This interview is part of an occasional series of profiles introducing you to the people behind 23andMe’s content curation team. This team of 23andMe scientists has the unique job of determining which <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bertram2-200x300.jpg" alt="Bertram2" class="alignright wp-image-21582" width="290" height="435" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bertram2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bertram2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bertram2-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bertram2-587x880.jpg 587w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bertram2-787x1180.jpg 787w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bertram2-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px" />genetic associations will be reported to customers. 
 

“Science is all around us and I love looking at the world through its lens.”
<h6>What were you researching/doing before you came to 23andMe? </h6>

My PhD work focused on improving cancer detection and personalizing treatment approaches. I helped develop a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that enables real-time measurements of tissue metabolism in patients.
In many ways the metabolism of cancer cells is distinct from that of normal cells. Furthermore, the metabolism of aggressive, metastatic cancer cells also differs from that of benign, localized cancers. The MRI techniques I helped develop are used to differentiate benign tumors from metastatic ones. With this technique, physicians will be able to personalize treatment approaches and monitor tumor regression. 


<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Bertram Koelsch, PhD, Health Content Scientist 
From: Longmont, CO 
Education: 
BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Notre Dame 
MS, Biomedical Engineering, ETH Zurich 
PhD, Bioengineering, UC Berkeley and UCSF 
Fun Fact: Bertram has recently taken an interest in studying the science of cooking. For example, he’s learned that the Maillard reaction produces various chemical compounds that both contribute to flavor and brown color when you cook foods at high temperatures.</div>
<h6>
Why are you excited about genetics?</h6>

I&#8217;m excited about the role that genetics plays in understanding ourselves and our health. The broad use of genetic screening is changing society&#8217;s approach to health. Traditionally, doctors could only reactively treat diseases. But, as genetic screening becomes readily available and as everyone learns about their genetic risks for disease, they can take proactive steps to prevent or manage them.


Thinking even further into the future, epigenetics will also play a prominent role in society&#8217;s ability to manage health and treat diseases. This growing field studies how individual genes can be turned on and off. We can envision a time when treatments will be able to target specific genes, regulate the expression of the associated proteins through epigenetic modifications and thereby cure a disease.

<h6>
Tell us about a recent breakthrough in genetics research that you think will have a big impact on the industry.</h6>

The rapid decrease in the cost of gene sequencing is allowing scientists to focus on smaller and more targeted genetic studies. This means that small groups of people can unlock the role that genetics plays in their lives.


One example is a recent paper in <a href="https://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.3067.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nature Genetics</a> that caught my attention, in part because I enjoy mountaineering. In the paper, Lorenzo et al. discuss a newly discovered genetic mutation that improves that ability of Tibetans to live at high altitudes, often upwards of 10,000 feet. As the typical low-lander goes to higher altitudes and encounters air with a lower oxygen concentration, their body responds in several ways to supply tissue with sufficient oxygen. One response may be an increase in the number of red blood cells in the blood, which can lead to a form of chronic altitude sickness. But, the mutation found in the Tibetan&#8217;s protects them from developing red blood cell counts that are too high by altering their body&#8217;s response to low oxygen levels in their tissue.
<h6>Did you learn anything interesting from your 23andMe results?</h6>

My 23andMe results brought genetics alive for me and allowed me to see how it influenced my daily life. For example, I was always perplexed by the ability of my wife to drink an espresso immediately before bed and still sleep soundly! On the few occasions that I tried this, I would lay awake in bed for hours. Surely enough, our 23andMe results showed that we have different abilities to metabolize caffeine &#8211; she metabolized it rapidly while I do slowly.

<h6>
What&#8217;s one thing the average consumer should know about genetics?</h6>

It&#8217;s not &#8220;nature vs. nurture,&#8221; but rather &#8220;nature and nurture.&#8221; Our genetic makeup is only part of the equation that defines us. Our environment and lifestyles also contribute to who we are and who we will become. Thus, knowing our genetic risks for developing a certain health condition is not worrisome, but rather empowers us to mitigate our non-genetic risks in a more targeted fashion.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

