Uta Francke, 23andMe’s science advisory board member and our former Senior Medical Director, added another in a long list of accolades when the Association for Molecular Pathology lauded her in early November.
<div id="attachment_21959" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-21959" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Uta-Award-300x225.jpg" alt="Uta Francke, (left) accepts AMP Award for Excellence. Photo: Eddie Arrossi Photograghy" class="size-medium wp-image-21959" width="300" height="225" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Uta-Award-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Uta-Award-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Uta-Award-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Uta-Award-880x660.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Uta-Award-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Uta-Award.jpg 1440w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Uta Francke, (left) accepts AMP Award for Excellence. Photo: Eddie Arrossi Photograghy</div>
The association <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-11/afmp-taf111814.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recognized</a> Uta for her lifetime of achievement at its annual meeting held this year in Maryland.

&#8220;AMP&#8217;s highest award, the Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics recognizes the lifetime of special achievements by Dr. Francke across several fields in molecular diagnostics and medicine,” said Dr. Elaine Lyon, president of the association.

A medical doctor and professor emeritus of Genetics and Pediatrics at Stanford University, Uta served as 23andMe’s senior medical director from 2010 until 2013 when she retired. She remains on 23andMe’s science advisory board and continues to be involved in research at 23andMe.

High honors are nothing new to Uta. She has been the recipient of several awards, including the Antoine Marfan Award from the National Marfan Foundation, and the Colonel Harland Sanders Lifetime Achievement Award in Genetics from the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. In 2012 she received the William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. She is also a fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a past president of the American Society for Human Genetics and of the International Federation of Human Genetics Societies and a founding member of the American College of Medical Genetics.

Congratulations Uta.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Recognized For Excellence

It’s that time of year when family photos start arriving on holiday cards from relatives across the country. Why don’t you do something different this year and<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01-300x300.jpg" alt="11132014_familyDNA_01" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21918" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/11132014_familyDNA_01.jpg 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> create a new kind of family portrait? Make an image that illustrates the traits and ancestry you share with your family that are revealed in your DNA.
We’re hosting a “new kind of family portrait” photo contest where the prize is four 23andMe kits for you and your family! Entering is simple: create a family portrait this Thanksgiving, tag it #FamilyDNA, and share it with 23andMe on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and get a chance to win. Be sure to tell us why you want to win!
Not sure what kind of photo to share? Take a pic that shows whether you look more like mom or dad. Try to fit the most generations in your photo. Show us where you got that curly hair — from grandma? Bonus points for creativity!
We look forward to seeing your families and to helping you create a new kind of family portrait with DNA!
<div style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 625px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
1. Must be a legal US resident age 18 or older; residents of Maryland are not eligible to participate. 
2. One winner will be selected by a panel of 23andMe employees, from Facebook, Twitter or Instagram photos tagged #FamilyDNA between November 20th and December 1st. 
3. On Facebook, share your image on our Facebook wall to be eligible: facebook.com/23andMe. 
4. On Instagram and Twitter: follow @23andMe to be eligible. 
5. Your image needs to be publicly viewable in order to win. 
6. We will contact winners via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, so be sure you’re following, and look for a message from us by December 10th. 
7. A full list of rules can be found <a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Photo-Contest-Official-Rules_FINAL_111714v2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here.</a>
</div>

