I commenced my PhD project, PercePRS — Public Perception of Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) — in November 2021. PRS is a cutting-edge genetic technology that aims to predict an individual’s likelihood of developing certain health conditions by analysing patterns across their genetic data. Despite its potential to transform personalised medicine and preventive healthcare, PRS has yet to be widely implemented in clinical or consumer contexts. This delay is attributed to various factors, including scientific, ethical, and societal challenges and scepticism surrounding its accuracy, accessibility, and privacy implications.
My research investigates how PRS is perceived by the public, focusing on the anticipated benefits, perceived risks, and broader barriers to its adoption. By applying a human-computer interaction (HCI) perspective, my work examines the design, usability, and ethical considerations of PRS technologies and their implications for end-users. The project combines qualitative and participatory methods to explore how people engage with PRS information, services, and technologies.
Having completed the research phase of my project, I am now in the writing-up stage.
Researchers / Supervisors
Prof Albert Tenesa
Prof John Vines
Publications
DIS 2024 Companion (Open Access) – Design for Debate: Exploring Public Perceptions of an Emerging Genetics Health Prediction Service ‘Polygenic Risk Score’ Through Design Methods
Fundings and Grants
The Genetics Society has predominantly supported our PercePRS project for research expenses, public engagement, training, and conference travel.
Research Grant – The Genetics Society
- Public Engagement Grant
Project-related Grant – various
- The Genetics Society Conference Grant
- The Genetics Society Communicating Your Science Workshop Grant
- Edinburgh Futures Institute Research Dissemination Fund
- Birrell-Gray Travelling Scholarship – Roslin Institute
Public Engagement
X @PercePRS (previously known as Twitter) – we are no longer updating our project on X; instead, we use Bluesky.
Acknowledgements
We sincerely thank all participants involved in our research.
We also thank our colleagues who were involved in this project in any type of engagement.