A Conversation with Health Product Scientist Bertram Koelsch

A few weeks ago Vox did a piece about a 23andMe customer, who at 50 found his biological sister and his mother using the service. He’d been adopted. His sister never knew her mother had had a son that she<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/iStock_000015521781Small-300x199.jpg" alt="Troubled Water" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21718" width="300" height="199" /> put up for adoption. Their initial meeting was joyous, which we wrote about, but in the ensuing years their relationship soured. For adoptees using 23andMe – as well as the biological family who they may connect with – these reunions can be either joyous or fraught with anxiety. After the story in Vox ran, one of our customers wrote about her own experience complete with both the good and the bad. Her story includes the promise and pitfalls of connecting with lost family. 
By Anonymous
A year and half ago, 23andMe connected me with my maternal half-sister. This connection began as the stuff of fairytales but quickly devolved into something akin to an episode of “Mean Girls.”
We had formed an immediate bond over Facebook, Skype, texting, phone calls, and emails, communicating at a pace that over ran every other aspect of our lives.
It was beautiful and exhilarating and fun, but everything is at 100 miles per hour. Until you crash. Within two months of our connection, she had cast me out of her life, showing me the rage on the flip side of her love. You rarely end up where you started, though. 
<h6>A Ending and a Beginning</h6>
While my bond with her came to a heartbreaking end, I now embrace that separation as the catalyst for the amazing turn of events over the last year.
Like many adoptees, my identity has been a queasy dysphoria, a sense of separateness where connectedness was supposed to be. I grew up with a family in which no one looked, sounded, and thought like me. My identity was pockmarked with isolation and a knowledge that part of me existed in the shadows.
My 30-year search for biological family was not so much a search for “family,” as a search for myself. I wondered if I would die without knowing this part of myself. I was even more terrified that, when I did find her and other family, they would dislike me. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/iStock_000021155400Small-300x223.jpg" alt="Old photos" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21717" width="300" height="223" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/iStock_000021155400Small-300x223.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/iStock_000021155400Small-768x572.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/iStock_000021155400Small.jpg 803w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<h6>Burdened by History</h6>
Everyone has a story. I did, and so did my sister. She grew up with our mother, who was controlling and destructive. Although our mother had plenty when she died, my sister inherited nothing but a box of old pictures and a fear of abandonment.
Our mother told my sister about me two decades earlier. She told me that, by the time we met, she had a vivid fantasy of the kind of person I would be. The problem was, her fantasy did not resemble who I am.
Neither of us was really prepared for reality.
<h6>Virtual Connections v. Real Ones</h6>
Cyberspace offers distance and deniability, even when the conversation seems never-ending. I still smile when I remember the first night we connected on Facebook, a six-hour chat with her, her husband, and my original family, while I accepted friend requests from total strangers and carried on open conversations between all of us on our pages. For five weeks, the pace was breathless. One of our aunts privately warned me later to slow down and be cautious, but I paid her no heed.
I was like Sally Field clutching her Oscar — I found my sister, and she liked me. She really liked me!
<h6>I Love You</h6>
When we finally met, I think I lost her at “hello.” I just was not what she expected, and the scars left behind by life with our mother became too much for her to overcome. During the week, I repeatedly begged her to open up about what was bothering her . After I returned home in another state, I called to tell her I had arrived safely. Despite the tension of the week, she told me, “I love you,” and hung up.
Within a week, I received an email from her telling me that me that we were not compatible. I begged her to give us more time, time to become family. I received two more emails, each written with blades more sharp than the last. My worst fear had been realized. I found my sister, and she hated me.
She really hated me.
<h6>Grieving </h6>
I grieved for my sister like she died. There was a time I would have done anything to repair the rift, but that time is long passed. There is a saying that everyone who comes into your life is there for a reason, but not everyone is supposed to stay. She may not have stayed in my life, but she did introduce me to our aunts and uncles with whom I have wonderful relationships.
She also went on the painful journey of digging through that box of pictures our mother left to find some idea of who my father was. During those wonderful weeks before we met, she found his picture and name.
<h6>One Search Leads to Another</h6>
Heartbroken after our tragic week, I turned my attention to finding the one person I had never intended to find. I found my father in a day, and I talked to him the next night.
In the last year, I have fallen in love with my father, the man who I grew up believing was heartless and cruel. Growing up, I never once pictured his face my head, but I only needed to look in the mirror. I look just like him. I have a wonderful stepmom and two younger paternal siblings, a brother who will one day conquer the world and a sister who is a rock. I traveled to meet them for the first time this summer.
<h6>It Was All Worth It</h6>
Being with them is home for me. I am forming an especially unique bond with my paternal sister. She is a young’un, 18 years my junior. During our hilarious talks in her living room that week, however, her old soul and my younger spirit found a common resting place in the middle somewhere.  She has asked me to come back for Christmas, and I am going. I found my sister, after all, and she likes me. She really likes me!
As adoptees, we wait so long to fill this gap in our lives. It is natural for us to believe that the first relative we meet is the destination, rather than one more step in the journey. Despite how things ended with my maternal sister, I would not trade those first happy weeks for anything.
And, without them, I never would have found my paternal family. In the end, it was all worth it, after all.