A New Kind of Family Portrait

Liz Kellner loves puzzles, but piecing together the hardest one of her life required a little help from 23andMe.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-10-15-09.17.15-169x300.jpg" alt="2014-10-15 09.17.15" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21930" width="169" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-10-15-09.17.15-169x300.jpg 169w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-10-15-09.17.15-577x1024.jpg 577w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-10-15-09.17.15-496x880.jpg 496w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-10-15-09.17.15.jpg 640w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px" />
“This was the first time I was one of the pieces,” said the 48 year-old entrepreneurship specialist.
Abandoned as an infant, Liz said her origins were always a mystery to her.
She’d been found on a cold December day in Minneapolis almost 50 years ago. She was only a few days old when a rookie cop discovered her in an apartment laundry room wrapped in a kimono.
Looking back now, Liz doesn’t see her story as a tragedy – quite the opposite.
“I was lucky enough to have a birth mother who, when she realized that she couldn&#8217;t take care of me, left me somewhere safe, and warm, given that it was in December and in Minnesota.”
Then there was the young cop who found her, the nurses who cared for her at the hospital, the foster mother who took her in, and the loving parents who ultimately adopted her.
Liz says she was fortunate. If she hadn’t been abandoned she never would have had the wonderful parents who raised her, or the younger sister who was born nine years after her adoption. Her family, she said, is the “best gift ever.” 

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				News clipping about Liz&#8217;s condition after being found.
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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/newspaper1-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-1-21927" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/newspaper1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/newspaper1-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/newspaper1-372x372.jpg 372w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				A news story about Liz being found.
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				Liz with her parents.
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Liz wouldn’t want to change any of that even if she could. But that never altered her desire to know more about herself. It never changed wanting to know about where she came from or why she’d been abandoned as a baby.
Over the years, Liz searched for answers. She always knew she’d been adopted. As she was able to piece together the story of how she was found, she also did her best to find and thank those who’d been so good to her.
“Sort of paying it forward, you know,” she said.
Liz found and thanked Officer Jannsen, one of the police officers who found her. She also tracked down the foster mom who cared for her until her adoption and thanked her for taking such good care of her and being a part of the system.
They all remembered Liz.
“I guess I made an impression,” she said.
But the trail ended there, until, that is, she tested with 23andMe.
Initially the most important part of her results had to do with her ancestry. Liz quickly found out that despite being raised a Catholic, her heritage was 100 percent Ashkenazi Jew. Surprising for Liz, but the real surprised didn’t come until the summer of 2014 when Liz signed into her 23andMe account after not looking at it for awhile. She immediately saw something she’d never seen before.
“”I log in and …(the) screen says I have a cousin, and an aunt, and a half-sister.”
Stunned and thinking it was a mistake, she quickly logged out. She waited and then logged back in.
“Yup, still there,” Liz said.
It was the first time she’d ever been able to identify close biological relatives, in this case using 23andMe’s DNA Relatives tool.
This alone was huge, and Liz didn’t dare hope that she’d be able to answer the questions that have been there her whole life about who her mother or father was.
But she was also skeptical. Her first thought was that it was a mistake, so she emailed her sister, and her best friend, who is a bit of a genetics buff. Then she sent a message with her data to a friend who is a genetics professor. She wanted to know what they thought. Was it correct? Did she really just find her first close blood relatives?
Her sister’s response was immediate: “Oh My God!”
Then the professor weighed in.
“Congratulations, you have more family.”
Liz felt her head spinning.
Then things got really interesting.
Liz connected with her newly identified aunt, Abbieann. Abbieann had also been adopted. As they talked they realized that rather than Abbie being her aunt, they were actually half-sisters and they shared one other sister, who was also adopted. Because Liz’s two new-found biological sisters had been adopted in a more traditional way, they had birth certificates with names on them.
The two had used that to find their biological mother, who is also Liz’s mother and who was still alive. Liz’s full sister had also tested. So in a short time Liz went from having one sister to eight siblings, and identifying her birth parents, who were both still alive.
“So unreal,” she said. “There’s no way to describe my emotions. I think my heart stopped.”
While this was way more than Liz had ever hoped to learn, the new connections brought up difficult questions and histories. Her birth mother is still alive but has dementia. Liz’s siblings who share her father worried about the impact meeting Liz would have on their mom. Cautiously Liz moved forward and introduced herself to her new found cousins, aunts, uncles and siblings, most who seemed to welcome her into the family, even though “they didn&#8217;t even know I existed,” she said.
Liz also met her father, who had also been unaware of her birth. When they finally met, Liz saw in him some of her own quirks and habits.
Sitting across from him, she had the same strange sensation she had when she sat with her sisters. Here she was looking at someone who shared features and mannerisms with her, someone who looked totally familiar, but who was also a stranger.
“To sit and talk with someone who is your sibling, or your biological parent, at age 48, who you have never met &#8230; incredible,” Liz said.
This had all been more than she’d hoped for, but the encounters also left her with some lingering questions that may never get answered. She couldn’t ask her biological mother about what happened. Even if she’d been able to ask her mother those questions, she’s not sure she would be able to tell her why she’d been left in a laundry room, what day she was actually born or whether through all those years, her mother ever thought about the child she abandoned.
Liz’s biological family’s story is a complicated one, filled with emotional landmines. Her biological parents ultimately got married, but that was almost 19 years after Liz’s birth. Her biological father said he didn’t know of her existence or that of her two sisters who share the same mother. He had raised another family during that time, and only married Liz’s biological mother after his first wife passed away. As Liz figured all this out, she felt compelled to protect some of those family members who didn’t know about her and this complicated history. But that also meant that she didn’t get the opportunity to ask some of the questions she wanted to ask.
“At least I was conceived out of love,” she said.
She felt lucky to have made these connections. They’ve triggered all this thought about nature and nurture, she said. She found that she could see many of her traits in her new found siblings and birth father. Making all these connections helped her explain a little bit more about herself as well, she said.
Liz said she doesn’t know what will come from all this, but learning this history and meeting her biological family has helped her. Liz doesn’t know if the relationships with her biological family will endure, the bond she has with her family hasn’t changed and only become stronger.
Liz said she shared her story, in part, because she and her new found sisters believe that there may be at least one other sibling out there who Liz wants to find. She believes her sibling would have been adopted in the Chicago area through Jewish Services in late 1954 or early 1955.
Liz is still trying grapple with what these new connections have meant to her.
“So unreal,” she said. “(There is) no way to describe the emotions.”

