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 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. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-21548 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bethann-Hromatka-2-254x300.jpg" alt="" width="254" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bethann-Hromatka-2-254x300.jpg 254w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bethann-Hromatka-2-768x909.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bethann-Hromatka-2-866x1024.jpg 866w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bethann-Hromatka-2-744x880.jpg 744w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bethann-Hromatka-2-997x1180.jpg 997w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px" />
“Our job is to differentiate the real data from the noise.”
Bethann Hromatka, Ph.D. is a health content manager at 23andMe. Previously, she double-majored in Biology and Spanish at the University of Oregon, where she started her career as a bench researcher studying maize genetics. After completing her Bachelor of Arts, Bethann researched RNA splicing, yeast genetics and Candida albicans host-pathogen interactions (the yeast that causes yeast infections). She completed her Ph.D. at University of California, San Francisco in reproductive biology. There she studied the development of the human placenta and pregnancy complications, including placental malaria. 
In her current role, Bethann helps manage the content curation process, developing the reports that consumers will see on the website and providing documentation as part of the FDA submission process.
<h6>What were you researching before you came to 23andMe? </h6>
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Bethann Hromatka, PhD Health Content Scientist 
From: Stillwater, Minnesota 
Education: 
BA, Biology and Spanish, University of Oregon 
PhD, Reproductive Biology, UC, San Francisco 
Fun Fact: Working mother of infant twins</div>
Most recently I researched malaria infection during pregnancy and glycosylation during the development of the human placenta. I was a bench researcher for more than 10+ years, which included time spent isolating and analyzing DNA, RNA and proteins, as well as dissecting human placental tissue and growing human cells and malaria.
<h6> 
How does your previous experience relate to what you do at 23andMe?</h6>
I have a broad research background, from studying maize and yeast, to reproduction and infectious diseases. Most of what I’ve worked on has been human-based research, and therefore I had a broad view of human disease, which is very closely tied to what we do at 23andMe.
Part of the job of any Ph.D. student is to stay on top of scientific literature as it relates to your work. Those same analytical reasoning skills apply to writing 23andMe’s health report content. There’s often a flood of research studies and we have to decide what’s relevant and what’s not by critically evaluating the most recent literature. In that way, our job is to differentiate the real data from the noise. In doing so, we’re setting the standard for aggregating research.
<h6>
Why are you excited about genetics?</h6>
Genetics is fundamental to human existence and touches our lives in so many ways. It explains a lot about why we act and look a certain way, and plays a big role in helping us stay healthy or increasing our risk for disease.
<h6>Tell us about one of your interesting findings at 23andMe. </h6>
It’s estimated that up to 70 percent of a person’s risk for motion sickness is due to genetics, but the genetics of motion sickness was traditionally poorly understood. At ASHG 2012, I presented results from a genetic study of more than 80,000 23andMe customers who were surveyed about motion sickness. The analysis identified 35 genetic associations with motion sickness that fall into a few different biological categories. Some genetic variants are involved in development, including development of the eye and ear. Other variants are involved in neurological processes as well as glucose and insulin regulation.
<h6>Tell us about a recent breakthrough in genetics research that you think will have a big impact.</h6>
I’m interested in the new fetal DNA blood-based tests for trisomies. With this kind of test, most pregnant women no longer need to undergo invasive and scary testing (e.g., chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis) for Down syndrome and other trisomies.
<h6>What’s something interesting you learned from your 23andMe results?</h6>
Through testing with 23andMe, I learned that I’d inherited two mutations for hereditary hemochromatosis, also known as iron storage disease. While my particular combination of mutations only posed a slight risk for developing iron overload, I decided to share the information with my physician to see if follow-up testing was warranted. In the end, I made lifestyle changes to push my iron markers into the healthy range, and I’ve also talked to my family about their risk for developing the condition.
<h6>What&#8217;s one thing the average consumer should know about genetics?</h6>
Knowing about your genetics can help you be more proactive about staying healthy.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

