The allergic diseases are complex phenotypes for which a strong genetic basis has been firmly established. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has been widely employed in the field of allergic disease, and to date significant associations have been published for nearly 100 asthma genes/loci, in addition to multiple genes/loci for AD, AR and IgE levels, for which the overwhelming number of candidates are novel and have given a new appreciation for the role of innate as well as adaptive immune-response genes in allergic disease. A major outcome of GWAS in allergic disease has been the formation of national and international collaborations leading to consortia meta-analyses, and an appreciation for the specificity of genetic associations to sub-phenotypes of allergic disease. Molecular genetics has undergone a technological revolution, leading to next generation sequencing (NGS) strategies that are increasingly employed to hone in on the causal variants associated with allergic diseases. Unmet needs in the field include the inclusion of ethnically and racially diverse cohorts, and strategies for managing ‘big data’ that is an outcome of technological advances such as sequencing.
BACKGROUND
Genetic sequencing is critically important to diagnostic health care efforts in the United States today, yet it is still inaccessible to many. Meanwhile, the internet and social networking have made crowdfunding a realistic avenue for individuals and groups hoping to fund medical and research causes, including patients in need of whole exome genetic sequencing (WES).
OBJECTIVE
Amplify Hope is an educational program designed to investigate what factors affect the success of medical crowdfunding campaigns. We conducted a needs assessment, a series of 25 interviews concerning crowdfunding, and provided training on best practices identified through our assessment for 11 individuals hoping to run their medical crowdfunding campaigns to raise money for patients to access trio WES to identify the mutated proteins that caused their apparent inherited disease.
METHODS
The crowdfunding education was given in a 30-day training period with resources such as webinars, fact sheets and a crowdfunding training guide emailed to each participant. All campaigns were launched on the same date and were given 30 days to raise the same goal amount of US $5000. Reviewing the 4 crowdfunding campaigns that raised the goal amount within the 30-day period, we sought to identify features that made the 4 crowdfunding campaigns successful. In addition, we sought to assess which factors the resulting 75 donors report as influencing their decision to donate to a campaign. Finally, we investigated whether crowdfunding campaigns for exome sequencing had an impact on increasing applicant’s and donors’ knowledge of genomics.
RESULTS
Of the 86 study inquiries, 11 participants submitted the required forms and launched their crowdfunding campaigns. A total of 4 of the 11 campaigns raised their goal amounts within 30 days.
CONCLUSIONS
We found that social media played an important role in all campaigns. Specifically, a strong social media network, an active outreach process to networks, as well as engagement within the study all correlated with a higher success rate. Amplify Hope donors were more likely to support projects that were near their fundraising goals, and they found video far more effective for learning about genomics than any other medium.
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