Putting It Together

We’ve heard some incredible stories from 23andMe’s customers, but Menachem Bodner’s brought us to the edge of our seats.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Menachems-parents-259x300.jpeg" alt="Menachem's parents" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21940" width="259" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Menachems-parents-259x300.jpeg 259w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Menachems-parents.jpeg 408w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 259px) 100vw, 259px" />
A Holocaust survivor, Menachem has been searching for his twin brother, ever since the two were separated in Auschwitz when they both were only four.


Although his search is not yet over, thanks to some incredible detective work by the genealogist Ayana KimRon and testing with 23andMe, Menachem is a step closer having found first cousins in California who were able to give him more details about his mother and even share with him a photo of his parents. The first picture he’d ever seen of them.
The story of his search is documented <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4589762,00.html">here</a>. (Some of the details of how Ayana used Menachem’s 23andMe results can help anyone doing genealogy with 23andMe.)
Ayana first spoke with us early this year, telling us about Menachem&#8217;s search after 23andMe contacted her with an offer to help.
She had already done an incredible amount of work, using Nazi archives, immigration records, documents from Auschwitz and other sources to piece together as much as she could about Menachem. She found his name at birth – Elias Gottesman, his brother’s name Jeno Gottesman, their place of birth in the Carpathian Mountains of Hungary, and the names of their parents, Roza and Ignatz Gottesman.
Ayana also tracked down what happened to Menachem’s mother, Roza, who survived Auschwitz only to die at the hands of anti-Semitic rioters in her hometown in 1946. But from there the trail ran cold.
Menachem, who was adopted by a couple who survived Au
<div id="attachment_21943" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-21943" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Menachem-and-Ayana-300x249.jpg" alt="Menachem, with Ayana, seeing a photo of his parents for the first time." class="size-medium wp-image-21943" width="300" height="249" />Menachem, with Ayana, seeing a photo of his parents for the first time.</div>schwitz and then immigrated to Israel, has never given up and he has found someone who is equally committed in Ayana.
Using 23andMe results, Ayana was able to help Menachem connect to three first cousins in California.
&nbsp;

“I knew about their existence but DNA was a miraculous short cut,” Ayana said.