A Conversation with Health Content Manager Bethann Hromatka

At 23andMe our mission is to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. <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" />
A big part of doing so is to help people make better decisions about their health, but also the health of our own employees. As a company we strive to carry out this mission with our own employees, encouraging them to make healthier choices. Whether it’s giving people time to exercise at work, or offering healthy food options, 23andMe is investing in the well-being of its most important asset, its employees.
<h6>Healthiest Employers</h6>
That’s why we were thrilled to be honored for living that mission, as recognized by the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal as a <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2014/09/10-quirky-motivators-bay-area-healthiest-employers.html?page=all" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2014 Bay Area Healthiest Employer</a>.
The award recognizes organizations that proactively shape the health of their employees. More than 80 companies were selected for evaluation, divided into four groups based on size and judged across six categories: Wellness Program, Culture and Leadership, Strategic Planning, Communication and Marketing, Foundational Components and Programming and Interventions.
23andMe was recognized as a top 10 healthiest employer in the midsized company category for our commitment to employee health and for exceptional corporate wellness programming.
<h6>Exercise and Diet</h6>
Much of our wellness efforts focus on a healthy diet and exercise, including a gym at our Mountain View headquarters, daily exercise classes ranging from Yoga to CrossFit, and a massage therapist. All of these offerings are onsite and at no cost to our employees. 23andMe also facilitates a non-sedentary working environment, with 75 percent of our team using standing desks, ergonomic chairs or medicine balls, and optional treadmill workstations for endorphin-fueled productivity.
To keep our employees well fed we provide fresh fruit, a healthy lunch and snacks that contain only locally sourced, organic ingredients.
We’re proud to be honored for our commitment to facilitating one of the Bay Area’s healthiest work environments — but we’re even more proud of our team at 23andMe and their dedication to helping us live our mission every day.
Here’s to health!

23andMe Among Healthiest Employers

When Kelli read the message, she froze thinking that her next move would likely change her life forever.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-300x300.jpg" alt="KelliODonnell2" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21525" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-1180x1180.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/KelliODonnell2.jpg 1304w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
It was a note from a fellow 23andMe customer, who’d been identified as a second cousin. She had sent Kelli a message asking to share family information. The cousin – who Kelli never knew before – stated that she’d like to connect.
Kelli hesitated.
She was raised as the only child of a single mom and knew nothing about her dad. Once when Kelli was five, she’d asked her mother, “Why don’t I have a father?”
Her mother immediately broke down.
“My mom started crying and said, ‘That’s just the way it is.’”
It was so painful that Kelli simply never asked her mother again. It took 30 years and then, testing with 23andMe for Kelli to answer that long nagging question. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/welcome-300x300.jpg" alt="welcome" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21519" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/welcome-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/welcome-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/welcome-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/welcome-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/welcome-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/welcome-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/welcome-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/welcome.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“I never asked again because our relationship was so perfect, and I (wrongly) assumed that either something bad had happened to my mom or when she had told my father she was pregnant he wanted nothing to do with me,” Kelli said.
But then she made a connection to a second cousin using 23andMe, and together they learned the truth.
It all started because Kelli wanted to use 23andMe to learn a little more about herself.
“I never dreamed of what would happen next.”
Kelli decided to go ahead and connect with her second cousin and wrote her back. She told her that she didn’t know anything about her father. That her mother had gotten pregnant as a 19 year-old college freshman, then dropped out of school and moved back in with her parents to have Kelli.
After filling her cousin in on her story, Kelli gave her a way out.
“I gave her the option of ending contact with me,” she said.
But the opposite happened. Her cousin contacted her own parents, who said they wanted to help. They were thrilled that they found Kelli.
“And even if my father didn’t want to know me, they did,” Kelli said.
She also wanted to make sure her own family was OK with what she was doing.
“Probably one of the hardest things I had to do was tell (my mom),” Kelli said.
All the pain of the past was gone. Her mother and her family supported what she was doing.
Kelli had grown up in her grandparents’ home, with her mother and her aunt, who was 14 when Kelli was born. It was a large and loving family, and Kelli had always been close to her mom and her aunt, who was more like a sister.
As she connected with her cousin, the two began what amounted to a game of detective. Her new found cousins got tested, and they were able to see which side the family Kelli was related to. Then using what they knew about where Kelli’s mom had gone to college, they figured out which male cousins may have been at Penn State around that time.
Then they tested who they thought was Kelli’s grandfather. He was and that lead them to Kelli’s biological father.
“His and his family&#8217;s reactions were amazing, they were so excited to know about me,” Kelli said, who received messages from new family members welcoming her into the family.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DSC_0582-300x201.jpg" alt="DSC_0582" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21518" width="300" height="201" />
When her biological father’s test results came in, his sister got him an “It’s a girl” balloon.
Kelli met her new found family in person in June.
“They even surprised me with presents and a cake for my birthday that was coming up, offering to sing to me 36 times to make up for the years they weren&#8217;t there,” she said.
Besides finding her biological father, she now has a new stepmom, a sister, a brother, a niece, grandparents and new uncles, aunts and cousins.
Her mother encouraged her to make the connections and has supported her all the way. Her mother’s father, her &#8220;Papap,&#8221; had passed away a few years ago. He had always been like a father to her, and for a time she felt pangs of guilt. She didn’t want it to appear that she was trying to replace him, but her family assured her that he would’ve approved.
Since connecting with her new found family, Kelli has moved back home to Pittsburgh from Chicago to get to know them better. She’d grown up just 30 miles from them. She’s learned that she and her biological father share an aptitude for math and a love of pizza, and she’s already grown close to him.
“I’d say right now we have a real father-daughter relationship,” Kelli said. “He insists I call him ‘dad,’ invites me to family vacations and we’re getting to know each other.”
She hesitates for a moment and adds:
“He cries sometimes when he thinks of how much of my life he missed, but we’re going forward now,” she said.

