{"id":12965,"date":"2017-08-21T09:12:36","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T09:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=12965"},"modified":"2017-08-21T09:12:36","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T09:12:36","slug":"course-explores-new-field-intersection-genomics-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/course-explores-new-field-intersection-genomics-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Course explores new field at intersection of genomics and society"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jason Fletcher, a professor in the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Department of Sociology at UW\u2013Madison, asks how to address social issues in the age of genomics by helping create a new field: social genomics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At a time when sequencing your genes is as simple as spitting in a cup,\u00a0<\/span>Jason Fletcher<\/a>\u00a0wants to understand how this new trove of data impacts society by helping to build a new field of study: social genomics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fletcher, a professor in the\u00a0<\/span>La Follette School of Public Affairs<\/a>\u00a0and the<\/span>\u00a0Department of Sociology<\/a>\u00a0at the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, is researching questions about how public policy intersects with genetic data, what our genes can predict about how society functions, and how we should use this data responsibly.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Princeton sociologist Dalton Conley, Fletcher wrote a new book, \u201c<\/span>The Genome Factor<\/a>: What the Social Genomics Revolution Tells Us About Ourselves, Our History, and the Future,\u201d which explores this new field of social genomics. The book is the basis for a new course offered this fall,<\/span>\u00a0Molecular Me: Social Implications of the Genomic Revolution<\/a>. The class is targeted at sociologists who want to delve into genetic data and biology students wanting to understand the social consequences of their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSocial genomics addresses the implications of broad-scale, widely mined genomics data,\u201d says Fletcher, who received his doctorate in agricultural and applied economics at UW\u2013Madison. \u201cFive, 10 years ago, you could not find a social scientist who had data that was genetic in origin, and now it\u2019s close to becoming routine in large social science datasets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The new discipline studies many of the same long-standing topics in sociology \u2014 educational attainment, earnings trajectories, income inequality, housing segregation \u2014 but with a genetic twist. Since the characteristics of individuals, and populations, depend both on genes and environmental context, the interdisciplinary field aims to uncover more complete explanations for how society is structured. And with better understanding can come more effective recommendations for public policies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among other topics, Fletcher has researched how genes interact with public health policies and whether genetics explains who we spend time with. He found that<\/span>\u00a0increasing tobacco taxes<\/a>\u00a0doesn\u2019t significantly reduce smoking rates for those most genetically prone to nicotine addiction. And when Fletcher asked whether your genes can<\/span>\u00a0predict who you will marry<\/a>, he discovered that they do, but only slightly. Education level is a much better predictor of who pairs off.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fletcher\u2019s new book, \u201cThe Genome Factor: What the Social Genomics Revolution Tells Us About Ourselves, Our History, and the Future,\u201d is the basis for a UW\u2013Madison course offered this fall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While writing his book, Fletcher sent his DNA to the personal genetics company 23andMe. These services give interesting results, he says, but offer more of an educated guess about your personal traits than bedrock prophecy about your fate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll tell you whether you like cilantro, which is a genetic trait, so they\u2019re right with that \u2014 I hate cilantro,\u201d says Fletcher. \u201cBut they\u2019re wrong when they tell me that I shouldn\u2019t be bald,\u201d he says, gesturing to the back of his head.<\/span><\/p>\n

This burgeoning field is also wrestling with some past demons. Previous mergers of genetics and sociology have led to calls for eugenics, or attempts to scientifically justify social divisions, despite having no access to genetic information. Now that genes are actually being sequenced, Fletcher says vigilance against misuse of the data is more important than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAcknowledging this past is very important \u2014 acknowledging it, and trying to keep it in mind so you don\u2019t do precisely all the bad things that have happened every time that social scientists and geneticists have teamed up on problems,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the future, Fletcher also considers the ethical implications of genomic information, especially in making decisions about the next generation. While genetic engineering of human embryos<\/span>\u00a0might not lead to the era of designer babies<\/a>\u00a0anytime soon, the increasing use of in vitro fertilization and genetic sequencing of embryos could allow parents to choose traits in their future children that wouldn\u2019t have been possible just a few years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot just eye color,\u201d says Fletcher. \u201cThey can predict close to 20 percent of the variation in educational attainment now, as well as IQ and a lot of health outcomes that aren\u2019t genetic disorders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat should we allow people to know? What are the rules going to be about selecting embryos based on these predictions?\u201d Fletcher asks.<\/span><\/p>\n

As genetic engineering becomes easier, Fletcher thinks ethical concerns will revolve around whether society is OK with enhancing somebody\u2019s potential rather than simply erasing genetic disorders, which is more acceptable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fletcher\u2019s social genomics course will address all of these questions \u2014 and some that he can\u2019t even predict. While his book will be the main course material, headlines seem to change the conversation about society and genes every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very fast moving field, especially on the gene editing front,\u201d says Fletcher. \u201cIt happens so quickly, we\u2019re going to bring news articles into class and address the social science implications of these new findings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a time when sequencing your genes is as simple as spitting in a cup,\u00a0Jason Fletcher\u00a0wants to understand how this new trove of data impacts society by helping to build a new field of study: social genomics. Fletcher, a professor in the\u00a0La Follette School of Public Affairs\u00a0and the\u00a0Department of Sociology\u00a0at the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,22,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology","category-other","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover-199x300.png",199,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",238,360,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",43,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",300,453,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",64,96,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/genome-factor-cover.png",150,227,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Biology<\/a> Other<\/a> Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}