Their mother, Menachem’s mother’s sister who immigrated to the United States before the war, had told them about the family and sister she left behind. They in turn were able to tell Menachim about his mother, and share with him a photo of his parents, giving him the first opportunity to see an image of them.
Ayana shared with us a photo of him seeing his parents for the first time.
Menachem is still searching for his brother. To help in his search Ayana has set up a Facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/A7734/499971010060858" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.

Auschwitz Survivor Finding Family

With so many great entries, it wasn’t easy, but we’ve picked the winners in 23andMe’s first ever “Genetics Image Contest.&#8221;
We had a lot of creative depictions of DNA, chromosomes, genes, and genetic concepts like heredity and inheritance. We narrowed the winners to three. In no particular order here they are:


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				One of the winning images. This one &#8220;Human Karyotype&#8221; by Drury University student Ashleigh Spalding
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				&#8220;Like Mother, Like Daughter&#8221; by Alyssa Jenkins 
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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DNA_Bridge_2-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-2-21910" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DNA_Bridge_2-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DNA_Bridge_2-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DNA_Bridge_2-372x372.jpg 372w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				&#8220;DNA Bridge&#8221; by Kadir Akdemir 
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In Ashleigh Spalding’s fun &#8220;Human Karyotype,&#8221; she had her fellow students from Drury University lay out on the ground to represent both the number and the shape of the 23 chromosomes.
We all did a double take looking at Alyssa Jenkins’ wonderful “Like Mother, Like Daughter,” in which the fused image conveys more about inheritance than many a textbook.
Rounding out the winners was Kadir Akdemir’s sublime “DNA Bridge,” where the structure of the span mimics the double helix of DNA.
Each of the three winners will receive a $100 Amazon gift card. In addition to the three individual winners, the three schools with the highest rate of student participation – Drury University, Wartburg College and the College of San Mateo – will receive $300 to raise awareness of personal genomics through a learning event on campus.
On top of getting a 23andMe T-shirt, the finalists will also have their images showcased in the Genetics Gallery at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.

And Winners Are…

At an annual conference last month sponsored by the Michael J. Fox <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/parkinsonsdisease.jpg" alt="parkinsonsdisease" class="alignright size-full wp-image-3133" width="260" height="236" />Foundation, scientists, academics and business representatives gathered in New York City to explore some of the latest and most promising Parkinson’s research that’s being supported by the foundation.
23andMe’s Paul Cannon, who manages our Parkinson’s Research Community, was among the more than 250 people gathered to learn more about some of the newest findings meant to help us better understand the biology of the disease as well as potential new targeted therapies.


Below is some of what caught Paul’s attention. The Michael J. Fox Foundation, which has also been a big supporter of <a href="https://www.23andme.com/pd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">23andMe&#8217;s Parkinson&#8217;s Research Community</a>, also recently posted a blog about the conference <a href="https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/news-detail.php?latest-in-parkinson-research-showcased-at-mjff-conference" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>. 


<h6>
Alpha-Synuclein</h6>

One of the interesting new disease modifying drugs is a vaccine that targets a protein called <a href="https://www.michaeljfox.org/understanding-parkinsons/living-with-pd/topic.php?alpha-synuclein" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">alpha-synuclein</a>. We’ve <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/news/the-state-of-the-science-of-parkinsons-research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">written in the past</a> about research on alpha-synuclein. This protein is encoded in the SNCA gene and found in the brain. Researchers discovered that these proteins accumulate and clump together in people with Parkinson’s. The thought is that removing these “sticky proteins” could help slow or stop the progression of Parkinson’s.
In an early stage clinical study the vaccine was given to about two-dozen patients. A little more than half of the patients who received the vaccine showed an antibody response. At this stage it’s unclear why some patients responded to the vaccine and others didn’t. Importantly the vaccine appears to be safe and well tolerated and future studies will address the reason for this differential response as well as ask whether the treatment has any effect on the symptoms and progression of Parkinson’s.
 
