A Plea to Make Personal Genomics More Accessible to Everyone
Lots of companies are investing in personal genomics. This field holds the key to the understanding of the genetic basis of every disease. Unfortunately there are very few free tools and data to allow the development that this field needs. Despite its universal implications, personal genome sequencing is still a technology only accessible to a minority. We intend to raise funds via a crowdfunding campaign to increase awareness of this critical issue and infuse open values to the personal genomics field. By helping us raise the money to get this family genomes sequenced you will be contributing to the release of an already well studied family model, hence providing a reference for future developments in this field. By funding this initiative you will be supporting the efforts of a community of people who already have significantly contributed who the field with free tools for interpretation of personal genomes. Because this data will be released to the public domain, and the analyses and findings will be published in reputable journals, you will be contributing to the ultimate vision of making personal genomics more accessible to everyone.
We pledge that we will release all the data, every discovery and every tool or method derived from this work in a manner that it is absolutely publicly accessible in a purpose-built website. We will be reporting in this blog every step of the process, as we did previously with our genotyping, as well as this enterprise’s final outcome. As Steve Jobs once said: “The Journey Is The Reward“. We believe that this journey itself is already being an incredibly rewarding experience to us as we push the boundaries of what anyone has ever dared to do yet.
Fundraising Progress
- Castilla-Lopez family pledged $250 (200 Euros).
- Anonymous family pledged $80 (50 GBP).
- Phil Tobitt, Media Producer agrees to donate the filming of a short video to tell our story
Reaction 1
Wife: “You are mad, now that we are in recession, you’ll never raise $25,000. If you are lucky you’ll raise $3,000 and then what will you do?”
Manuel: “Well, instead of sequencing the 100% of all family members, we will sequence the 2% of 3 members if I get $3,000 USD. This progress alone will have taken us one step closer to our dream.”
Reaction 2
Manuel: “I think this is mad. This reminds me about the difference between madness and genius. If I am successful I will be a genius, if I fail then I’ll be a madman.”
Phil Tobitt: “I don’t understand it but I think this is genius.”