23andMe at ASHG 2018

This week, thousands of people will flock to San Diego for one of the most important conferences of the year. No, not Comic-Con — it’s the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, the flagship conference for scientists who study the human genome.  

Participants can look forward to five days of seminars, panel discussions, and workshops on a wide range of topics, from risk models and population genetics, to ethics and education. This year’s main “Presidential Symposium” will feature a panel of experts discussing the latest advances in African genomics research and what our understanding of human origins can teach us about genetic variation in modern human populations. And when scientists are ready to unwind, they can look forward to a special performance by NIH Director Francis Collins’s band Ethidium Spill.

More than 50 members of 23andMe’s Research, Therapeutics, and Product Science teams will be joining the genetics extravaganza. In addition to presenting our latest genetics research, we’ll be answering all of your questions at booth #1225 about working for and collaborating with 23andMe (Did you know we have a program that provides support to researchers genotyping underrepresented populations? We recently selected researchers working in Ethiopia, Madagascar, and South Africa). At the booth, you can also receive a free copy of our children’s book You Share Genes With Me or buy a discounted 23andMe kit. For those who can’t attend, we’ll be live-tweeting at the meeting to provide a sneak peek of the action.

But of course, the most important part of ASHG is scientists coming together to learn about cutting edge genetics research. Below is a list of 23andMe’s scientific presentations at ASHG:

Talks

Incidence of uniparental disomy in 2 million individuals from the 23andMe database

• Priyanka Nakka, PhD, 23andMe intern, Brown University
• Tuesday, Oct 16, 5:50pm – 6:10pm
• Hall C – Ground Level

Combining genetic and exposure data significantly improves risk prediction for skin cancer

• Pierre Fontanillas, PhD, Senior Scientist I, Statistical Genetics
• Wednesday, Oct 17, 9:15am – 9:30am
• Ballroom 20BC – Upper Level

Posters

All posters can be found in the Exhibit Hall on Ground Level of the San Diego Convention Center.

Wednesday, Oct 17

Updating an efficient pipeline for local ancestry inference

• Ethan Jewett, PhD, Scientist I, Population Genetics
• 2:00pm – 3:00pm
• Poster #1479

Prioritizing variants and reducing false positive associations in GWAS

• Keng-Han Lin, PhD, Scientist I, Statistical Genetics
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Poster #3498

An initiative for genetic data collection from underrepresented countries and populations

• Kimberly McManus, PhD, Scientist I, Population Genetics
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Poster #2712

Thursday, Oct 18

Controls: How large is too large? A survey of methods for optimal subsampling in large-scale case-control studies

• Yunxuan Jiang, PhD, Scientist I, Statistical Genetics
• 2:00pm – 3:00pm
• Poster #3547

Accurate prediction of multiple pigmentation phenotypes

• Babak Alipanahi, PhD, Senior Scientist I, Computational Biology
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Poster #2578

A survey of integrating age-at-onset genetics for predicting the age-specific disease risk

• Chao Tian, PhD, Senior Scientist I, Statistical Genetics
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Poster #3532

Friday, Oct 19

Itchy and scratchy: Polygenic risk scores predict self-reported mosquito attraction and bite response

• James Ashenhurst, PhD, Product Scientist II
• 2:00pm – 3:00pm
• Poster #2579

Initiatives to increase the diversity of populations represented in genetics research

• Anjali Shastri, PhD, Research Project Manager
• 2:00pm – 3:00pm
• Poster #2747

Deconstructing the genetic architectures of BMI and eating behavior phenotypes

• Janie Shelton, PhD, Scientist II, Data Collection
• 2:00pm – 3:00pm
• Poster #2135

Direct-to-consumer genetic testing for factor V Leiden and prothrombin 20210G>A: the consumer experience

• Sarah Elson, PhD, Senior Scientist I, Program Management
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Poster #626

Genetic associations with sleep apnea in a European population

• Yunru Huang, PhD, Scientist I, Biostatistics
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Poster #3422

Opsin gene probes accurately predict red-green color vision deficiencies derived from a web-based Ishihara plate color perception test

• Michael Multhaup, PhD, Senior Product Scientist I
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Poster #2522

Finding rare variants of large effect using identity-by-descent mapping

• Suyash Shringarpure, PhD, Senior Scientist I, Statistical Genetics
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Poster #3518

If you’d like to learn more about 23andMe’s research initiatives, stop by booth #1225 or visit research.23andme.com.