  1. •In-Class Movie: In the Family by Joanna Rudnick

  2. •Readings:

  3. Blood Matters, Chapters 4,5, and 9


September 14th Deciding to Test Part II: Huntington’s and Breast Cancer

  1. •Readings:

  2. Yaniv et al. (2004) On not wanting to know and not wanting to inform others: choices regarding predictive genetic testing. Risk Decision and Policy 9:317-336. (pdf)

  3. Lerman et al. (1998) What you don’t know can hurt you:  Adverse psychologic effects in members of BRCA1-linked and BRCA2-linked families who decline genetic testing. J of Clinical Oncology 16:1650-1654. (pdf)


September 19th Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing I

  1. •Readings:

  2. Hogarth et al. (2008) The current landscape for direct-to-consumer genetic testing: legal, ethical, and policy issues.  Annu Rev of Genomics and Hum Genet 9: 161-182. (pdf)


September 21st Direct to Consumer Genetic Testing II

  1. •You Tube: Mailing my spit to California-One year later

  2. •Readings:

  3. Guttmacher et al. (2010) Personalized genomic information: preparing for the future of genetic medicine. Nat Rev Genetics 11: 161-165. (pdf)

  4. DNA Dilemma by Mary Carmichael, Newsweek Online


September 26th Pharmacogenetics

  1. •Results of Genetic Test of PTC Gene Returned

  2. •Readings:

     PTC Genes and Bitter Taste-University of Utah

     A Special Drug Just for You, At the End of a Long Pipeline by Andrew Pollack NYT, November 8, 2005

     Frequently Asked Questions about Pharmacogenetics, NIHGMS


September 28th Genetic Testing Accuracy

  1. •Readings:

  2. Van Ness (2008) Genomic Research and Incidental Findings. Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics.  292-297 (pdf)

  3. Kohane et al. (2006) The Incidentalome: A Threat to Genomic Medicine.  JAMA 296:212-215 (pdf)     Genomes Unzipped. How well can a screening test predict disease risk. August 2nd, 2010


  1. •Guest Video Conference: Marcy MacDonald, PhD, Professor of Neurology, Center for Human Genetics, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital


October 3rd Exam I


October 5th DNA Testing and Genealogy I

  1. •Readings:

  2. Blood Matters, Chapter 2

  3. Brodwin, P (2003) Genetics, Identity, and the Anthropology of Essentialism. Anthropology Quaterly: 1-8 (pdf)


October 10th DNA Testing and Genealogy II

  1. •Results of mtDNA sequencing returned

  2. •Haplotype Analysis of Sequence


October 12th Genetics and Mate Choice

  1. •Assignments Due: Campus Events Assignment I

  2. •Readings:

     Wedekind et al. (1995) MHC-Dependent Mate Preference in Humans. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 260: 

     245-249. (pdf)


October 17th Fall Break


October 19th DNA Databases and Privacy

  1. •Readings:

  2. Hudson et al. (2008) Keeping Pace with the Times-The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. The New England Journal of Medicine 358:2661-2663 (pdf)


October 24h Privacy: GINA, Genome Hacking and Discrimination

  1. •Readings:

  2. Annas et al. (2008) GINA, Genism, and Civil Rights.  Bioethics 22: 1-3 (pdf)

  3. Aldhous and Reilly (2009) How My Genome Was Hacked. The New Scientist (pdf)



October 26th Genetics of Sex Determination


October 31st  Sex, Gender and Athletics


November 2nd Genetics and Homosexuality


November 7th Pre/Postnatal Genetic Testing and Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis I

  1. •Readings:

  2. Hehmeyer (2001) The Case for Universal Newborn Screening (pdf)

  3. Hudson (2006) Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis: Public Policy and Public Attitudes.  Fertility and Sterility 85:1638-1645 (pdf)


November 9th Pre/Postnatal Genetic Testing and Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis II

  1. •Guest Speakers: Alison Piepmeier and Gene Carpenter, Down Syndrome Association of the Low Country

  2. •Readings:

  3. Toward Concurrence: Understanding Prenatal Screening and Diagnosis of Down Syndrome from the 

  4. Health Professional and Advocacy Community Perspectives. June, 2009 (pdf)

  5. Stainton  (2007) Missing the Forest for the Trees? A Disability Rights Take on Genetics.  Journal on Developmental Disabilities 13:1-4 (pdf)


November 14th-16th In Class Movie: Gattaca


November 21st Exam 2


November 28th Disability, Society and Genetics

  1. •Readings:

  2. Blood Matters, Chapters 10 and 12

  3. Scully (2008) Disability and genetics in the era of genomic medicine.  Nat Rev Genetics 9:797-802. (pdf) Almond (2006) Genetic profiling of newborns: ethical and social issues. Nat Rev Genetics 7: 67-71. (pdf)

  4. “Wanting Babies Like Themselves, Some Parents Choose Genetics Defects.” Darshak Sanghavi, MD, NYT, May 12, 2006


November 30th The Role of Genetic Counseling

  1. •Guest Speaker: Peggy Walker, MS, Assistant Professor and Genetic Counselor, Division of Clinical Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of South Carolina


December 5th Final Project Draft Discussion

  1. •Assignments Due: Final Draft of Final Project


December 13th  Final Project Submission

  1. •Assignments Due: Final Project and Campus Events Assignment