Plays illuminate impact of genomics on people

Bridging C.P. Snow’s two cultures of art and science, academics-turned-playwrights Karen H. Rothenberg and Lynn Wein Bush have written several plays exploring the ethical and social issues raised by modern genomic science and medicine. Excerpts from those plays, along with commentary and analysis, have been compiled into a new book, The Drama of DNA: Narrative Genomics, published by Oxford University Press (information for those interested in producing the plays in their entirety is available at http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199309351/book). Rothenberg, a lawyer, faculty member at the University of Maryland, and Senior Advisor on Genomics and Society at the National Human Genome Research Institute, and Bush, a psychologist–bioethicist and faculty member in pediatric clinical genetics at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, wrote the plays to explore the intricate ramifications of generating and sharing genomic information. Rothenberg recently organized a workshop at the National Institutes of Health to bring together playwrights and scientists to discuss the dramatic potential of science. The authors have said that they hope to open new avenues of dialogue among playwrights, scientists, bioethicists, and others in the genomics community. GIM Editor-in-Chief Jim Evans provides a ringing endorsement of the book on the back cover: “Anyone with a human genome will find this book both instructive and fascinating!” —Karyn Hede, News Editor

DNA yields new insights into Stone Age transition to farming

European Stone Age farmers gradually assimilated at least some contemporary hunter–gatherer groups, according to genetic evidence recently gleaned from ancient human remains. But the assimilation was not reciprocal, according to the findings of an international research group led by Mattias Jakobsson of the University of Uppsala, Sweden. The scientists were able to differentiate the two culturally distinct groups through their DNA and then trace gene flow into the farming groups. The findings, published in Science on 24 April 2014, suggest that there were relatively few hunter–gatherers during the time period, around 5,000 BP, as compared with those living in farming communities. The research team found relatively low genetic diversity among hunter–gatherers and strong differences between the two groups that enabled them to compare genomic variation both within and between the groups. They found, for example, more mixing of hunter–gatherer genes in the Scandinavian farmers than in the now-famous “Iceman,” Ötzi, who lived in a farming community farther south, near northern Italy. The discovery helps to clarify how humans transitioned from foraging to farming and indicates that, with additional genomic study of human remains from the period, an even clearer picture of early European settlement is possible. —Karyn Hede, News Editor

Genetics in Medicine | Mission Statement

Genetics in Medicine is a monthly journal committed to the timely publication of:

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