10 Bay Staters To Post DNA Online

This afternoon, ten volunteers may share their genetic codes with the public.

WBUR's Sacha Pfeiffer reports.

The group of ten, many of them well-known researchers, had their DNA studied by the Personal Genome Project. That's an effort to understand the genetic basis of disease and other traits. John Halamka, chief information officer at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is one of the volunteers. He says he'll disclose his genetic information no matter what it reveals.

HALAMKA: If you're told you have a risk of heart disease that's 20 percent higher than an average person, you have a risk of colon cancer that's 50 percent higher, I think knowing the probabilities would be of great benefit.

That's because you could try to prevent those diseases by changing your lifestyle or taking certain medications.