If you don’t know who Evelyn Witkins is perhaps you should.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_23398" style="width: 258px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23398" class="size-medium wp-image-23398" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/2015winner_img_witkin-248x300.jpg" alt="Evelyn Witkin." width="248" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/2015winner_img_witkin-248x300.jpg 248w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/2015winner_img_witkin.jpg 622w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 248px) 100vw, 248px" />Evelyn Witkin.</div>
A legendary figure in genetic science, the 94 year-old professor emerita at Rutgers University was awarded in September a Lasker Prize for Basic Medical Research, sometimes referred to as “America’s Nobel.”
We here at the blog neglected to make note of the award that Witkins shares with fellow scientist <a href="http://researchfaculty.brighamandwomens.org/BRIProfile.aspx?id=3197">Stephen Elledge</a> of Brigham Women Hospital, for their separate discoveries around the “DNA-damage response” – a mechanism that protects DNA against the onslaught of everyday life, whether by chemical, biological or other environmental exposures.

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Witkins began her work in the early 1940s at Cold Spring Harbor looking at genetic mutations in bacteria.
When she eventually moved from Cold Spring Harbor to Rutgers, she continued to do genetics research with bacteria and studied how DNA responded to UV radiation. This led her to her work on DNA repair and what she later identified as the DNA-damage response, which was the first “coordinated cellular stress response to be elucidated.”


Stephen Elledge built on that early work first studying the DNA damage response in yeast but moving onto studying this response in human cells and the role it plays in the development of cancer and degenerative disorders.


In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/science/evelyn-witkin-and-the-road-to-dna-enlightenment.html?ref=health">an interview</a> with the New York Times, Witkins described her time at Cold Spring Harbor, as a magical time in genetics. Her love of science also comes through in the interview particularly when she described the day she attended the first demonstration on how the genetic code worked, and then later that evening going to a performance of Handel’s “Messiah.”
“I tell you I had the same feeling of exultation that I had in that talk about the genetic code,” she said.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Long Overdue Recognition