Not Everyone is Expected to Stay

This summer 23andMe launched a new research initiative to study <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-21576 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Photo_Keneth-Hung-09092014-300x266.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="266" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Photo_Keneth-Hung-09092014-300x266.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Photo_Keneth-Hung-09092014-768x681.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Photo_Keneth-Hung-09092014-1180x1046.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Photo_Keneth-Hung-09092014-1024x907.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Photo_Keneth-Hung-09092014-880x780.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />team of scientists to help in this work. Among those is Pfizer’s director of precision medicine, Kenneth Eugene Hung, who is both an MD and a PhD. At Pfizer, Dr. Hung has spent the last two years working as a gastroenterology clinical lead focusing specifically on inflammatory bowel disease. He not only knows a lot about the disease, but impact on patients.In his work Dr. Hung spearheaded novel clinical trial designs for the development of drugs used for IBD patients. He’s looked at biomarkers that could be used to help target drugs for patients with IBD. This approach of finding the right drug for the right patient is the cornerstone of precision medicine. Both 23andMe and Pfizer are hopeful that our IBD study will advance precision medicine in the treatment of IBD. Dr. Hung took a few minutes to answer some questions and share a little bit more about his background and involvement in IBD research.
How did you get into IBD research?
IBD is a heartbreaking chronic disease that often manifests at a young age and can result in debilitating long-term complications. As such, caring for these patients presents a great humanistic challenge to the clinical gastroenterologist. The complex interaction between the mucosal immune system and the fecal microbiome in IBD pathophysiology presents a great intellectual challenge to the scientific immunologist. Taken together, maybe we should ask: “Why wouldn’t one get into IBD research?”
<h6>What is your involvement with the 23andMe/Pfizer study?</h6>
As the gastroenterology clinical lead in precision medicine at Pfizer, my role in this collaboration has been to provide integrated clinical and scientific expertise. As a board certified gastroenterologist that has treated mild to severe IBD patients, I have been able to help derive the clinical questions of interest vital for success, but in the context of scientific feasibility. With my scientific background incorporating immunology, mouse models, and genomic/proteomic biomarker discovery, I have been able to help mold the research plan in a targeted manner to answer the critical clinical questions. 
<h6>What are you hoping to accomplish with this study?</h6>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Eligible Individuals 
1. You have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis by a qualified physician. 
2. Your willingness to submit a saliva sample for DNA testing and complete online surveys related to your condition. 
3. You have access to the internet. 
4. You are at least 6 years old (those under 18 require a parental consent to enroll). 
5. You are not a current 23andMe customer.* 
6. You reside in the United States.*If you are a current 23andMe customer, learn how you can participate here.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21220" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg" alt="Learn More" width="300" height="99" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More-300x99.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Learn-More.jpg 744w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
In this study, we aim to use genetics as a tool to define subtypes of IBD that behave similarly in the clinic. By focused study of these individual subtypes, we may be able to predict long-term clinical outcomes, thus identifying those individuals that should be targeted for early and/or aggressive clinical treatment. Furthermore, we may be able to identify patient characteristics that could predict response to targeted therapies, thus sparing patients the “trial and error” approach to IBD treatment that is often used. Finally, we would like to substantially further our understanding of the basic pathophysiology of IBD. It is only through this approach that we can make truly great strides in the fight against IBD.
<h6>What does success look like?</h6>
Success can be measured in both the short- and long-term. Immediate success could be in the form of identification of a discrete subtype of IBD that best responds to a particular targeted therapy. However, long-term success could derive from laying the foundation for better understanding of IBD pathophysiology that may ultimately lead to a cure.
<h6>What do you think the future of personalized medicine is (generally and specifically for IBD patients)?</h6>
Personalized medicine is now a reality in oncology, where the identification of a specific genetic mutation can routinely predict clinical response to targeted therapies. Such promise has been elusive in IBD, being a more complex disease that derives from the interplay of multiple genetic, biochemical, and environmental factors. Nonetheless, with the explosion in “omic” technologies, we hope to make great strides in defining smaller subpopulations of IBD that have similar clinical behavior. The collaboration between 23andMe and Pfizer may be a pivotal step towards making personalized medicine in IBD a reality, with the ultimate goal being able to deliver the right drug to the right patient at the right time.
<h6>What accomplishment are you most proud of (professionally or personally)?</h6>
I am most proud of my family, which is always there for me no matter what happens during my day job. My wife, Rebecca, of 19 years is a physician in Boston and has supported me in every phase of my career development. My daughter and son constantly keep us entertained and on our toes. Taken together, I truly feel lucky.
<h6>Hometown?</h6>
I was born in Chicago, Illinois, but grew up mostly in Washington, D.C.
<h6>What do you enjoy doing outside of your work?</h6>
I enjoy playing basketball and tennis and watching my kids play soccer. Having lived in Boston for the past 13 years, I have no choice but to be an avid Boston sports fan. Sorry, New Yorkers. GO SOX!!!

