Two 23andMe scientists have improved a long-used method for detecting shared DNA segments.
Researchers use this method to study everything from whether two people are related to human demography to the heritability of disease.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-20946 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Eric-Cory-300x209.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="209" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Eric-Cory-300x209.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Eric-Cory-768x535.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Eric-Cory-1024x713.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Eric-Cory-880x613.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Eric-Cory-1180x822.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<h2>HaploScore</h2>
The two computational biologists – Eric Durand, Ph.D., and Cory McLean, Ph.D. – recently published their findings in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. The pair also made their algorithm, HaploScore, publicly available.
Previous studies have used computer simulations to determine the accuracy of established methods for determining identity-by-descent (IBD). Still, Eric and Cory are the first to test those methods with actual human data.
When they scrutinized current methods, they found that the algorithms produced many errors.  S0 Eric and Cory created a better and more accurate method for determining IBD. Their now open-source method is called HaploScore.
&#8220;HaploScore will allow all researchers to more accurately identify genetic relationships between distantly related individuals,&#8221; said Cory.
<h2>Identity by Descent</h2>
Researchers use methods for determining IBD to identify shared segments of DNA. They look at IBD in many aspects of genetic research. They used it to determine the “relatedness” of any two individuals. The longer the shared segment, the closer the relationship. Up to now, studies of the accuracy of the methods for determining IBD have been done with simulated data.
When Eric and Cory used the popular IBD detection method GERMLINE on data from about 3,000 biological parent and child &#8220;trios.&#8221; They found a false positive rate of 67 percent for small segments. HaploScore improves the accuracy of short IBD segment detection, allowing researchers to look at much shorter segments of shared DNA to determine relatedness. Segments of DNA are measured in units called centiMorgans.
Eric and Cory’s new method allows for more accurate IBD determination on segments in the range of 2 to 4 centiMorgans. As more people are genotyped or have their DNA sequenced, having an accurate method for determining IBD will be increasingly important.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

23andMe scientists improve method for finding relatives

This interview is part of an occasional series of profiles introducing you to the people behind 23andMe’s compelling research. Chao Tian is a statistical geneticist, who came to 23andMe after <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20935" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chaos-Photo-200x300.jpg" alt="Chao's Photo" width="200" height="300" />studying Genetics and Statistics at UC Davis and working for two other genetics startups in the Bay Area. At 23andMe, Chao studies the genetic factors that affect drug response, and she is also working on improving our genome-wide association studies.
“Genetics is important, and we need more data to make it useful.”
<h6>Why are you excited about genetics? 
</h6>
I’ve always thought genetics was a very interesting field, especially after the human genome sequence was completed. Being able to decode yourself is very cool, and if you can understand yourself at a molecular level, it will show us more about what humans are made of.
<h6>Tell us about one of your interesting research findings. 
</h6>
One of the most interesting things we’ve been looking at is medical records. We are comparing medical record data with 23andMe surveys, and so far have found the correspondence to be very high. People who fill out 23andMe surveys tend to provide very accurate responses, and that information corresponds highly enough to medical records that it could be statistically relevant for future studies.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Chao Tian, PhD Statistical Geneticist 
Education:BA Wuhan University, China 
PhD, Statistical Genetics, UC Davis 
Fun Fact:I write classical Chinese poetry. If I hadn’t chosen science, I would’ve pursued a literature degree.</div>
Last year I also presented a paper at <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-at-ashg/">ASHG</a> called, “<a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/GWAS-for-Susceptibility-to-Infection.pdf">GWAS Identifies Classical HLA Alleles Associated with Susceptibility to Infectious Diseases</a>.” For that research, we studied 23 infectious diseases like chickenpox, shingles, strep throat and mumps etc. to find associated proteins and alleles. The results of the study could impact future vaccine design and disease preventions.
<h6>What interesting thing have you learned about yourself from being tested? 
</h6>
I’ve learned that we need more data. As an Asian person, I received different results from the 23andMe test than most of our European customers. As we get more data from our customers, we’ll be able to improve our results to reflect the diverse culture here in the US. I can just imagine the sheer value of having millions of phenotypes – especially across a diverse range of ethnicities. Once we have bigger sample sizes, we’ll be able to repeat a lot of the studies traditionally done on Europeans for people with diverse backgrounds.
<h6>Tell us about a recent breakthrough in genetics research that you think will have a big impact. </h6>

<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/health-traits/talking-about-breast-cancer-risk/">Angelina Jolie’s decision</a> to undergo a double mastectomy, due to her genetic risk of breast cancer and family history of the disease, brought a lot of attention to genetics. Currently available BRCA tests can now easily test for the rare variant mutations in the breast cancer gene with incredible accuracy. In the future we’ll be able to bring that level of accuracy into testing for other diseases, and that’s very important.
<h6>What&#8217;s one thing the average person should know about genetics? 
</h6>
Genetics is important. It can determine if you’re at high risk for certain conditions and enable you to take action to prevent that.

