Personal Genetics Education Project

The Personal Genetics Education Project (pgEd)[1] aims to engage and inform a worldwide audience about the benefits of knowing one's genome as well as the ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI)[2] and dimensions of personal genetics.[3] pgEd was founded in 2006, is housed in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and is directed by Ting Wu, a professor in that department. It employs a variety of strategies for reaching general audiences, including generating online curricular materials,[4] leading discussions in classrooms, workshops, and conferences, developing a mobile educational game (Map-Ed),[5] holding an annual conference geared toward accelerating awareness (GETed[6]), and working with the world of entertainment to improve accuracy and outreach.[7] [8] [9] [10]

pgEd Logo

Online curricular materials and professional development for teachers

pgEd develops tools for teachers and general audiences that examine the potential benefits and risks of personalized genome analysis. These include freely accessible, interactive lesson plans that tackle issues such as genetic testing of minors, reproductive genetics, complex human traits and genetics, and the history of eugenics. pgEd also engages educators at conferences as well as organizes professional development workshops. All of pgEd's materials are freely available online.[1][11][12][13][14]

Map-Ed, a mobile quiz

In 2013, pgEd created a mobile educational quiz called Map-Ed.[5] Map-Ed invites players to work their way through five questions that address key concepts in genetics and then pin themselves on a world map. Within weeks of its launch, Map-Ed gained over 1,000 pins around the world, spanning across all 7 continents. Translations and new maps linked to questions on topics broadly related to genetics are in development.[5]

GETed conference

pgEd hosts the annual GETed conference,[6] a meeting that brings together experts from across the United States and beyond in education, research, health, entertainment, and policy to develop strategies for accelerating public awareness. Topics covered during these conferences have included reproductive technologies, human behavior and cognition, microbiomes, the intersection of faith and genetics, interplanetary travel, the importance of engaging the political sphere, and the power of entertainment and gaming to reach millions.

Education and Entertainment Interface

pgEd is working with Sandra de Castro Buffington and Hollywood, Health & Society at the Norman Lear Center, University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School for Communication, to advance awareness about personal genetics through television.[15][16] They have also worked with the Broad Institute on outreach via fiction.[17] [18] [19]

Advisory Board

pgEd's advisory board includes Sandra de Castro Buffington, Director, Hollywood Health and Society,[20] George M. Church, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Juan Enriquez, Managing Director at Excel Venture Management, and Marc Hodosh, Co-Creator of TEDMED.[1]

See also

References
  1. "The Personal Genetics Education Project (pgEd) Main Page". Retrieved 8 Jun 2013.
  2. "Genetics Websites from Harvard University and the World Health Organization". 2007.
  3. M.E. Gelbart (2012). "Catching Education Up with Technology: Preparing the Public to Make Informed Choices about Personal Genetics". CBE Life Sciences Education. 11 (1): 1–2.
  4. "pgEd Lesson Plans". Retrieved 7 Jun 2013.
  5. "Map-Ed.org Main page". Retrieved 8 Jun 2013.
  6. "GETed Annual meeting". 26 Apr 2013.
  7. Chelsey Coombs (21 Feb 2013). "AAAS Meeting It's Personal: Modern Genetics Shapes Medicine, Public Education". NASW.
  8. "Harvard Medicine's "Personalized Medicine" issue featuring Ting Wu".
  9. "Genetics Home Reference from the National Institutes of Health".
  10. "American Society for Human Genetics resources".
  11. "The Genome Generation". Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory's Connections Magazine (pgEd staff Dana Waring): 5–7. Fall 2012.
  12. Kung, Johnny T., and Marnie E. Gelbart. 2012. "Getting a head start: The importance of personal genetics education in high schools" (PDF). The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 85 (1): 87–92.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. Ting Wu & Dana Waring. (2009). "The next generation ..... is in high school". Genomics Law Report.
  14. "When genetics gets personal". Harvard Gazette. 11 Sep 2008.
  15. "Hollywood, Health & Society Director appointed to Harvard Medical School's Personal Genetics Education Project". Archived from the original on 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2013-06-08.
  16. "Video of pgEd staff Marnie Gelbart and Sandra de Castro Buffington at the 2013 GET conference on expanding and accelerating personal genetics education".
  17. "Video of pgEd staff at the Broad Institute, speaking about 'Genomics, Science and Fiction'".
  18. "Genetic Alliance - pgEd in 2012 'Meet your neighbors'". Archived from the original on 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2013-06-08.
  19. "Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR) Bioethics Resources". Retrieved 7 Jun 2013.
  20. "Sandra de Castro Buffington". Norman Lear Center.
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