Starting in January with the launch of the ambitious Precision Medicine Initiative in the United States, 2015 finished with a <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23080" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ChromoShareButton-300x158.jpg" alt="ChromoShareButton" width="300" height="158" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ChromoShareButton-300x158.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ChromoShareButton-768x403.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ChromoShareButton-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ChromoShareButton-880x462.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ChromoShareButton-1180x620.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ChromoShareButton.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />heated debate around the appropriate use of technology that allows scientists to edit the human genome.
Those two big stories bookended the year showing both the promise and peril of genetics.
2015 triggered  a furious pace in new <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/">genetic insights</a> with all the potential they hold. But with many of these advances comes the weight of new issues to tackle as well. As we head into 2016, we’re taking a moment to look back at some of the highlights of the year including 23andMe’s contributions to the science and discussion around genetics.
<h4></h4>
<h2>Transforming Medical Research<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-23384" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Precision-Medicine-Initiative.jpg" alt="Precision Medicine Initiative" width="200" height="125" /></h2>
The Precision Medicine Initiative announced by President Obama in January could help change the face of medicine forever. The effort to sequence a million Americans will depend on the willingness of people to participate in research meant to, as Obama said, &#8220;bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes, and to give all of us access to the personalized information we need to keep ourselves and our families healthier.&#8221; It’s the kind of people-powered research model that 23andMe pioneered; one that is about more than just collecting data, but depends on empowering consumers and engaging them in their own health.
<h2>A Banner Year for 23andMe</h2>
While it wasn’t a scientific breakthrough,<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-22990" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/anne-wojcicki-cover-228x300.jpg" alt="anne-wojcicki-cover" width="228" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/anne-wojcicki-cover-228x300.jpg 228w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/anne-wojcicki-cover-768x1008.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/anne-wojcicki-cover-780x1024.jpg 780w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/anne-wojcicki-cover-670x880.jpg 670w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/anne-wojcicki-cover-899x1180.jpg 899w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/anne-wojcicki-cover.jpg 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px" />syndrome carrier status report was a huge step for direct-to-consumer health testing in general. It was the first time the US regulatory agency gave such authorization, and it’s laid the groundwork for how to return actionable health results to consumers in a regulated environment. It also was a highpoint in a long list of highpoints for 23andMe, that included launching a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2015/03/12/23andme-enters-the-drug-business-just-as-apple-changes-it/">Therapeutics group</a> and introducing a newly imagined product experience for customers that included health, ancestry and traits reports and the first-ever genetic test with reports that meet FDA standards.
<h2>The People of the British Isles</h2>
History can be found in our DNA, and new research by scientists at Oxford University found distinctive regional differences in the tight confines of the British Isles. The study, led by Sir Walter Bodmer, also found that there is no single “Celtic” genetic group. Instead the study found that people in the Celtic regions of the UK – Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Cornwall – are among the most genetically diverse in all the United Kingdom. In addition, the researchers estimate that the genetic contributions from Anglo-Saxon migrations – Germanic people who came into the coastal lowlands of the British Isles in the 5th and 6th centuries– to be just under half among people in the south east of England. As with studies done by 23andMe looking at African ancestry in the United States, this fine scale genetic map of the British Isles illuminates historical patterns of migration and distinct regional differences. It even reveals clusters of populations that show similar geographic locations of tribal groupings and kingdoms dating back to the 6th century.
<h2>That Dress</h2>
<div id="attachment_22322" style="width: 208px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-22322" class="size-medium wp-image-22322" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/The-Dress-198x300.jpg" alt="IMAGE: TUMBLR / SWIKED" width="198" height="300" />IMAGE: TUMBLR / SWIKED</div>
Scientists at 23andMe ask a lot of questions. It’s their job, and it informs the kind of innovative research 23andMe pioneered. The information we get from people who participate in research is combined with genetic information that feeds into 23andMe’s powerful and novel research model. It’s allowed our scientists to quickly find genetic insights related to human traits, inheritance and disease. A great recent illustration of that came earlier this spring when 23andMe computational biologist Fah Sathirapongsasuti, PhD, tapped into the flurry of conversation created by The Striped Dress, where people saw distinctly different colors: blue and black, or white and gold. In a matter of a few days 23andMe was able to survey about 25,000 customers interested in participating in the study, and make some interesting findings. While there was no clear genetic association, Fah found a small effect size in a gene associated with light perception – ANO6. But it was non-genetic factors – namely a person’s age – that seemed to play the biggest role in why some people saw one pair of colors and others saw something else.
<h2>Got Lactase?</h2>
Nutrient-rich with plenty of vitamin D for the sun-starved in Northern Europe, milk was a kind of superfood of the Bronze Age. But new research published in the spring indicates that it took awhile before Europeans could digest milk, and that trait appears to have been introduced by the Yamnaya, a group of people who migrated into Northern Europe from an area near the Altai Mountains in what is now central Russia.
You can read more<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/health-traits/23andmoo/"> here</a>.
<h2>A Little Buggy</h2>
Some people are just tastier to mosquitoes than others, and that has to do with genetics, according to<a href="http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2015/twins_mosquito_study.html"> a twin study</a> done by researchers at the London School of Hygiene &amp; Tropical Medicine. Understanding these differences could help in fighting the spread of devastating mosquito born illnesses like malaria and dengue fever.
<h2>Optimism about Research into Depression</h2>
For the first time ever researchers identified two genetic variants associated with major depressive disorder. In a study published in<a href="https://www.nature.com/news/first-robust-genetic-links-to-depression-emerge-1.17979?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews"> Nature</a> over the summer, scientists at University of Oxford found the genetic variants and were able to replicate their findings. Although previous studies have found genetic associations, unlike with these findings those failed to stand up to further scrutiny. One of the variants identified in this study is near the gene SIRT1, which plays a role in mitochondria, the energy producing organelles of the cell. The findings may help identify drug targets to better treat depression, which affects more than 350 million people.
<h2>Innovation in Diagnosing Parkinson’s</h2>
A team of researchers has developed a simple, non-invasive approach to<a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422%2815%2900178-7/fulltext"> diagnosing people with Parkinson’s disease</a>, an illness that is typically very difficult to detect. The model uses a combination of such things as genetic data, family health information, age, and biomarkers like the ability to smell to make a diagnosis. The researchers believe that with some refinements the tool could help in screening and diagnosing individuals for the condition and help in differentiating Parkinson’s disease from other neurological conditions.
<div id="attachment_22837" style="width: 277px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-22837" class="size-medium wp-image-22837" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/F1.large-1-267x300.jpg" alt="Composite skeleton of Homo nadeli along with other bones found at the Rising Star Cave in South Africa. Photo: Lee Berger, Wits, photographed at Evolutionary Studies Institute" width="267" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/F1.large-1-267x300.jpg 267w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/F1.large-1-768x863.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/F1.large-1-911x1024.jpg 911w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/F1.large-1-783x880.jpg 783w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/F1.large-1-1050x1180.jpg 1050w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 267px) 100vw, 267px" />Composite skeleton of Homo nadeli along with other bones found at the Rising Star Cave in South Africa. Photo: Lee Berger, Wits, photographed at Evolutionary Studies Institute</div>
More Cousins
Fossils found in a South African cave could be that of a brand new human ancestor, dubbed<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/hello-cousin/"> Homo naledi</a>. The species dates back two million years, and pushes back the age of the genus Homo – which includes modern humans – at least 400,000 years earlier than previously thought.
<h2>Gene Editing</h2>
Few breakthroughs have stimulated more discussion in genetics than the innovative technique to “edit” specific bits of DNA. Called Crispr-Cas9, it offers a simple and quick way of snipping out a sections of DNA and stitching the DNA back together again. In so doing it could be used for all sorts conventional and gene therapies. Yet while the gene editing tool offers intriguing possibilities for “correcting” genetic defects that trigger disease or inherited conditions, it raised huge<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/magazine/the-crispr-quandary.html"> moral and ethical issues</a>. While the technology has raced ahead, sorting out all the issues it raises has lagged behind. In December scientists from around the world met to discuss the implications in Washington DC and agreed to put a halt to editing of the human genome until clearer lines and standards could be agreed upon although research continues.

