SCIENCE

TECHNOLOG
Y
GROUP 2

Bryant von Andrew Estrada

SOCIETY
Christian james Pasco
Ivar Traya
AL-norkhair Binasing
Dean Anthony Isberto
Asi Sto. Domingo
 John D. ("Jack") Reilly (1942-2014)
The University of Notre Dame's John J. Reilly Center
for Science, Technology, and Values brings the
implicatio

sciences and humanities together to explore the

factors
importa

overvi
about
nature and impact of science, technology, and
STS

nce

ew medicine.
ns

The 
John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Value
s
 at the University of Notre Dame has released its sixth
annual list of emerging ethical dilemmas and policy
issues in science and technology.
 Helix - A digital app store designed to help you read your genome.

In July 2017, Helix debuted its online platform, banking on the notion that the
23andMe generation would value a relatively inexpensive, digitized way to
interact with their genome. Founded in 2015, Helix is a hub for genetic
sequencing apps for your computer or mobile device. Helix sequences the
most important part of your genome, the exome. That information is digitized
and stored by Helix, which parcels out pieces of the information to third-party
implicati
factors
importa

companies selling apps through the hub.

overvi
about
STS

ons
nce

Definition of terms:

Genome - the complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or

organism.
Exome - the part of the genome that consists of exons.
Exon - refers to both the DNA sequence within a gene and to the corresponding
sequence in RNA transcripts.
Genetic sequencing - is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence –
the order of nucleotides in DNA.
Ethical dilemma - a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between
two courses of action, either of which entails transgressing a moral principle.
 What is the emerging
ethical dilemma all about ?
implicati
factors
importa

overvi
Helix is a clinical-grade genomics app platform offers you

about
flexibility, delivering results even as new discoveries are made. It
STS

ons
nce

has dedicated bioinformatics, laboratory, and quality teams that

are focused on ensuring the high-quality of data necessary to
inform the broadest range of genetic insights.
 What factors or events led to this dilemma ?
implicati

factors
importa

overvi
about
STS

ons
nce

Accessibili Cost Prospects

monitoringty
the difficulty of health
so they invented
helix app to monitor the
nutrition ,health and
ancestry of a person by using
their DNA structures in
easiest and convenient way.
The cost of sequencing To remove the
has dropped technological hurdles
dramatically which has and throw open the
opened a market that doors of genetics to
was previously incredible possibilities
inaccessible, narrowly and innovations.
focused, and limited to
consumer experience.
 What are the societal implications of this dilemma ?
01
importa
STS
Daniel MacArthur,
nce
But having access toPhD
all these DNA apps might not
be a good thing for consumers. Daniel MacArthur, a
scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and
Harvard Medical School who studies the human
genome, says there’s a danger associated with
mixing medically serious tests, such as disease
carrier testing, with a range of lifestyle, nutrition,
and wellness tests that have little scientific
evidence to support them.
“Promoting tests with little or no scientific
backing runs the risk of inflating customer
expectations and ultimately undermining
consumer confidence in genuinely clinically
useful genetic tests,” he says.
02
implicati
factors
overvi
about
Stephen
ons
Montgomery
Direct-to-consumer genetic tests, including ones
that claim to predict disease risk, are loosely
regulated in the U.S. That worries Stephen
Montgomery, a geneticist at Stanford University,
who says the Helix platform creates a bigger
opportunity for companies to develop products
that don't provide much value to people.
“Helix will have to think very carefully about
what apps to allow on the platform,” he says.
The average customer probably can’t discern
which products are based on sound science from
those that aren’t, so he hopes Helix will have
some way of evaluating the quality of
information the apps provide.
 Why is it important to question the moral and
ethical issues surrounding innovations in science
and technology?

To determine if that particular innovation will be able to help us in

implicati
factors
importa
our day-to-day lives and if it does not have any huge drawbacks. to

overvi
about
determine the advantage and disadvantage of every innovation. It
STS

ons
nce
also helps to avoid any misinformation that had been gathered
about a particular innovation, this helps to avoid false usage. to
know the limitation of technology not to step on the ethical values
in terms of religion or even in the privacy of every person. to help
identify unforeseen consequences or causal relationships
where ethical values or principles are relevant. In addition,
individuals need reliable knowledge for making informed decisions
and to let the public determine for themselves about the moral and
ethical issues surrounding innovations.
.
In the face of this dilemma, why is it important to
study STS?

SCIENCE, TECHNOLGY

implicati
AND SOCIETY

factors
importa

overvi
about
STS

nce
ons
Studying STS helps students develop the knowledge, skills
and effective qualities to take responsible citizenship action
on science and technology oriented issues. Knowing these
knowledge gives you ideas and better understanding over
the issues, you can also get to know the intentions that the
producers are thinking. Knowing that the issue “Helix”
gives society a great opportunity to help understand
ourselves. Helix can help oneself to see predisposition for
certain health conditions, learn about your genes and
traits, discover your ancestry and more
References :
• https://reilly.nd.edu/news-and-events/news/the-reilly-center-release
s-its-2018-top-10-list-of-ethical-dilemmas-in-science-and-technology
/
• https://
www.laboratoryequipment.com/article/2018/01/top-10-ethical-dile
mmas-science-2018-part-i
• https://reilly.nd.edu/about/
• https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608313/a-dna-app-store-is-he
re-but-proceed-with-caution
/
• https://blog.helix.com/the-launch-of-the-first-marketplace-for-dna-p
owered-apps-helix/