Pfizer’s Dr. Kenneth Eugene Hung

By A.J. Jacobs
I’d always wanted a big family. A few years ago, I got a huge one. After receiving my results back from 23andMe, I discovered I had more than a thousand genetic cousins in their database.
This prompted the question: What could I do with all these new relatives? My answer: Maybe it’d be interesting to meet my whole family. Throw a party for them.
So that’s exactly what I’m doing: Next summer, I’m hosting what I hope will be the largest, most inclusive and most entertaining <a href="http://globalfamilyreunion.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">family reunion</a>, ever.
There will be talks from scientists and entertainers about every aspect of the family, including DNA, genealogy and personal stories. There will be music, comedy, games, exhibits, food — and the world’s largest family photo. And there’s a good chance you’re one of the cousins on my invitation list.
To back up: I’m an editor at Esquire magazine and <a href="http://ajjacobs.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">author of several books</a>. My books usually involve projects that overwhelm my life and test the patience of my lovely wife. I wrote a book called <a href="http://ajjacobs.com/books/the-year-of-living-biblically/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Year of Living Biblically</a> where I tried to follow all of the rules of the Bible, from the 10 commandments to growing a ridiculously bushy beard. I <a href="http://ajjacobs.com/books/drop-dead-healthy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote another</a> where I tried to become as healthy as possible by following all the medical advice in the world (results varied).
I’d always been interested in family history. My father was an amateur genealogist, and, when I was a kid, he traced our line back to the 17th century, thanks to the records kept about our ancestor, a famous rabbi named the Vilna Gaon.
I got hooked again as an adult after I got my 23andMe results, as well as another thought-provoking email. That email was from a man who claimed to have a family tree with 80,000 people on it, including me, his 12th cousin. At first, I didn’t believe him. I thought he was going to ask me to wire him $10,000 to a Nigerian bank account. 
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://embed-ssl.ted.com/talks/aj_jacobs_the_world_s_largest_family_reunion_we_re_all_invited.html" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
But it turns out it’s for real. He’s part of a new breed of genealogists who are creating monster mega family trees. These trees are built using both DNA test results combined with a crowdsourced collaborative Wikipedia-like model of family history. You have thousands of people working on the same tree all over the world using websites such as Geni, WikiTree and FamilySearch.
Right now, the biggest family tree on the Internet — and one I happen to be part of &#8212; is mind-bogglingly huge. It’s got 79 million people in 160 countries. This tree has every U.S. president. It has everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Albert Einstein. The links are often lengthy and sometimes through marriage, but it’s fun to figure them out. (Abraham Lincoln is my aunt’s first cousin 8 times removed’s wife’s second great nephew!)
And that’s when I decided to see if we could gather all these relatives together, at least the living ones. I want to remind people that we are, in fact, one big family; that we do share 99.9 percent of our DNA, and that we need to treat each other with a little more kindness.
The event will be on the grounds of the World’s Fair in New York on June 6, 2015. It will be a fundraiser for Alzheimer’s (I chose Alzheimer’s because 60 million members of our human family suffer from it). It will be the subject of a documentary by Morgan Spurlock, the man who did Supersize Me. And it will cost $20 or less.
The good folks at 23andMe will be participating. (In fact, 23andMe lists me as genetic cousins with the company’s co-founder Anne Wojcicki and public relations director Catherine Afarian).
A Global Family Tree isn’t just a neat parlor trick — it’s got important repercussions. In a few years, we will likely have almost all seven billion members of the human family on a single tree. This will have huge scientific benefits. In fact, there’s a team of scientists at MIT studying the tree right now to see how traits and diseases are passed down. It’s also the best learning tool I’ve ever come across. When my kids realize they’re cousins with Albert Einstein, they want to know about him. It enmeshes us in history.
I’ve reached out to some of my cousins on 23andMe already to tell them about the Global Family Reunion. Admittedly, there have been some skeptics. “Is this a scam?” wrote a fifth cousin.
But I’ve also received tons of some enthusiastic RSVP’s. At one point, I sent an email to a cousin whose name was hidden only to discover he was a friend of mine from college.
If you can’t make it to New York, there will be branch parties around the world. Go to GlobalFamilyReunion.com to find out more. And, for 23andMe customers, please share your ancestry data with me on 23andMe. I want you in the family. 
A.J. Jacobs is an editor at large at Esquire magazine, a commentator on NPR and columnist for Mental Floss magazine. The author of several books, including &#8220;Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection,” AJ is currently helping to build a family tree of the entire world and holding the biggest family reunion ever in 2015.