This Year’s Top Ten Stories in Genetics

A big part of our mission is to help advance genetics education.
We had a rewarding opportunity to do so last Friday, as the 23andMe Education Team hosted a holiday event for thirty 4th and 5th grade students from the <a href="http://www.bgcp.org/">Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula</a>  (BGCP) in Redwood City.  
Not far from our Mountain View offices, this club provides underprivileged students with a safe place to play and learn after school.  It’s one of three BGCP  “Clubhouses” in the area. As BGCP  puts it, Clubhouses are a place to interact with positive peer groups and adults who care, who mentor, and who inspire.
Our goal was to inspire through science — and have a lot of fun with a group of bright, enthusiastic students. We introduced students to DNA basics through interactive games, including learning how genetics can influence certain traits.
The bitter taste test was a huge hit, as were the facial contortions of the super tasters. Students also built double helix models out of Legos.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-23421 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_160730-300x169.jpg" alt="20151218_160730" height="169" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_160730-300x169.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_160730-768x432.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_160730-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_160730-880x495.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_160730-1180x664.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
One of the students thought most of the things he learned about DNA were “boss.”
For example, in response to seeing a double helix structure: “Boss.” Upon learning tongue rolling is partially genetically influenced:“Boss.” Realizing he got to keep the Legos: “Boss.”

We also had the students guess for a prize how much DNA (in length) is packed into each individual human cell, using a piece of yarn to indicate their hypotheses. The conversation, like the ball of yarn, unspooled slowly with initial estimates  coming in around 6 inches. The guessing continued, ramping to a rapid fire pace  with students going smaller and smaller until one finally pulled the tiniest fiber of yarn he could manage, convinced he was going to win. They were surprised when the answer was revealed: approximately 6 feet.


