Mapping Eliza: Decoding DNA Secrets

Genome sequencing is cheap, fast, and poised to revolutionize health care. In the one-hour radio special Mapping Eliza: Decoding DNA Secrets, IEEE Spectrum editor Eliza Strickland gets a glimpse of the medical future by getting her own genome sequenced. She takes listeners on her personal journey as she explores her genes, and investigates just how much they can reveal about her medical destiny.

This radio program is presented byPRX, the Public Radio Exchange, and received support fromfrom theAlfred P. Sloan Foundationenhancing public understanding of science, technology, and economic performance.

Jump to: Segment One / Segment Two / Segment Three

Segment One

Eliza Strickland: Have you ever lain awake in the middle of the night and wondered what will kill you in the end? I did a bit of that recently. I mentally scrolled through my family history and counted up the relatives who had died of heart diseaseand then I vowed to go to the gym more often. I thought of an aunt who died of breast cancer and a grandfather who had kidney failure, and I sent internal messages to those body parts: How you doing in there? Stay strong. I need you!

I think most of us would agree that these kinds of midnight ruminations arent very useful. But what if there were a way to find out, with much more precision, what your biological weak points are? Would you want to know? And what would you do with that information?

I was lying in bed playing the mortality guessing game because the next morning I was flying to Texas to get all that precise information. In the name of journalism, science, and self-discovery, Id had my genome sequenced. And Im not talking about the mail-order genetic tests you can get from companies like 23andMe these days. Those companies send consumers a very limited set of results about their ancestry and possible health risks. Im talking about a full, medical-grade genome scan that doctors interpreted for me.

I had given blood a few months before, and doctors at Baylor College of Medicine extracted my DNA and ran it through a cutting-edge genetic sequencing machine. The doctors analyzed the data, and I had to fly to Houston to get their predictions about my medical future.

JetBlue pilot: Ladies and gentlemen, JetBlue Airways welcomes you to Houston, Texas.

Eliza Strickland: But lets leave me there on the runway for a minute. Before we go to Texas, lets go to genetics class to talk over some of the basic science here. Im lucky in that I have an on-call genetic tutor. Really, hes on speed-dial, and I can go see him whenever I want.

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Mapping Eliza: Decoding DNA Secrets