Daniel MacArthur at Genetic Future blogs about the news that George Church's Personal Genome Project "has called for the next wave of volunteers." This round will include 100 people who will get their genome sequenced (at no cost to them). "The benefits to volunteers are straightforward: you get access to your own genome sequence before most human beings on the planet, and you get the warm fuzzy glow that comes with benefiting humanity," MacArthur writes.
He adds that volunteering is not for the faint of heart: "Volunteering to participate is not simply a matter of filling in a few forms: the PGP takes the notion of 'informed consent' to a new level, requiring that you prove just how informed you are by taking an entrance test that assesses your 'comprehension of concepts relevant to providing informed consent to participate in the PGP' including 'concepts such as potential risks of participating, project protocols, and basic genetics.'"