A.J. Jacobs

All In The Family

From studies that explain how 23andMe’s massive database can accelerate the targeting and development of disease-fighting drugs, to DNA research which <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6586" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg" alt="23andMe_Logo_blog" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog.jpg 350w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />uncovers the legacy of dynamic mixing in the New World over the last 500 years, 23andMe will again put its best science forward at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG). (If you&#8217;re at the conference come by our booth, #1905.)
<h6>San Diego Bound</h6>
This year’s gathering will be in San Diego, and it’s expected to attract more than 6,500 scientists over four days in October.
The annual event brings together the best and brightest minds in human genetics, and gives them a chance to share the latest research and findings. This year 23andMe will present more than a dozen abstracts on a wide variety of topics and participate in two platform discussions. You can search all abstracts being presented at the meeting by going here.
<h6>23andMe Presentations</h6>
Along with findings related to drug development and genetic ancestry, 23andMe researchers are also presenting abstracts on wide variety of topics.
Among those are a series of studies that look at different human traits, their possible relation to certain health conditions as well as the dynamics of shared traits between parents and their children.
One of 23andMe’s abstracts looks at the genetics associated with being a ‘morning person’ and how that might be related to depression and weight. Another abstract looks at why some individuals are more prone to cry than others and whether genes that are associated with crying are also likely to be involved in brain development. Our scientists have also found genetic associations for varicose veins, which point to genes that are involved in circulatory development. Beyond how those traits may be related to health conditions, our researchers have also explored traits parents share with their children, finding that while for almost no trait did we see parents and children more likely to be dissimilar than similar, we did find that, mothers’ traits were more strongly correlated to their daughters, than the father’s traits were associated with their daughters.
<h6>Research Data</h6>
23andMe’s scientists will also be presenting on how researchers are able to use 23andMe’s database to make genetic discoveries. In addition we have another abstract that looks at a way our scientists have improved a long-used method for detecting shared DNA segments that researchers use to study everything from whether two people are related, to human demography – the characteristics of a population that might include its size, composition and distribution – and even the heritability of disease.
The work being presented at ASHG is part of 23andMe’s larger research mission. In the last three years, 23andMe scientists have published papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and dozens of other findings that continue to push our understanding of genetics.
Here is a list of 23andMe abstracts as well as abstract for which we collaborated with others:
<table style="background-color: #ffffcc; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid #FFCC00; color: #000000; width: 100%;" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Like Mother, Like Daughter: Analysis of Parent-Child Phenotypic Correlations for Hundreds of Medical and Behavioral Traits 
Author(s): E. Pierson, D. Hinds, A. Kleinman, N. Eriksson</td>
<td>&#8211; Genes Involved in Brain Development Influence Crying Habits -A Genome Wide Association Study 
Author(s): C. Tian, C. Y. McLean, E. Y. Durand, N. Eriksson, J. Y. Tung, D. A. Hinds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Adopting Genomes &#8211; Motivations of Adopted Persons when seeking Personal Genomic Services 
Author(s): N. M. Baptista, D. A. Carere, J. R. Duggan, T. A. Moreno, J. L. Mountain, S. A. Broadley, J. S. Roberts, R. C. Green, and the PGen Study Group</td>
<td>&#8211; The genetic ancestry of African, Latino, and European Americans across the United States 
Author(s): K. Bryc, E. Durand, D. Reich, J. Mountain</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Shared genetic background between chronic gastroesophageal reflux and Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma, consistent with a causal relationship 
Author(s): P. Gharahkhani, J. Tung, T. L. Vaughan, D. C. Whiteman, S. MacGregor, Barrett’s and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium</td>
<td>&#8211; A Large Scale Genome Wide Association Study of Varicose Veins in the 23andMe Cohort 
Author(s): R. K. Bell, E. Y. Durand, C. Y. McLean, N. Eriksson, J. Y. Tung, D. A. Hinds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Reducing pervasive false positive identical-by-descent segments detected by large-scale pedigree analysis 
Author(s): E. Y. Durand, N. Eriksson, C. Y. McLean</td>
<td>&#8211; GWAS of 89,283 individuals identifies genetic variants associated with being a morning person 
Author(s): Y. Hu, A. Shmygelska, D. Tran, N. Eriksson, J. Tung, D. Hinds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Accelerating Drug Development with 23andMe Phenome-Wide Association Studies 
Author(s): F. Sathirapongsasuti, B. T. Naughton, J. L. Mountain, D. A. Hinds, J. Y. Tung, C. Y. McLean</td>
<td>&#8211; Genetic discovery in the 23andMe participant cohort 
Author(s): D. A. Hinds, C. A. M. Northover, M. H. McIntyre, C. Wilson, K. E. Huber, A. Kleinman, F. Sathirapongsasuti, R. K. Bell, E. Pierson, K. Bryc, A. S. Shmygelska, N. A. Furlotte, Y. Hu, C. Tian, E. Y. Durand, C. Y. McLean, B. Naughton, J. L. Mountain, N. Eriksson, J. Y. Tung</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; Genome-wide Mega-Analysis on Myopia and Refractive Error in CREAM and 23andMe 
Author(s): V. J. M. Verhoeven, R. Wojciechowski, P. G. Hysi, Q. Fan, A. K. Kiefer, N. Eriksson, C. J. Hammond, N. A. Furlotte, C. C. W. Klaver, Consortium for Refractive Error and Myopia (CREAM)</td>
<td>&#8211; Risk prediction and Type II Diabetes 
Author(s): N. Furlotte, S. Dandekar, R. Smith, N. Eriksson, D. Hinds</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&#8211; A trans-ethnic genome-wide association study of 21,483 cases and 97,977 controls identifies 27 genetic susceptibility variants for atopic dermatitis 
Author(s): L. Paternoster, M. Standl, H. Baurecht, J. Waage, M. Hotze, J. A. Curtin, K. BÃ¸nnelykke, D. Glass, D. A. Hinds, E. Melen, P. Sleiman, B. Feenstra, M. Pino-Yanes, H. T. den Dekker, M. Bustamante, I. Marenholz, B. Jacobsson, A. D. Irvine, A. C. Alves, M. M. Groen-Blokhuis, A. Franke, M. Ferreira, M. Tamari, N. Probst-Hensch, K. Williams, D. P. Strachan, S. J. Brown, J. Heinrich, D. M. Evans, S. Weidinger on behalf of the EAGLE Eczema Consortium</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Science On the Beach

