The gene trust

There is a lot of debate about the best way to find genes for complex diseases. But one thing seems certain — you need a very large patient population. Since August, DNA Sciences have been recruiting volunteers to donate blood samples for their screening programmes via the web — so far around 4,500 Americans have signed up.

DNA Sciences have dubbed this initiative the Gene Trust. Interested individuals are asked to fill in a questionnaire about their health and family history, and if their phenotype matches one that DNA Sciences is studying, the individual is invited to provide a blood sample for DNA analysis.

Ray White has recently been appointed as the Chief Scientific Officer at DNA Sciences, and an interview with Dr White — conducted by BioResearch Online — can be heard on the web.

All data collected by DNA Sciences are made anonymous, to protect the participants' identities, and the company has established the Kiva Genetics Foundation to study the wider ethical and societal issues raised by research into the genetics of complex disease.

Talking heads

Subscribers to the magazine Prospect can claim a copy of the human genome on CD with their October issue. The CD has been produced in collaboration with the Sanger Centre, Cambridge UK. The offering is accompanied on the web by the transcript of a conversation about the significance of the human genome project between such genetic luminaries as Jim Watson, Peter Goodfellow, Steve Jones, Steven Rose and Robert Plomin, the philosopher Nancy Cartwright and a British politician — Geoff Mulgan.