Unwinding Berkeley's DNA Test

A group of faculty members at the University of California at Berkeley hoped to generate conversation among students, and expected a bit of criticism from colleagues, for asking incoming undergraduates to submit DNA samples that would be analyzed and discussed as part of an orientation program. What they didn’t anticipate -- but got -- was national news media attention and letters from genetics watchdog groups calling on Berkeley to cancel its plans. “We didn’t choose the topic to provoke a wave of publicity,” says Mark Schlissel, dean of biological sciences in Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science. “We thought that talking about genetic testing and personalized medicine would be most engaging if we got students involved.” The college’s “On the Same Page” program had in the past used books by Stephen Hawking and Michael Pollan to start conversation on controversial issues, but biology faculty decided that the hands-on approach of analyzing students’ genes for tolerance of alcohol, folate and lactose was a more engaging way to connect students to lectures and seminars on the emerging field of personalized medicine. On...