It’s a Girl

This is the first in an occasional series of profiles introducing you to the people behind 23andMe’s content curation team. This team of 23andMe <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Robin-Smith-Photo-200x300.jpg" alt="Robin Smith Photo" class="alignright wp-image-21508" width="300" height="449" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Robin-Smith-Photo-200x300.jpg 200w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Robin-Smith-Photo.jpg 534w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />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. 
&#8220;The genome is vast, complex, and full of wonders waiting to be revealed.&#8221;

<h6>
How did you get into the field of genetics?</h6>

As a child I was always fascinated by stories of outer space, and thought my calling would be to design spaceships that would go to other planets. I enrolled in a program named &#8220;Engineering Science&#8221; at the University of Toronto that focuses on specialized engineering disciplines.
About midway through my second year I realized that Fluid Mechanics and Robotics were not nearly as fun as a class where we created beating cardiomyocytes out of stem cells, and the rest was history. I followed this up with a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Miami, where I was permitted to tinker at the lab bench but also write the odd computer program. My thesis work centered on genetic mechanisms that allow peripheral nerves (e.g. in your arm) to grow back in contrast to central nerves (e.g. in your spinal cord), which cannot. 


<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Robin Smith, PhD Health Content Scientist

From: Toronto, Canada

Education:

BS: Biomedical Engineering,University of Toronto

PhD: Neuroscience from the University of Miami

Post-doc: UCSF in the lab of Nadav Ahituv

Fun Fact: After Graduate School Robin took a year off to help produce an indie feature film, ending up with his first (but hopefully not last) IMDB credit.
</div>
&nbsp;
<h6>
What were you researching/doing before you came to 23andMe? </h6>

After my PhD I did a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF in the lab of Nadav Ahituv. We were interested in the 98 percent of the genome that doesn&#8217;t code for genes, so called DNA &#8220;dark matter&#8221;. It turns out that these regions of DNA are very important for telling genes when, where and how much to turn on to produce a living, breathing organism out of a single cell. My research focused on breaking apart these regions of DNA to figure out how they work.

<h6>
Why are you excited about genetics and 23andMe?</h6>

So much about who we are and where we come from is wrapped up in this little ball of DNA that we carry about in (almost) every single one of our cells. It&#8217;s right there, glaring at us; and thanks to modern science, now extremely accessible. It&#8217;s like someone dropped a big puzzle in front of you that has an amazing image embedded within it. All you have to do is figure out how to put it together.
At 23andMe, we have the unique opportunity to be able to translate science to everyone &#8212; a lot of people just aren’t aware of what’s out there. Being able to work with one of the biggest databases of genetic information in the world is also very appealing. It’s allowed me to broaden my knowledge set about how genetics impact health and ancestry.

