[caption id="attachment_964" align="alignright" width="240"]Canadian Flag Canadian flag. Thanks to flickr user: ianalexandermartin (CC-BY-NC)[/caption]

After several years of work, I am very happy to say that PGP-Canada has officially launched!  I have had the great pleasure of working with the team led by Stephen Scherer at University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Kids to help organize a Canadian Personal Genome Project (PGP-Canada).  This story stretches all the way back to July 2006 when George Church and his wife Ting Wu went to Toronto to speak about the Personal Genome Project. Read the press release from University of Toronto.

The Toronto Globe and Mail has created an amazing series about PGP-Canada and personal genomics generally called "Our Time to Lead: The DNA Dilemma": http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/

The content is really impressive in its scope, detail, balance and emotion.  Especially touching are the videos exploring the human condition through the lens of individuals coping with disease and genetic risk.  Altogether the series includes articles, videos, a poll, a digital game and other interactive material.  A live debate about the risks and rewards of genetics research is schedule for December 18th.

 

For ease of navigating, I organized the content for you into 4 sets of links:

 

Series homepage: 

 

Personal Genome Project and Public Genomics

 

Case Studies: Genetics in the Real World

These stories are touching and inspiring. I have to say that I'm compelled to give hugs to all of these people.

 

Background Information: