Jimmy Lin, the founder of the Rare Genomics Institute and a Hopkins Ph.D. and medical degree candidate, wanted to bring the crowd-funding model to undiagnosed or rare diseases. They number in the thousands but don't attract as much attention from government and university researchers, foundations and biopharmaceutical companies. Lin launched RareGenomics.org last month.Lin and a team of research volunteers he assembled hunt for so-called "mystery genes" that could explain a patient's undiagnosed ailment.

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