<h6>
Tell us about one of your interesting findings at 23andMe, or in your previous scientific life. </h6>

In the past, determining whether a piece of dark matter DNA regulates gene expression required a series of lengthy procedures. My time at UCSF coincided with an advance in technology that allowed us to test thousands of such DNA pieces at the same time. My research, which was later published in the journal Nature Genetics, centered on the design of synthetic DNA sequences that mimicked natural DNA dark matter in an attempt to crack the &#8220;regulatory code&#8221;. We discovered several interesting features of the code that operates in liver cells, and that it resembles a grammar of sorts.

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

We seem to be at an inflection point where advances in Next-Generation Sequencing put it in reach of the consumer. I&#8217;m looking forward to the day when we all have our full, sequenced genomes in our pockets (or safe in the cloud). The implications for health and ancestry are immense: imagine intricate knowledge about why your sense of smell is different that your partner&#8217;s, or being able to trace your ancestry back to a particular village. I think the best discoveries are out there waiting to be found.
<h6>
Did you learn anything interesting from your 23andMe results? Did you make any changes as a result of taking the test?</h6>

I&#8217;ve learned a lot about the genetics of Hemochromatosis. A lot of our customers (including my family) have variants in the HFE gene, but only certain combinations lead to a risk for iron overload. I&#8217;m a carrier for H63D, which originally concerned me, but reading through the 23andMe report and also seeing all the various mutations that appeared in my family was helpful in putting this into perspective. 
 
<h6> 
What&#8217;s one thing the average consumer should know about genetics?</h6>

There&#8217;s an amazing wealth of knowledge that scientists have built up over the years about how genetics influence traits and disease, but really we&#8217;ve just seen the tip of the iceberg. The genome is vast, complex, and full of wonders waiting to be revealed.

A Conversation With Health Content Scientist Robin Smith

Another school year begins and 23andMe has your first assignment.<div id="attachment_21498" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-21498" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Chromosomes-200x200.jpg" alt=" Photo by Quinn Walker" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-21498" width="200" height="200" />Photo by Quinn Walker</div><div id="attachment_21499" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-21499" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Double_Helix_SFO-200x200.jpg" alt="Photo by Carmen Avram " class="size-thumbnail wp-image-21499" width="200" height="200" />Photo by Carmen Avram </div>
A picture is worth a thousand words, and we think that’s plenty enough to explain key terms in genetics.
So as part of our back-to-school, ah…celebration, 23andMe is having its first “Genetics Image Contest,” which is open to students 18 or older. The finalists 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.
If that’s not enough to make you interested, may we appeal to your thirst for knowledge?
Our Academic and Students Programs are all about advocating for improved genetic literacy. We know from research that imagery itself plays a huge role in science education, so this contest offers a great opportunity to not just learn a little something about genetics, but to pass on that knowledge to others.

<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 enrolled in a school within the territorial 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 October 6 at 11:59PM. Go <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/?p=21500" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a> for a complete description of the rules. Email questions about the contest to: geneticsimage2014contest@23andme.com
</div>
Interested? Here’s what you need to do: Simply select from our list of genetic vocabulary terms (DNA, chromosome, gene, allele, Heredity/Inheritance Pattern) and 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. For inspiration, we have included some photos by a few of us here at 23andMe. You could create images that are literal interpretations, such as the example of the architectural designs of the double helix. You could also try a more metaphorical approach, or use your own artistic license, like the image of the stadium containing 20,000 spectators symbolizes the approximate number of genes in our genome. But whatever you do, be creative. You might be surprised what directions it leads you in. There are no mistakes in art.
The images you submit will be displayed in an album on 23andMe&#8217;s Facebook page, where you can encourage your friends to like and share them, and contribute to the overall evaluation of your image. Images will also be evaluated based on originality, visual impact, and the written description. 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 the 23andMe blog post on the week of October 20.
You could also try a more metaphorical approach, or use your own artistic license, like the image of the stadium containing 20,000 spectators symbolizes the approximate number of genes in our genome. But whatever you do, be creative. You might be surprised what directions it leads you in. There are no mistakes in art. The images you submit will be displayed in an album on 23andMe&#8217;s Facebook page, where you can encourage your friends to like and share them, and contribute to the overall evaluation of your image. Images will also be evaluated based on originality, visual impact, and the written description.
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 the 23andMe blog post on the week of October 20.