Our favorite comment, though, was from a young girl who after constructing her Lego double helix exclaimed, “This is the best day ever! I sprained my foot on Wednesday, and this is way better!”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-23418 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_164608-300x169.jpg" alt="20151218_164608" height="169" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_164608-300x169.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_164608-768x432.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_164608-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_164608-880x495.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/20151218_164608-1180x664.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
&#8220;Seeing the enthusiasm and excitement of the children was immensely rewarding,&#8221; said Ashley Horgan, academic program coordinator at 23andMe.
&#8220;They were eager to share their own knowledge of DNA, ask questions and participate in each activity.  Their smiles and energy left us all grateful  for having had  the opportunity to spend a few hours of our day with them.&#8221;
Students took home a bag of DNA-themed goodies to further their scientific exploration with their families and friends over the holiday break.  
Each gift bag contained a biographical book, family admission to the Tech Museum in San Jose (donated by our friends  at <a href="http://www.thetech.org/">the Tech</a>), a &#8220;You Share Genes with Me&#8221; coloring book with colored pencils, a Lego set, and 23andMe temporary tattoos.
23andMe volunteers also went home with special gifts from the event &#8211; students&#8217; enthusiasm for new knowledge and their gratitude for our time (and gifts).
Thanks to our hosts at BGCP, and all of the 23andMe volunteers, including those who helped coordinate  the event!
&#8211; <a href="https://education.23andme.org/">23andMe Education Team</a>

Editor&#8217;s note: this version has been slightly altered from the original post.

“Best Day Ever”

When Kelle Scott connected with some distant cousins on 23andMe she didn’t realize
<div id="attachment_23409" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23409" class="size-medium wp-image-23409" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-300x169.jpg" alt="Pat Nosoko" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-300x169.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-768x432.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-880x495.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Pat Nosko</div>
she’d also stumbled on the perfect gift for her mom – family.


Kelle’s mom, Pat Nosko, was adopted, and never knew her biological parents. Kelle had originally used 23andMe just to find out a little bit about her family’s ancestral background, but what she found was a missing branch on her family tree.


“This was a most unanticipated result,” Kelle said.
Her mother, Pat, was adopted in 1950. She knew what her name had been at birth, Charlotte Farmer. She knew where and when she was born, but not much else. Although Pat wanted to know more, she said she never pursued a search in part because she didn’t want to hurt her adoptive parents.


“I was adopted by lovely people,” she said.


And Pat never felt like there was a hole in her life she needed to fill, so she left it alone for 65 years.


Then her daughter tested with 23andMe, connected with a third cousin named Jane, who’d began piecing together an extensive family tree. When she asked Kelle for information about her mom, Kelle told Jane her mom
<div id="attachment_23412" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23412" class="size-medium wp-image-23412" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-2-300x169.jpg" alt="Pat, left, and her daughter Kelle." width="300" height="169" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-2-880x495.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-2-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/pat-kelle-2.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Pat, left, and her daughter Kelle.</div>
was adopted and she didn’t know much of anything. She did, however, know her mother’s birth date, and the name she was born with, Charlotte Farmer.
That little bit of information was enough and one morning before dawn, Kelle got a message from Jane.


&#8220;I think I found your mother&#8217;s birth mom,&#8221; Jane said.


It turned out that Pat’s biological siblings – she had six – had posted on three adoption message boards saying that they were looking for a sister, adopted in 1950, named Charlotte Farmer.
Those messages were like “bread crumbs” giving their biological sister a way to find them, if she wanted.
For Kelle this was momentous news, but the messages were old.


“I needed to give this information to my mom, but I’d hoped that first I could find at least one living relative who was looking for her,” said Kelle.
So Kelle and Jane kept searching, trying to find a living family member for Pat.
She had a name of one of Pat&#8217;s sisters, Angel Fitzgerald.
Pat had no idea.
<iframe loading="lazy" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VnujfbhfVNA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>


“It was kind of amazing because I didn’t know any of this was going on,” said Pat.


Kelle found a few phone numbers for different women named &#8220;Angel Fitzgerald.&#8221; She didn&#8217;t know which one might be her mother&#8217;s sister. So she gave a few of the numbers to her mother.
One of the numbers she called, she asked for Angel Fitzgerald. When the woman said it was, Kelle asked her if she was the same Angel Fitzgerald looking for &#8220;Charlotte Farmer.&#8221; It was.
Pat was stunned.
“I was speechless,” she said. “It took me a little bit before I could speak.”


The sisters spoke for the first time ever, and Pat found all of her six siblings, their children, the aunt she’d been named for and the names of her mother and maternal grandparents.
Not long before Christmas, the sisters met for the first time in person.


