Spitting for Science: Danish High School Students Commit to a Large-Scale Self-Reported Genetic Study

Athanasiadis, Georgios; Jørgensen, Frank G.; Cheng, Jade Yu; Kjærgaard, Peter C.; Schierup, Mikkel H.; Mailund, Thomas

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161822

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Students felt that learning genomics helped prepare them for future academic study [37] and created a more positive learning experience [40]. Thus, these publications indicate that incorporation of genomic education can be beneficial for high school student learning [38,39,44].…”

Section: High School Educationmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Genomic education in high school is also important because high school biology is frequently not only the initial, but also the final formal exposure to genomics for many Americans [33]. Many high school students have the interest, maturity, and intelligence to learn and understand genomics, yet few studies involving high school students and genomic education have been conducted in the past five years (Table 1) [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. Each of these studies incorporated teaching genomic principles to high school students.…”

Section: High School Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With media being readily available, it is essential for students to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills so they can identify misconceptions in the media regarding science topics [45]. Teaching genomics to high school students can also help public perception and understanding [38]. Athanasiadis and colleagues held an educational symposium for students and teachers across Denmark which garnered positive media attention as the symposium was extensively broadcast on primetime news and published online.…”

Section: High School Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genomics Education in the Era of Personal Genomics: Academic, Professional, and Public Considerations

Whitley

Tueller

Weber

2020

IJMS

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Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, genomic sequencing has become a prominent tool used by diverse disciplines in modern science. In the past 20 years, the cost of genomic sequencing has decreased exponentially, making it affordable and accessible. Bioinformatic and biological studies have produced significant scientific breakthroughs using the wealth of genomic information now available. Alongside the scientific benefit of genomics, companies offer direct-to-consumer genetic testing which provide health, trait, and ancestry information to the public. A key area that must be addressed is education about what conclusions can be made from this genomic information and integrating genomic education with foundational genetic principles already taught in academic settings. The promise of personal genomics providing disease treatment is exciting, but many challenges remain to validate genomic predictions and diagnostic correlations. Ethical and societal concerns must also be addressed regarding how personal genomic information is used. This genomics revolution provides a powerful opportunity to educate students, clinicians, and the public on scientific and ethical issues in a personal way to increase learning. In this review, we discuss the influence of personal genomics in society and focus on the importance and benefits of genomics education in the classroom, clinics, and the public and explore the potential consequences of personal genomic education.

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Section: High School Educationmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: High School Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: High School Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genomics Education in the Era of Personal Genomics: Academic, Professional, and Public Considerations

Whitley

Tueller

Weber

2020

IJMS

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“…project (Athanasiadis et al 2016). These numbers correspond to the sampling of 1 in 9350 Danish inhabitants (Figure 1).…”

Section: Sample Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike previous genomic projects involving Denmark (Bae et al 2013;Larsen et al 2013), ours was conceived from the beginning as a scientific outreach initiative with benefits for both the general public and our research objectives. We invited high school students from across Denmark to participate in activities whose primary goal was to promote genomic literacy in secondary education (Athanasiadis et al 2016). Most participants donated a DNA sample, which we used to explore the extent to which recent and more distant historical events left their mark on the genetic makeup of the Danish population.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nationwide Genomic Study in Denmark Reveals Remarkable Population Homogeneity

et al. 2016

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Denmark has played a substantial role in the history of Northern Europe. Through a nationwide scientific outreach initiative, we collected genetic and anthropometrical data from 800 high school students and used them to elucidate the genetic makeup of the Danish population, as well as to assess polygenic predictions of phenotypic traits in adolescents. We observed remarkable homogeneity across different geographic regions, although we could still detect weak signals of genetic structure reflecting the history of the country. Denmark presented genomic affinity with primarily neighboring countries with overall resemblance of decreasing weight from Britain, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and France. A Polish admixture signal was detected in Zealand and Funen, and our date estimates coincided with historical evidence of Wend settlements in the south of Denmark. We also observed considerably diverse demographic histories among Scandinavian countries, with Denmark having the smallest current effective population size compared to Norway and Sweden. Finally, we found that polygenic prediction of self-reported adolescent height in the population was remarkably accurate (R 2 = 0.639 6 0.015). The high homogeneity of the Danish population could render population structure a lesser concern for the upcoming large-scale gene-mapping studies in the country.KEYWORDS human population genetics; population structure; admixture; polygenic risk score; genetic prediction D ENMARK has played a substantial role in the history of Northern Europe. Like Swedes and Norwegians, Danes are historically linked to the Vikings-the Germanic Norse seafarers whose commercial and military operations marked the Viking Age in European history . Through a series of invasions, conquests, and alliances, the Danish Vikings established settlements as far as in Britain, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and even Canada. Denmark's long-lasting historical bond with Sweden and Norway is nicely exemplified in the formation of the Kalmar Union, a state that brought together the three Scandinavian nations from 1397 to 1523 as a response to Germany's expansionist tendency to the north (Derry 2000).Denmark's historical complexity is contrasted by the country's small current size-both in terms of geographic area (43,000 km 2 ) and population (5,614 million inhabitants)-a fact even further contrasted by the notable compartmentalization of the Danish linguistic map in 30 dialectal areas (http:// dialekt.ku.dk/). These observations, together with the evident lack of strong geographic barriers in the country, make presentday Denmark an interesting setting for studying the genetic history of small populations with a glorious past. In recent years, there has been an explosion of human genetic studies that contributed substantially to the characterization of worldwide variation patterns (Lao et al. 2008;Li et al. 2008;Novembre et al. 2008;Reich et al. 2009;Busby et al. 2015); the reconstruction of population history in regions with poor/nonexistent histori...

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Recent migration and sample representativeness in a Danish genetic study

Athanasiadis

2017

Annals of Human Biology

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Spitting for Science: Danish High School Students Commit to a Large-Scale Self-Reported Genetic Study

Cited by 5 publications

References 10 publications

Genomics Education in the Era of Personal Genomics: Academic, Professional, and Public Considerations

Genomics Education in the Era of Personal Genomics: Academic, Professional, and Public Considerations

Nationwide Genomic Study in Denmark Reveals Remarkable Population Homogeneity

Recent migration and sample representativeness in a Danish genetic study

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