A commentary describing my thoughts for a Genome Commons and Navigator is about to be published in Nature, and additional versions of those musings and more details may be found on the about page of this site.

Since working as an undergraduate in Wally Gilbert’s genome laboratory, I looked forward to the completion of an individual’s complete genome because of the insights that it would reveal. I was thus disappointed by how little of individual significance was learned from the Venter and Watson genomes. I think that the typical potential of personal genomes to inform health has often been exaggerated. Furthermore, it is clear that we don’t yet have the scientific understanding to interpret much of the information that is present within our genomes. Nonetheless, I am also shocked by the lack of simple accessible resources to allow us to make use of our existing knowledge and to improve our understanding. I thus propose the creation of a Genome Commons.

I welcome your thoughts.