Bioweathermap: Genomic Surveillance July 12, 2009

Yesterday, I attended the session of George Church that focused on personalized genomics. He mentioned one of his new projects, Bioweathermap, an experiment in collaborative environmental surveillance and discovery.

The BioWeatherMap initiative is a global, grassroots, distributed environmental sensing effort aimed at answering some very basic questions about the geographic and temporal distribution patterns of microbial life. Utilizing the power of high-throughput, low cost DNA sequencing and harnessing the drive of an enlightened public we propose a new collaborative research approach aimed at generating a steady stream of environmental samples from many geographic locations to produce high quality data for ongoing discovery and surveillance. Our approach will provide a unique opportunity to engage the public in the scientific research process while we address fundamental questions such as “How diverse is the microbial life around us?” and “How do microbial communities in different habitats change over time?” and “How can advanced sequencing technologies best be utilized to address issues in biodiversity, public health, and biosurveillance?”

George Church will also be featured in the Silverstein Lecture Series: Personal Genomes and Web 2.0 Volunteerism (May 11th and 12th, 2009).