Photogenetics: 23andMe’s Genetics Image Contest

It might not be genetic but there appears to be a clear association between having inflammatory bowel disease and having a damn good sense of humor.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IBD-IMage-.jpg" alt="IBD IMage" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21214" width="240" height="160">
IBD is a serious digestive disorder and is no laughing matter. The umbrella diagnosis includes both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and affects an estimated 1.4 million people in the United States alone. There are very few treatments for the condition, and the sometimes very painful symptoms can leave those with IBD feeling embarrassed, isolated and alone.
But looking at some great blogs by people with the condition, it’s easy to see that having a good sense of humor certainly helps get you through the hard times. How can you not at least crack a smile at titles like “<a href="http://crohns-leavingtheseatdown.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leaving the Seat Down</a>”, or “Blood, Poop &amp; Tears?” By writing about the condition and its symptoms with sometimes blunt humor, these bloggers are going a long way toward removing any stigma around the disease.
<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>
<h6>IBD Study</h6>
23andMe recently launched <a href="https://23andme.com/IBD/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a new study of IBD</a> in collaboration with Pfizer Inc. to learn more about what role genetics and environment play in the development of IBD as well as how the condition progresses.
Reading through blogs about individuals who struggle day to day, can also inform and motivate what we do.
<h6>Recommended Reading</h6>
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are some of the IBD blogs that made us want to read more.
&#8211; <a href="http://www.inflamed-and-untamed.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inflamed and Untamed</a> – Blogging since 2008, Sara Ringer mixes girl power, fashion and her own poignant personal struggles – including having her large intestine removed – all while advocating for others with IBD.
&#8211; Blood, Poop &amp; Tears – Like a lot of good IBD bloggers, Jackie is both blunt and funny. In her 20s, she’s been blogging since 2010 about her own struggles with ulcerative colitis.
&#8211; <a href="http://crohns-leavingtheseatdown.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leaving the Seat Down</a> – Living with Crohn’s since 1988, Vern is an IBD veteran. A former competitive figure skater and soccer player living in British Columbia, Vern also paints and is known for his Crohnie adages: 
“If you hold the world record for the amount of times going to the bathroom in an hour; you might be a Crohnie.”
&#8211; <a href="http://intenseintestines.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Intense Intestines Blog</a> – Brian Greenberg is both a blogger and the founder of the Intense Intestines Foundation. He has also been dealing with his own Crohn&#8217;s diagnosis since he was just a kid.
&#8211; <a href="http://www.jpouch.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">J-pouch Life</a> – With a more somber but measured tone, this blog collects stories from people who have gone through surgery or are considering going through surgery to remove their colon. This site has become a great resource for people struggling with determining their best option. It’s a serious decision and the site neither makes light of it nor overly dramatizes it.
&#8211; <a href="http://www.brightsideofcrohns.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Bright Side of Crohn&#8217;s</a> – You’ve got to give it up to any blogger referencing, knowingly or not, Eric Idle’s comedy song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” But Canadian blogger “Brightside,” is a working mom who writes to stay positive.
&#8211; The Great Bowel Movement – The tagline for this blog is “making Crohn’s and Colitis cool since 2010.” The posts on this blog run the gambit from fitness, nutrition to the latest in drug treatments and other interventions.

Gut Check – A Short List of IBD Blogs

Neanderthals, our ancient cousins whose DNA is still found in traces in modern humans, faded away in Europe about 10,000 years earlier than scientists once <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Neanderthal_model.jpg" alt="Neanderthal_model" class="alignright size-full wp-image-20253" width="260" height="270" />thought, according to a new study by <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-08-20-neanderthals-overlapped-modern-humans-5400-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">researchers at Oxford</a>.
Using an improved method for radiocarbon dating, the researchers took samples from about 200 artifacts found at 40 Neanderthal cave sites across Europe. The tests determined that Neanderthals likely disappeared around 40,000 years ago, or earlier than previously thought.
The new timeline also indicates that Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans coexisted in neighboring communities throughout Europe for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/science/neanderthals-in-europe-died-out-thousands-of-years-sooner-than-some-thought-study-says.html?_r=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">as long as 5,000 years</a>. That gave them plenty of time to intermix. While there is not yet evidence of Neanderthals and modern humans living in integrated societies, they do appear to have exchanged more than just artifacts. 
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/OcEzIgMOxTc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
From one percent to four percent of the DNA in modern humans originated from Neanderthals. The timeline shows that Neanderthals and modern humans had ample time to interbreed, and even if this happened rarely, it happened enough to explain the traces of Neanderthal DNA found in modern humans. 
The timeline also indicates that Neanderthals did not suddenly die off, but appear to have slowly faded away and were likely overwhelmed by their modern human neighbors who reproduced at a much faster rate.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-14049" title="neanderthal icon" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/neanderthal-icon-96x150.jpg" width="50" height="77" />
Got Neanderthal DNA?
23andMe customers can <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/labs/neanderthal/">find their inner Neanderthal</a> or at least how much Neanderthal DNA they have. Not yet a customer? <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store">Visit our store</a>!

