Summary:
In 2018, law enforcement identified a suspect in the Golden State Killer case by matching the genomic profile of DNA left at crime scenes to those held in genetic genealogy databases and by using inferred ancestral relationships and genealogical mapping to generate promising investigative leads. Since then, hundreds of cold cases have been solved using similar investigative strategies. Critics argue that investigative genetic genealogy violates the privacy of direct-to-consumer genetic testing customers and their genetic relatives, and some scholars worry that this will have a negative impact on data sharing in research and clinical care. During this session, we will explore the ethical, legal, and social implications of law enforcement access to DNA data collected and shared for non-forensic purposes and how best to balance competing interests in promoting public trust and protecting public safety.

About the seminar series:
The U-M Precision Health Seminar Series invites expert speakers to share meaningful, relevant, and late-breaking research on varied aspects of precision health. The interdisciplinary educational series, which takes place monthly during the academic year, features topics ranging from genetics to big data to health implementation (and much more) and is open to students, faculty, practitioners, staff, trainees, and the general public. Our goal is to increase understanding of precision health data, tools, and applications, to engage the academic community to enhance precision health research, and to support the implementation of precision health to health systems.