If you haven’t already, there’s still time to submit entries in 23andMe’s first “Genetics Image Contest.”
We&#8217;re extending the deadline to get your entries in so you really have no excuse not to send in something. We are also expanding who is eligible to enter, allowing all US residents who are 18 and older to enter. This isn&#8217;t just open to students anymore.
We’ve already received a few beauts, which we’re sharing here. Finalists for the contest, will be 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.
The images are meant to capture the meaning of the 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&#8217;ve drawn, painted or created with computer software. Images will be evaluated based on originality, visual impact, and the written description.
Take a look at a few of the recent entries and get inspired. 


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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-20-at-7.45.36-PM-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-1-21602" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-20-at-7.45.36-PM-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-20-at-7.45.36-PM-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-20-at-7.45.36-PM-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Screen-Shot-2014-09-20-at-7.45.36-PM-574x574.jpg 574w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
			</dt>
				<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-21602'>
				Chromosomes and Genes

				</dd></dl><dl class='gallery-item'>
			<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>
				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/myDNA-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-1-21603" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/myDNA-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/myDNA-271x271.jpg 271w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
			</dt>
				<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-21603'>
				Single Molecules and Me

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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Chromosome-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-1-21601" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Chromosome-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Chromosome-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Chromosome-372x372.jpg 372w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
			</dt>
				<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-21601'>
				Chromosome Tracks

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			<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>
				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/photo-3-2-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-1-21599" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/photo-3-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/photo-3-2-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/photo-3-2-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/photo-3-2-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/photo-3-2-980x980.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				Bumper sticker DNA

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				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autsomal_Dominant_Heterochromia_Cary-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-1-21604" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autsomal_Dominant_Heterochromia_Cary-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autsomal_Dominant_Heterochromia_Cary-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autsomal_Dominant_Heterochromia_Cary-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autsomal_Dominant_Heterochromia_Cary-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autsomal_Dominant_Heterochromia_Cary-980x980.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				Heterochromia

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			<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>
				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="150" height="150" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autosomal_Recessive_Carmen-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" aria-describedby="gallery-1-21600" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autosomal_Recessive_Carmen-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autosomal_Recessive_Carmen-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Autosomal_Recessive_Carmen-372x372.png 372w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
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				A day in the life of a deuteranope 
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<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. The 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.

