BIOMG 1290

Personal Genomics and Medicine: Why Should You Care About What's in Your Genes

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Do you have allergies to milk or wheat? Curious about your family ancestry? Does a relative suffer from a genetic disease, and you wonder if you might also be at risk? How will medicine be impacted by DNA testing? How will your own future, your quality of life, your decisions regarding children be impacted? What are the ethical, legal, and social challenges we all face as this genetic technology becomes rapidly available to anyone with as little as $99 and a saliva sample? This course is not just for those interested in science, it is a topic we all need to have a basic understanding of to ensure we are prepared for what is rapidly becoming part of all of our futures. This course is suitable for life sciences majors.

Enrollment Priority Primarily for: first-year and sophomore students.

Distribution Requirements (BIO-AG, BSC-AG, OPHLS-AG), (BIO-AS), (SCT-IL)

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025SP, 2024SP, 2023SP, 2022SP

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate a basic knowledge of core concepts and methods in genomics, statistics, anthropology, law and social sciences, which are relevant to genetic testing for ancestry and medical inference and diagnosis.
• Discuss intelligently the ethical, legal and social implication (ELSI) challenges and debates regarding the growing use of genetics in medicine.
• Critically read, interpret, evaluate and discuss new scientific as well as ELSI findings and debates regarding personal genomics and medicine.
• Recognize the diverse views that people have concerning the application of genetic testing to their life choices and views of their own racial/ethnic/social identity, while cultivating and understanding and appreciation of them.

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