“It&#8217;s the most amazingly beautiful gift I could have ever hoped to give my mother,” her daughter Kelle said.

A Most Amazing Gift

A new study has identified four locations in the genome associated with a risk for the most common type of hernia, offering <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23374" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon-285x300.jpeg" alt="Research Icon" height="300" width="285" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon-285x300.jpeg 285w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon.jpeg 673w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 285px) 100vw, 285px" />researchers insight into the possible genetic mechanisms that make some people more likely than others to develop this painful condition.
“Surgical repair of inguinal hernias is one of the most commonly performed operations in the world, yet little is known about the genetic mechanisms that predispose individuals to develop them,” said Eric Jorgenson, PhD, research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.


<a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151217/ncomms10130/full/ncomms10130.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The study</a>, by scientists from Kaiser and the University of California at San Francisco, is the first large-scale genetic study looking at the risk of inguinal hernias in adults. As part of the study the findings were replicated using 23andMe’s data.


Researchers started by conducting a Genome Wide Association Study using data from Kaiser Permanente’s large patient research database, called the Genetic Epidemiology Research in Adult Health and Aging cohort.
Along with genetic data from 110,000 people, this cohort also includes participants’ electronic medical records. This allowed researchers to look specifically for genetic associations among patients who’d undergone surgery for a hernia. That first step revealed four specific locations in the genome associated with risk for having a hernia.
With that information, researchers at UC San Francisco then look more deeply at the biology around those genetic locations. They looked at how those genes – involved in the development of connective tissue in the body – expressed themselves in mice. What they found that at least two of these genes or gene regions operate in the same biological pathway, according to <a href="#http://pharm.ucsf.edu/ahituv">Nadav Ahituv, PhD</a>, associate professor at UCSF’s Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences.


The researchers believe that the findings suggest that gene regions identified in this study influence susceptibility for hernias because they regulate both collagen and elastin in the body, influencing the strength of connective tissue.
Hernias develop often when pressure or strain pushes an organ or other tissue through a weak spot in surrounding muscle or connective tissue. This often happens in the groin or stomach area, and can be very painful and can lead to several complications if the hernia also cuts off blood flow.
Men carry a much higher lifetime risk for the condition – more than four times as likely – than women whose lifetime risk is about six percent. But for both men and women the risk of developing a hernia increases as they age.


The authors said the study will help guide further research and may help identify more effective treatments to prevent hernias.

Genetics found to influence likelihood of developing hernias

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-17056" title="Christmas Tree" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ChristmasTree-300x200.jpg" alt="" height="200" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ChristmasTree-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ChristmasTree.jpg 424w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

Editor&#8217;s note: Recently researchers at UC Davis sequenced the California sugar pine, which is endangered. A few years back they had done the same for the Douglas fir, and we wrote about it. We thought it worthwhile to run again for the holidays. Cheers!


If you could just get your Christmas tree to spit into a tube and extract some DNA, you might learn a lot about your holiday decoration.
For starters, you might be able to tell where it originated. Plant genetics, like animal genetics, is influenced by geography.
A team of Douglas fir tree researchers, under the direction of Andrew Eckert and David Neale from the University of California, Davis, have discovered <a href="http://www.genetics.org/content/182/4/1289" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">seven genetic markers</a> with frequencies that vary with location across the Pacific Northwest. These markers were found in genes associated with cold-hardiness.
The implication is that northern Douglas fir trees, exposed to blustery winter weather, evolved to be genetically different from their southern-dwelling cousins.
Their find, although not surprising, is interesting; science is now beginning to understand exactly how genetic variation leads to the cold-hardy trees of the north.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-17057 size-medium" title="TreeNeedles" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/TreeNeedles-300x204.jpg" alt="" height="204" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/TreeNeedles-300x204.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/TreeNeedles.jpg 420w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

The real cutting edge of Christmas tree research, however, lies with cut trees and the mess that they make. Anyone with firsthand experience with a fresh-cut Christmas tree knows that shed needles are the price paid for that fresh piney scent. With an ever-earlier start to the Christmas season, needle retention research represents an opportunity; a tree which could retain its needles from Thanksgiving until well past New Year’s would be a commercial hit.