<h6>DPP-4 Inhibitors</h6>

Recently evidence has emerged that certain type of drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes may hold promise for treatment of Parkinson’s patients as well. Encouraging preclinical data were presented for one class of drugs called dipeptidyl protease-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors. It is not known how these drugs might work to affect Parkinson’s, but their use to in diabetics has shown them to be safe which will make it easier to carry out clinical studies in PD. 
 
<h6>Levodopa Carbidopa</h6>

Whilst disease modifying therapies are understandably of great interest, there is still a lot of room for improvement with current treatments. An example of this is a system designed to deliver a continuous level of a popular drug cocktail used for Parkinson’s patients called levodopa carbidopa.
A liquid form of the drug combo was developed and clinical studies showed that when used with either a pump or a patch it resulted in more consistent levels of the drugs in patients’ blood. This should result in better control of symptoms and it is hoped that it will also decrease the development of uncontrolled movements, known as dyskinesias, associated with long term use of levodopa.


Looking to the Future
These were just some of the highlights from Paul’s notes, but it doesn’t begin to cover the value in bringing together so many researchers working on Parkinson’s.
It also highlights the value of 23andMe’s long time collaboration with the Michael J. Fox Foundation in research. In partnership with our Parkinson’s disease research community we continue to focus on understanding the relationship between the environment and genetic factors in the development of the disease, discovering how and why those with Parkinson’s react differently to existing treatments, as well accelerating the discovery and development of new treatments.

Highlights on New Parkinson’s Research

Over the last month, Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe’s CEO and co-founder, has been plenty busy spreading the word about the power of genetics to transform health care and empower people.
Anne has spoken at events as varied as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FortuneMPW" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women</a> conference to a discussion at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History on the future of genomic medicine and then jetting over to London to talk about innovation at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WiredUK" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wired UK conference</a>.
While the topics have varied Anne has returned to some of the same themes again and again: people have a right to access their genetic information; giving people that information can help them learn more about themselves and it can help them make better choices. Finally, allowing engage consumers to participate in research has the potential to spur discoveries that could not happen any other way.
Here’s her talk in London: 
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/t_j0RuEnEfk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Empower The People

Last year, on the sixtieth anniversary of Crick and Watson’s discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, the Smithsonian opened an exhibit at the <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/unlocking-the-code-logo-300x248.jpg" alt="unlocking the code logo" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-18448" width="300" height="248" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/unlocking-the-code-logo-300x248.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/unlocking-the-code-logo.jpg 326w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />National Museum of Natural History called <a href="http://unlockinglifescode.org/explore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Genome: Unlocking Life&#8217;s Code</a>.
The popular exhibit is now hitting the road, showing first in San Diego, at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center through January 4th 2015 and then moving on to other cities across the United States and Canada for the next four years.
The exhibit has already attracted more than three million people with its use of interactive technology and more traditional methods of storytelling to educate people about how genetic science is transforming everything from medicine to our understanding of human evolution. 
&#8220;Over the past year, I have enjoyed speaking with children and adults from far and wide at the exhibition, and during the educational workshops, public lectures and celebrations in Washington,” said Eric D. Green, the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. “Now it is time for the <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Unlocking-Lifes-Code-300x119.jpg" alt="Unlocking Life's Code" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21867" width="300" height="119" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Unlocking-Lifes-Code-300x119.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Unlocking-Lifes-Code-768x305.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Unlocking-Lifes-Code.jpg 798w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> 
exhibition to travel so that others in North America can see it.&#8221;
Officials from the National Human Genome Research Institute, which is part of the Health and Human Services agency, worked with curators from the Smithsonian to put together the exhibit. They were helped by contributions from others, including private businesses like 23andMe. The exhibit traces the rapid advancement in the science of genetics, exploring how those discoveries have contributed to our understanding of the causes and treatment of disease as well as more insight into the human story and how our ancestors migrated out of Africa and populated the world.
After its stint in San Diego, the exhibit will travel to San Jose; St Louis; Portland; Milwaukee; Wichita; Peoria; and Sudbury, Ontario.
To see if the traveling exhibit is coming your way see the schedule <a href="http://unlockinglifescode.org/traveling-exhibit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.