Genetics Image Contest

This interview is part of an occasional series of profiles introducing you to the people behind 23andMe’s <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sheel1-e1411418357530-211x300.jpg" alt="IMG_0529" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21580" width="211" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sheel1-e1411418357530-211x300.jpg 211w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sheel1-e1411418357530-768x1090.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sheel1-e1411418357530-722x1024.jpg 722w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sheel1-e1411418357530-620x880.jpg 620w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sheel1-e1411418357530-831x1180.jpg 831w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sheel1-e1411418357530.jpg 1634w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px" />content curation team. This team of 23andMe scientists has the unique job of determining which genetic associations will be reported to customers. Their rigorous process of combing through scientific literature, vetting genetic information and ensuring that published scientific findings meet our standards for inclusion, directly impacts what you see when you log into your 23andMe account. 
“Genetic information is becoming available on a scale not really seen in other places in biology.”
<h6>What were you researching before you joined 23andMe?</h6>
Prior to 23andMe, I worked in UCSF’s Weiner Lab, which is a cell biology lab that studies neutrophil chemotaxis. This is the process where a neutrophil, a type of white blood cell, moves toward a chemical cue – in this case, waste products from bacteria. It&#8217;s an impressive feat of signal processing. These cells have to be able to detect weak chemical cues in very noisy environments. In the lab, I spent a lot of time tracking cells and the movement of proteins within the cell using a fluorescence microscope.
Even though we were studying very basic movements, this process has implications in certain diseases and conditions. I was drawn to the kind of research where you eventually see an application for what you’re working on, and that’s one reason 23andMe was appealing to me. Also toward the end of my Ph.D. process, genetic data started to become available at a scale that wasn’t previously possible, and I knew I wanted to work with a company that was using large volumes of genomic data in new ways.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Sheel Dandekar, Ph.D. Health Content Scientist 
From: New Hampshire 
Education: 
BS, Physics at MIT 
PhD, Biophysics at UC, San Francisco 
Fun Fact: I spent 2.5 years of grad school without Internet or TV at home. It started as laziness after moving to a new apartment, but I quickly grew to like the feeling of being “unplugged” when I came home from lab.</div>
<h6>Why are you excited about genetics?</h6>
I’m excited about the falling costs and amount of genetic data that’s becoming becoming available on a scale not really seen in other places in biology. While you do see this kind of data and analysis in physics, that feels a lot more distant from everyday experiences.
I’m also intrigued by the idea of finding rare individuals who have genetic mutations that can give insight into possible mechanisms of disease, and even potential targets for developing drugs. A lot of big scientific discoveries happen because we find a rare person with a unique phenotype, typically these are individuals with a disease, but sometimes they include “superhumans” who have some unique advantage. For example, there are people with a specific genetic mutation that makes them unable to feel pain in peripheral nervous system. That’s become a big target for drug companies to develop painkillers with fewer side effects.
<h6>Tell us about a recent breakthrough in genetics research that you think will have a big impact. </h6>
Recent technologies for genome editing, such as CRISPR-Cas9, are particularly exciting. Genome sequencing costs have been falling in a well-publicized and much deserved manner, but being able to read DNA is only half the battle.
Genome editing is interesting right now because so far we’ve just been observing what&#8217;s been made in nature. Even if all ~7 billion people were sequenced, only a limited set of mutations would show up. But with genome editing, you can make a specific mutation and test hypotheses about what causes different diseases and conditions. Someday this technology could be used to develop cures.
<h6>What&#8217;s one thing the average consumer should know about genetics?</h6>
It’s important to know that genetics are only one part of what shapes the way we are. Environmental factors can play a much larger role for some conditions, and so a genetic result should be put into context by how much of the effect is due to those genetic factors.
<h6>What’s challenging about your job?</h6>
At 23andMe we’re very focused on finding the kind of information that’s useful and interesting to consumers. Right now, the format in which that data exists is very messy because scientists report and share information in lots of different ways. Our team is responsible for taking the data from all these different places, in different technologies and formats, and translating it for the 23andMe customers. It’s challenging to filter through the science and prioritize what’s important and interesting.
<h6>Did you learn anything surprising from your 23andMe results?</h6>
One of the most interesting genetic results I received was from a preliminary report that predicted I’d be good at avoiding errors.