Gary Chastagner of the Washington State University, sometimes referred to as “Mr. Christmas Tree,” is leading a scientific quest for the holy grail of Christmas trees: better needle retention. The $1.3 million dollar project will use RNA sequencing and the “Denmark Needle Retention Scale” (which Chastagner developed with Danish tree scientists) to look for genetic associations.

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Mr. Christmas Tree’s undertaking is an ambitious one, but could herald great news for those of us who prefer their pine needles on the Christmas tree and not in the vacuum cleaner.
My next request? A tree which grows its own lights.

Happy Holidays

<div id="attachment_23295" style="width: 250px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23295" class="wp-image-23295 size-full" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/JohnBrian.jpg" alt="John&#038;Brian" width="240" height="294" />John, standing, with his sister Kathy and their half-brother Brian, who they found through 23andMe.</div>
Brothers from different mothers, John and Brian came together because of 23andMe.
For John, 68, finding a half-brother was the last thing he expected.
“I was shocked,” he said.
John used 23andMe because he’s interested in science. Since his days in high school biology class, John has always been curious about genetics. He wasn’t looking for family.
“Imagine my surprise when I found a half-brother,” he said.
Actually his results initially listed Brian as a predicted grandson – half siblings share about 20 percent of their DNA, the same percentage shared by a grandfather and grandson. There is also an 18-year difference in age between the two, so John had some tense moments trying to figure out his relationship with Brian.
But when Brian first contacted him by email, the message jarred loose a memory for John. He – and the rest of his immediate family – all knew that his Dad, who ran a photo studio in a coal-mining town in West Virginia, had had an affair with a woman who worked for him and that the woman got pregnant.
“We knew there was a child out there but that’s it,” said John, who eventually took over the family business.
<div id="attachment_23296" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23296" class="size-medium wp-image-23296" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Francis-John-Brians-Dad-225x300.jpg" alt="John and Brian's father." width="225" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Francis-John-Brians-Dad-225x300.jpg 225w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Francis-John-Brians-Dad.jpg 240w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" />John and Brian&#8217;s father.</div>
Brian knew none of this.
He actually had no information at all about his biological family apart from some basic non-identifying facts about his mother – her religion and age for example.
Brian, a 49 year-old CPA living in Florida, often wondered about where he came from, but when he tested with 23andMe back in 2014 it was just to get some very basic information about his ancestry. He didn’t expect to find family.
When Brian first got his results he looked through his DNA Relative matches and among the long list of distant cousins, he saw one very close match, a relative with whom he shared 20 percent of his DNA.
“That’s close,” Brian said.
He just didn’t know how close. Looking at a 23andMe video Brian figured out that he and his close match were likely half siblings. For someone who’d never knew any biological relatives, this was a big deal. So Brian sent a message to his match and waited.
When John looked through the message from Brian and some of the facts he provided, he quickly figured out that Brian was his half brother. They began exchanging messages.
“I was a little leery about how he’d handle it,” said Brian. “It had to be shocking for him.”
Brian’s sister, who is also an adoptee, encouraged him to go forward with meeting John and his wife Jennie along with John’s sister Kathy and her husband Paul.
Brian didn’t just worry about how his existence would impact John and his family; he was also concerned about whether he’d be accepted. John and his family are religious and relatively conservative. His wife has a doctorate in theology and is a Christian counselor.
Brian was raised in a not very religious Jewish household, and he’s gay. He didn’t know what to expect.
“Over the years I imagined many different scenarios, so I went in with my eyes wide open,” Brian said.
John and his family welcomed him with open arms.
&#8220;I could not have asked for a nicer experience,” said Brian. “They were cordial, polite and respectful.&#8221;
John felt the same.
“It meant a lot to meet him,” said John. “I’m extremely impressed with Brian, his maturity and intelligence. He’s a good caring person.”
John also offered something to Brian that was invaluable, a vast collection of photos and even film of their biological father. Their father had run a photo studio business and was always taking pictures and filming.
Brian got to see his biological father at all these different stages of his life and even see how he moved, his mannerism and how he talked.
“It was more than I could have asked for,” Brian said.
Sharing that gave John his own sense of joy, he said.
Their father had a lot of flaws, John said, but everyone liked him. He had a big personality and John tried to share some of that with Brian.
“It meant a lot to me because it meant a lot to Brian,” John said.