Neanderthal Fade Away

Since announcing our new study on Inflammatory Bowel Disease, we’ve received questions not just about the study, but about the disease itself.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 240px; 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>
IBD – which includes both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis – is often difficult to diagnose. The symptoms can sometimes be confused with other conditions.
The symptoms can also come and go making arriving at an accurate diagnosis very difficult.
Recently, Dr. Jennifer Choi, the Associate Director of UCLA’s Center for IBD, gave a detailed talk on the condition. Neither Dr. Choi nor the UCLA Center is involved with 23andMe’s study, but they are a great resource for information about the condition.
While the video of that presentation is long, and is sometimes graphic, Dr. Choi very clearly explains everything from the anatomy involved to the differences between Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.
It’s a helpful primer both for those who have the condition and people who care about them, who are trying to understand what they are going through.
We’ve included the video below, but be forewarned that there are some graphic photos in the presentation that may be disturbing for some.
 
<iframe loading="lazy" width="300" height="169" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vJ-nLpAFHd8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

More On Inflammatory Bowel Disease

This past weekend, 23andMe’s Joanna Mountain and Christine Moschella, attended
<div id="attachment_21379" style="width: 309px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-21379" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/J-C.001.jpg" alt="Joanna Mountain, 23andMe's Research Director, and on the right Christine Moschella, 23andMe's Community Manager." class="size-full wp-image-21379" width="299" height="233" />Joanna Mountain, 23andMe&#8217;s Research Director, and on the right Christine Moschella, 23andMe&#8217;s Community Manager.</div>
the <a href="http://i4gg.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2014 Institute for Genetic Genealogy Conference</a> at the <a href="http://www.4hcenter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National 4H Center</a> just outside Washington, DC. The conference offered a great opportunity to connect again with genetic genealogists and learn from other experts in the field.
Over the three days Joanna, 23andMe’s Director of Research, and Christine, our Community Manager, shared details of some of our ancestry and genealogy features. But the pair were also there to hear feedback directly from our customers, and to answer questions about topics ranging from where things stand with the <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/news/update-on-the-regulatory-review-process-with-the-fda/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">FDA regulatory process</a> to tips on using our saliva kit.
<h6>
Using DNA Relatives 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/African-American-Example1-300x220.jpg" alt="African American Example" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-19805" width="300" height="220" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/African-American-Example1-300x220.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/African-American-Example1.jpg 661w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></h6>
Joanna presented an overview of two of 23andMe’s most popular tools – <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/23andme-ancestry-basics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DNA Relatives and Ancestry Composition</a>. She went over &#8211; their origins, methodologies, and history &#8211; highlighting both the science behind these features and how they have been improved over a relatively short time.
The purpose for attending the conference was not only to share information with genetic genealogy enthusiasts but also to get feedback about how these customers are currently using the service and to hear ideas for improvements.
In numerous presentations and conversations with attendees, we heard about some of the creative ways customers are interacting with the information provided by 23andMe, and learned more about what kind of tools and information genetic genealogists in particular find most important.
<h6>Feedback</h6>
We also got some feedback about which features could be improved. In some instances, we are already in the process of making those improvements, which we are very excited about. We hope the community continues to provide the kind of constructive feedback that they’ve always given as we improve our ancestry features.
Overall it was a fun and intense three days for Joanna and Christine, who said they loved meeting some of our most passionate customers in person. It’s always motivating to hear about the difference that 23andMe has made for customers and how excited they are about what more we could do. It’s an excitement we share. Thank you <a href="http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CeCe Moore</a> and <a href="http://www.timjanzen.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tim Janzen</a> for organizing the conference, with plenty of help from their family members; we hope that they will organize another such event in the future!

Latest Posts — Page 121