2011 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2011. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.

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How expensive is biotechnology?      Mike Dougherty, B.A., Ph.D.: I am currently the director of educational activities for the American Society of Human Genetics (www.ashg.org/education). Before joining ASHG, I taught genetics and biochemistry at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and studied the formation and transmission of prions, protein-only infectious agents that can cause disease in humans. That's a hard question to answer because the range is so wide. Some biotechnology can be done in high school biology classrooms, maybe even your own! Other biotechnology projects cost millions of dollars. The Human Genome Project cost about 3.7 billion dollars, and it took ten years to complete. Westview High School in CA (9th grade student)

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