In 2018 co-founders of the Only Human project, Prof Anna Middleton and Julian Borra met with 13 genetic counsellors working at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge to see if we could find a new metaphor to describe genomics. The idea was to build on the existing metaphors that are routinely used to describe what genes do, and find a new approach that could be turned into filmed storytelling.
Drawing on topics that genetic counsellors told us would be most helpful, we created a series of films, using the metaphor of music, that fit together as a collection. The films have been trialled in the NHS in Cambridge and also in London and so far the feedback from both genetic counsellors and patients has been positive.