A glimpse into the future: A game to explore predictive genomics and Alzheimer’s Disease

Dr Gabriela Pavarini is a Wellcome Trust postdoctoral researcher at the Neuroscience, Ethics and Society Group (NEUROSEC), University of Oxford. Her work aims at bringing young people’s voices into ethical debates surrounding early intervention in Psychiatry. Before joining NEUROSEC, she completed a PhD in Psychology at the University of Cambridge, where she also co-led the Cambridge Moral Psychology Group.

Project description

Your mother has severe dementia. 23 and Me, a commercial company, offers a genetic test that claims to be able to tell you and your daughter if you are at increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Should you send off your saliva for testing? Should your daughter? This project aims at developing novel communication methods that are entertaining and engaging for younger generations, on topics such as predictive genetic testing for Alzheimer’s disease. The team will be tasked with testing one such communication method: a video game currently being developed by the Oxford BeGOOD Team in collaboration with the University of Abertay. The game explores the ethics of predictive genomics, using genetic testing for Alzheimer’s disease as a case.