February 22, 2013
Image by Mariana Ruiz LadyofHats [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons New research suggests that a once-fatal congenital heart defect — sometimes called “blue baby syndrome” — is influenced by genetic factors that are broadly found in the general population. Different heart malformations lead to [...]
February 12, 2013
We know from scientific research that, in general, people don’t freak out about the results they get from personal genetic testing. When the results show an increased risk for serious illness, how do they react? It turns out that even then, the news doesn’t trigger serious anxiety. Quite the contrary, [...]
January 29, 2013
Last year 23andMe and Genentech launched an online study of metastatic breast cancer to learn more about what role genes might play in how a person responds to bevacizumab, also known as Avastin®. (Avastin® is not approved by the FDA for treatment of metastatic breast cancer.) We were happy with the [...]
January 24, 2013
You probably know that smoking and excessive drinking are bad for you. But did you know that your genetics also factor into how much those vices can impact your health? Healthy lifestyle choice — like avoiding cigarettes — make you less susceptible to a host to diseases. For instance, non-smokers live, [...]
January 18, 2013
Here’s something to file under “Thank Goodness!” Researchers at the University of Bristol found that people with the genetic variant making them more prone to smelly armpits are also more likely to wear deodorant. The paper, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, looked at variants in [...]
January 11, 2013
A sure way to make you more diligent about washing your hands is to read a little coverage on what’s turning out to be the worst flu season in recent memory. A lucky few of us, however, have defenses that go beyond trusty soap and water — our genes. Approximately 30 percent of people with European [...]
December 20, 2012
Take a moment to look back at the ten most interesting and significant genetic findings of 2012 or at least the ones that drew our attention. In the last 12 months we’ve seen huge strides in genetic research giving us new insight into serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s as well as new treatments for [...]
December 6, 2012
Earlier this year we met our goal of enrolling 1,000 people in a community of people with a collection of rare blood disorders known as myeloproliferative neoplasms, or MPNs. Since then we’ve been able to replicate known genetic associations with these rare disorders, as well as make new findings of our [...]
December 3, 2012
It isn’t just our political persuasions that divide us but our cilantro affiliations too. And it turns out that whether we like the herb or hate it has something to do with genetics, as we’ve blogged about before. Last week, the online peer-reviewed journal Flavour published our research paper on a [...]
November 13, 2012
23andMe’s genetic health reports cover 191 rare genetic mutations in addition to more common variants related to disease. While it’s relatively easy to learn about common variants, our knowledge of rare mutations traditionally has come from very small studies limited to specific populations, like French [...]
