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> Most genomic studies begin by asking participants to upload one of the most identifying and irrevocable pieces of data they own, their DNA.

I'm curious what the author means by "asking participants to upload ... their DNA", because I am not aware of any study that asked participants to do that.

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You're right, most analyses are done using biobanks, etc right now. The sentence is an oversimplification but people still implicitly contribute their data to insecure and centralized sources.

If we can enable people to get sequenced not just when they are sick but for altruistic or financial reasons without leaking their DNA data, we could unlock much bigger datasets than currently available, especially from populations that are underrepresented or ignored.

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