Arts&Society
© Michael Sazel
Margit Fischer
Chairwomen of the Science Center Network Foundation
“It is a pleasure to follow the development and research activities of CeMM, that I visited already at the very start in 2010 and have been following from success to success. But it is also a great pleasure to accompany ‘Genom Austria’, a citizen science project initiated by CeMM which has been launched in 2014 in collaboration with the Medical University of Vienna and the personal genome organization. Self-reflection on identity, origin, selfdetermination, personal freedom is important for me. Genom Austria provides qualifying volunteers the opportunity to sequence their personal genomes and to share the data with the public as pioneers. The key aim is to start a public debate on the opportunities and risks associated with whole genome information and to contribute to the genomic literacy of as many Austrians as possible, particularly young people. Making personal genome publicly and freely available is a way to help advance our common culture on human genetics, biology, and medicine. It also has the potential of maturing into a good example of a citizen science project with a strong science education and science communication component, and will make genome sequencing concrete and tangible. Therefore I fully support this initiative and wish CeMM and its staff all the best for their future endeavors.”