Eyes Wide Open

Fast and sure on the ice, Olympic gold medalist <a href="http://apoloantonohno.com/">Apolo Anton Ohno</a> was less sure about his ancestral background.
<div id="attachment_23315" style="width: 295px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23315" class="size-medium wp-image-23315" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Apolo-Ono-C-fixed-B-285x300-285x300.jpg" alt="Olympic gold medalist Apolo Ohno and Extreme Genes radio host Scott Fischer." width="285" height="300" />Olympic gold medalist Apolo Ohno and Extreme Genes radio host Scott Fischer.</div>
Raised by a single father, who’d immigrated to the United States from Japan, Apolo didn’t know much about his mother’s side of the family. On a recent episode of the syndicated family history radio show <a href="http://extremegenes.com/ep-115-olympic-gold-medalist-apolo-anton-ohno-dr-robin-smith-on-dna-week/">Extreme Genes</a>, Apolo said he turned to 23andMe to find out more about his ancestry. Along with the eight time Olympic medalist, the show featured 23andMe product scientist Robin Smith, PhD, who highlighted some of the company’s ancestry features and tools.
During his segment, Apolo explained that growing up outside of Seattle, he was sometimes asked about his nationality. “What are you?” is how the question was often asked.
“I’m half Japanese, but they’d ask what’s the other half,” Apolo told the show host Scott Fischer.
He didn’t know much about the other half of his ancestry.
His mother and father had divorced when he was very young and he stayed with his dad. He didn’t have much contact with his mother and because she’d been adopted she really didn’t know much about her family history.
But he was always curious about his ancestors, he said during the show.
On his Japanese side, he had a rich source of family lore not just from his grandmother, but because it is custom to carefully catalog the family going back generations. There are extensive household registries called koseki, as well as death records and records compiled by families themselves that helped Apolo trace back his Japanese family history. 
On his mother’s side, he had very little to go on. That’s why he turned to 23andMe. He learned the other half of his ancestry was rooted in England and Ireland, which might explain that even though his hair is black, his sideburns and goatee are red. He also learned that he has a little North African ancestry.
Apolo said his curiosity wasn’t just about learning about himself, but learning more generally about the human story. He mentioned reading about the discovery of 120,000 year old bones in China that change our understanding about the timing of human migration.
“It’s awesome,” he said of the science.
Before Apolo’s segment on the show, 23andMe scientist Robin Smith discussed some of 23andMe’s tools customers can use to explore not just their ancestry, but also their own connection to the human story.
Robin, who started his career as a geneticist focused on spinal cord regeneration, works on writing health and trait reports for 23andMe along with helping the company’s ancestry team develop features. One of the projects Robin worked on is 23andMe’s new Neanderthal report.
All humans outside of Africa carry DNA signatures of Neanderthals, a sister species to modern humans that went extinct about 35,000 years ago. Using new sequencing data, 23andMe can pinpoint where those Neanderthal variants show up in your genome, Robin said.
The report also looks at the different traits some of those variants are associated with – back hair and height, for instance.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-23316" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Neanderthal-Report-640x397.jpg" alt="Neanderthal Report" width="640" height="397" />

Olympic Search

<div id="attachment_23303" style="width: 229px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23303" class="wp-image-23303 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/David-Matthes-2015-219x300.jpg" alt="David-Matthes-2015" width="219" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/David-Matthes-2015-219x300.jpg 219w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/David-Matthes-2015-768x1051.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/David-Matthes-2015-748x1024.jpg 748w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/David-Matthes-2015-643x880.jpg 643w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/David-Matthes-2015.jpg 852w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 219px) 100vw, 219px" />David Matthes</div>
When David Matthes teaches genetics to college freshmen using personal genomics, he sets his sights beyond effective instruction and beyond his classroom walls.
He is trying to increase awareness and knowledge in a deeper way that prepares his students to actively engage in the “post genome” world.