The Traveling Genome

If you’re feeling particularly creative, you still have a few more days to submit entries in 23andMe’s first “Genetics Image Contest.”<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/23andMeStudents_GenesJeans_Submission-2.jpg" alt="23andMeStudents_GenesJeans_Submission-2" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21844" width="300" height="290" />


Get your entries in before Monday night and get a chance to have your image showcased in the Genetics Gallery at <a href="http://www.thetech.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Tech Museum of Innovation</a> in San Jose, California.
We recently expanded who is eligible to enter allowing all US residents who are 18 or older to enter. The contest isn’t just for students anymore. We’re looking for unique images that capture the meaning of a few genetic terms – DNA, chromosome, gene, allele, heredity, and inheritance pattern.
To enter, submit up to three original images, which capture the meaning of at least one of those terms. These images can either be photographs or images you’ve drawn, painted or created with computer software.
Images will be evaluated based on originality, visual impact, and the written description.
The contest is already shaping up with some fantastic entries. Check out a few of the more recent submissions and get inspired.

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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Brooke_F-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-3-21849" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Brooke_F-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Brooke_F-271x271.jpg 271w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				Submission by Brooke F.
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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sara_L-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-3-21854" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sara_L-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sara_L-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sara_L-372x372.jpg 372w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				Submission by Sara L.
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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ashleigh_S-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-3-21851" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ashleigh_S-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ashleigh_S-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ashleigh_S-372x372.jpg 372w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				One of the winning images. This one &#8220;Human Karyotype&#8221; by Drury University student Ashleigh Spalding
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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Roger_Y-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-3-21852" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Roger_Y-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Roger_Y-271x271.jpg 271w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				Submission by Roger Y.
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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sarah_D-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-3-21853" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sarah_D-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sarah_D-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sarah_D-372x372.jpg 372w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				Submission by Sarah D.
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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sharlene_N-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-3-21850" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sharlene_N-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sharlene_N-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Sharlene_N-372x372.jpg 372w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
			</dt>
				<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-3-21850'>
				Submission by Sharlene N.
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		</div>


<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Summary of Contest Rules 
&#8211; Participants must be 18 years or older and legal residents of the United States. 
&#8211; Images can be drawn by hand, photographed, or generated by computer software and must be in digital format (JPG, PNG, GIF or BMP). 
&#8211; Each image must have a title and a short (50 words or less) written description of how it conveys the genetic term(s) selected. 
&#8211; Works previously published will not be considered. 
&#8211; Images containing defamatory, obscene or inappropriate content will be automatically disqualified. 
&#8211; Contest concludes November 3, 2014 at 11:59PM. Go <a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Genetics-Image-Contest-Official-Rules.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a> for a complete description of the rules. Email questions about the contest to: geneticsimage2014contest@23andme.com</div>
Each of the three winners will receive a $100 Amazon gift card. Finalists will receive 23andMe T-shirts. The three student groups, classes, or schools with the highest number of participants will receive a $300 prize to raise awareness of personal genomics through a journal club, a lecture or other learning events on campus, including the option to organize a Google Hangout or host an in-person event with a 23andMe scientist, depending on the location. Winners will be announced in a 23andMe blog post on the week of November 16th.

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