A Conversation With Health Content Scientist Sheel Dandekar

Jayne Berry’s adoptive parents let her know she was special. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg" alt="23andMe_Logo_blog" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6586" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog.jpg 350w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> 
As a child, her parents told her: “Most children are just given to their parents, but you were chosen to be our daughter.”
Jayne felt lucky to have the parents she had, but because she never wanted to hurt them, she waited to ask more about where she came from. Who was her biological mother and why she’d been put up for adoption?
After testing with 23andMe and connecting with a niece, she finally got answers, met three full brothers and one half brother and learned about her now deceased mother. Her story was featured on Lexington, Kentucky television station and the local paper.
We asked if we could share her story with our readers.
“I would be honored,” Jayne said. “My goal is to help those who are still searching.”
Check it out.
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/655c9tW6fwI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Sharing Her Story

This interview is part of an occasional series of profiles introducing you to the people behind 23andMe’s content curation team. This team of 23andMe scientists has the unique job of <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shirley--200x300.jpg" alt="Shirley" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21570" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shirley--200x300.jpg 200w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shirley--768x1152.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shirley--683x1024.jpg 683w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shirley--587x880.jpg 587w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shirley--787x1180.jpg 787w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Shirley--scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />researching, evaluating, and developing the health-related information that is reported to customers. Their rigorous process of combing through scientific literature, vetting genetic information and ensuring that published scientific findings meet our standards for inclusion, directly impacts what you see when you log into your 23andMe account. As director of science content and curation, Shirley manages that team of scientists. 
“DNA is a history of all the life on the planet that led us to this point.”


What were you researching before you came to 23andMe?

I was researching computational methods for predicting protein function. The human genome has instructions for making about 20,000 proteins but we only know what a fraction of those proteins actually do. Running experiments with live proteins to figure that out is complicated, expensive, and time intensive. Some researchers have been trying to predict what proteins do based on other information that we already have, like the sequence of the protein or its 3D structure. My research focused on distilling structural elements of proteins into data points and trying to learn patterns of what certain types of functions &#8220;look&#8221; like. Given enough examples of proteins that can bind calcium, can we recognize calcium-binding sites in other proteins? The better we can make computational tools like this, the faster we can determine what proteins do and the better we can focus downstream research in areas like drug development. 


<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Shirley Wu, PhD Director of Science Content and Curation

From: New Jersey

Education:

BA, Computational Biology, Brown University

PhD, Biomedical Informatics, Stanford

Fun Fact: Shirley played competitive Ultimate Frisbee, which included Junior Worlds, College, and Club championship titles.
</div>
Why are you excited about genetics?

Genetics is universal to all living things. At the same time, it&#8217;s responsible for the remarkable amount of diversity on this planet. It&#8217;s fascinating to think about how our DNA is a history of the life that came before us. Genetics is also a really powerful tool for understanding our present world and for solving important problems in health and food production.
I was attracted to 23andMe because I’m interested in democratizing science and making it accessible to consumers. I like to think about what kinds of research we can translate for our customers &#8211; research we’re doing in-house and external research that’s making connections between DNA and health. We want to look at those connections and share what’s interesting and valuable.


Tell us about a recent breakthrough in technology that you think will have a big impact on the industry.

I’m interested in what’s happening with activity tracking devices and the increasingly common collection of data by consumers. People are currently gathering data on a scale that’s much broader than ever before, and that expands the potential for what researchers will be able to learn.
It won&#8217;t be easy to translate this data into knowledge that can improve health, but greater access to data and improved methods for analysis will allow more people to participate and experiment. Historically, medical science has also focused on populations, rather than individuals, but with new ways of gathering and thinking about data we may be able to &#8220;study&#8221; individuals over time and learn enough about the factors that affect them to benefit them in their lifetime.


Tell us about one of your interesting findings at 23andMe. 

23andMe conducted the largest genome-wide association study (GWAS) of cilantro taste preference where we compared genetic data from individuals with European ancestry who said they liked fresh cilantro to those who detect a soapy taste. We found a genetic variant near the gene OR6A2 associated with thinking cilantro tasted like soap.
It’s interesting to look at something that’s so polarizing and find that there’s a genetic connection related to olfactory receptors. This research in particular, is a good example of a question that other researchers aren’t studying – a list that includes things like how flexible you are, how you smell and other things that could have an impact on your health and well being.
At 23andMe, we can look at questions like this and do research that no one else can do because our large database and platform for research lets us quickly see if there’s an association without having to write a new protocol, recruit participants, analyze research and then do it all again to ask a marginally different question. We can change the course of our research in real-time and look at lots of associations that help us explain why humans are the way we are.
Did you learn anything interesting from your 23andMe results? Did you make any changes as a result of taking the test?

I learned that I have one copy of the alcohol flush gene, which I was able to trace to my father. It was fun to see how inherited traits play out in real life.


What&#8217;s one thing the average consumer should know about genetics?

It’s useful for people to understand the concept of inheritance. We get half of our DNA from our mom and half from our dad. Those halves are two copies of the same thing, so we get a full set of chromosomes from each parent, and the slight differences in how those halves are passed down is what leads to the variation between people. While your siblings also inherit half of their DNA from each parent, they don’t inherit the exact same halves that you did (unless you’re identical twins), so brothers and sisters share about 50 percent of their DNA.

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