“I love the idea that these students would go out and become those ‘genome information facilitators’ that I see a need for in the future, as more and more genetic data starts becoming available,” said Dr. Matthes, an assistant professor in the Biology Program and the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. “I want people to feel comfortable with it themselves as they get this increasingly elaborate data, and to be positioned to be that kind of helper.”
He has taught a bioinformatics class going back to 1997, but he had a realization that a different approach was needed to match what was taking place in science and research.
“I feel particularly lucky to be alive at this time when the genome is opened up. This is like a new frontier has been opened,” Dr. Matthes said. “But we’ve come to a time where education hasn’t caught up to the technology, and we needed to address that.”


Dr. Matthes is doing his part to move education into this new frontier &#8212; by utilizing 23andMe personal genetic reports with different student populations and in different educational settings. He has incorporated 23andMe into a small freshman seminar and a continuing education class for senior citizens (“they are just fascinated by ancestry!”). And soon he’ll be scaling up the freshman course through a more collaborative teaching approach.
<h5>
Preparing Students for the 23andMe Journey<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-23170 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ed-logo-e1449514561248-245x300.jpg" alt="ed logo" width="245" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ed-logo-e1449514561248-245x300.jpg 245w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ed-logo-e1449514561248-768x942.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ed-logo-e1449514561248-835x1024.jpg 835w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ed-logo-e1449514561248-718x880.jpg 718w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ed-logo-e1449514561248.jpg 897w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px" /> 
</h5>

In the personal genomics classes Dr. Matthes teaches, each student &#8212; whether college freshmen or lifelong learners in the continuing education class &#8212; works with his or her own personal 23andMe reports. That, he said, is where the buy-in and engagement really come. “It really changes the whole dynamic of the class.”
For his small freshman seminar, Dr. Matthes made sure his students were well aware of what will be going on in the class, right from the time they register. He provided an overview of the class and its activities, and he asked that they review the 23andMe <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/tos/">terms of use</a> and <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/privacy/">privacy statement</a>.


“They are briefed for the journey,” Dr. Matthes said. “I want them to know &#8212; not the first day of class but before they even order the kit &#8212; what they’re getting into. They need to know that it’s not going to be terribly scary, but I do give them a summary of the kinds of unintended things that could be reasonably, commonly seen.”


Dr. Matthes is “scaling up” the course for the upcoming semester, in line with his university’s “Active Learning” classroom approach. Rather than a lecture-hall set up, this will involve students sitting at round tables, with access to technology, tools and resources to interact with the whole class and more closely collaborate with their peers.
“My freshman seminar was my way to prove to myself that I could take anybody &#8212; who didn’t have a biology background &#8212; and help them experience the joys of genome exploration,” Dr. Matthes said. “The larger class will be students who have had some genetics, cell biology and biochemistry. They are going to be better positioned to have conversations about technical aspects of the process and the deeper implications of genetic phenomena.”
His specific favorite activity using 23andMe results involves what he likes to call the “minor ancestors” &#8212; those small percentages of ancestry that show up in people’s results &#8212; to teach about ancestral markers. Dr. Matthes has his students calculate a range of dates in his or her family history when a person with 100% of that ancestry would have had to come into the student’s family, in order to end up contributing the current percentage shown in the 23andMe results.
“It’s a ballpark, back-of-the-envelope calculation,” Dr. Matthes admitted. “But I present it as, this is one of your family secrets that your DNA has helped you to know. It was lost to the lore of the family. Maybe conveniently lost! But now we can find out that they were there.”
<a href="http://education.23andme.org/l/ancestry-exploration-lesson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out the “minor ancestors” lesson from Dr. Matthes</a>.

<h5>
Spreading the Word 
</h5>

When he’s not teaching, Dr. Matthes often finds himself explaining to colleagues his approach instructing students about personal genomics.   He recently helped design a class with a genetics counselor where the first half of the class utilized 23andMe SNP data, and the second half looked at whole genome sequence data.
In this “post genome” age, he said, the rapid transformation of the technology to something easy and accessible is well underway.
“What a lucky time to be teaching the kinds of courses I teach,” Dr. Matthes said. “A lot of my colleagues are not thinking about it, but I think before long every university and every college in this country will be doing it.”


Editor’s note: This is another in a series of “Educator Spotlight” posts highlighting how educators are incorporating genetics into lesson plans. To find out more check out <a href="https://education.23andme.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">23andMe For Educators</a>.

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