A Conversation With 23andMe Researcher Chao Tian

Alice found her biological mom after decades of searching, so did Cody and PJ.
We’ve heard from many customers about how 23andMe helped them find their mothers, learn more about the mothers they never knew or simply see in their own DNA some of the things their mother passed on to them.
Here are a few stories featuring customers who used 23andMe to learn more about their moms. Enjoy reading, and thanks mom for the mito.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-19163 size-thumbnail" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Alice-T-at-7-w-her-dad-at-7-200x200.jpg" alt="Alice at 7 with a photo of her biological dad at the same age." width="200" height="200" /></td>
<td><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-19680 size-thumbnail" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/AgnesMHolland-e1398988404182-200x200.jpg" alt="AgnesMHolland" width="200" height="200" /></td>
<td><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-19797 size-thumbnail" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Amy_K_Marshall_2012-200x200.jpg" alt="Amy_K_Marshall_2012" width="200" height="200" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/connecting-with-the-past/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Connecting With the Past</a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/23andme-helps-man-find-family/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">23andMe Helps Man Find Family</a></td>
<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/amys-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Amy&#8217;s Story</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Some 23andMe Stories About Moms

This interview is part of an occasional series of profiles introducing you to the people behind 23andMe’s compelling research. Matthew McIntyre got hooked on genetics during an anthropology class that <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-20896 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Matthew-McIntyre-Photo-copy-e1401309929672.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="200" />introduced him to evolutionary theories about human behavior. He went on to study biological anthropology and how reproductive hormones influence behavior. At 23andMe Matthew works as a survey methodologist. If you are wondering what that survey question about <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/traits/finger-length-ratio">finger length</a> has to do with genetics? Matthew can tell you.
“Life is messy, and what we’re doing in genetics is about life.”
<h6>What does the survey team do at 23andMe?</h6>
23andMe’s team of survey methodologists are responsible for collecting all the phenotypic information our customers report. (Phenotypes are observable traits, which are influenced by both genetics and the environment.) We measure these phenotypes using your survey answers and then develop new surveys based on research priorities. We need to make sure we have a high volume of high-quality information, and that doesn’t happen if people don’t take surveys because the surveys are confusing.
The 23andMe “Your Health Profile” survey is the most important – we want everyone to take that one. In addition, the ancestry-focused “Where are you from?” survey can impact the information we provide back to our customers.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Matthew McIntyre, PhD Survey Methodologist 
Originally from: Albuquerque, New Mexico 
Education:BA   Anthropology, University of New Mexico 
MA Epidemiology , Harvard 
PhD, Biological &amp; Anthropology, Harvard 
Post-doc in Public Health at Harvard 
Fun Fact: When I was in college, I lived with a Native American tribe in South America and ate beetle larvae.</div>
<h6>Tell us about one of your interesting research findings. </h6>
I’ve worked extensively in the field of hormones and conducted studies on interpersonal dominance. One of the interesting findings coming from that research was the discovery that the most dominant man in the room probably doesn&#8217;t have the highest testosterone level.
When we interviewed men living together in rooming groups, they would generally agree on the dominant person in the group; but that dominance didn’t correlate with testosterone levels. In fact, the better determining factor of dominance was between <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/snpwatch/snpwatch-a-tale-of-two-fingers/">ring finger and index finger length</a>, which has also been shown to be a measure of testosterone and estrogen in mice.
<h6>Tell us about a recent breakthrough in genetics research that you think will have a big impact.</h6>
It&#8217;s increasingly clear that how genes work is often less important than when they work. This is where things like non-coding DNA and the environment become important. Because almost all of our genes are identical to other animals, the non-coding DNA is where the interesting stuff happens &#8212; it’s potentially more interesting than the genes themselves. Epigenetics is looking at the regulation of gene expression, so that’s a field to watch.
<h6>What&#8217;s one thing the average consumer should know about genetics?</h6>
It&#8217;s always changing, so stay tuned! Genetics can be complicated and it requires people to learn. We do our best to explain things in a way that’s both simple and scientifically correct, but it helps if you can learn more about genetics as you use 23andMe.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-20711" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight-200x200.jpg" alt="SocialPosts_Spotlight" width="200" height="200" />
<h6>Did you learn anything interesting about yourself from being tested?</h6>
I’m very interested in the ancestry side of what we do at 23andMe. My one-eighth Mexican heritage shows up through Native American and Spanish Ancestry Composition, for example. My sister has a slightly higher percentage (of Native American and Spanish ancestry.)

A Conversation With 23andMe Researcher Matthew McIntyre

23andMe’s research is unique in that it enlists the participation of customers to power scientific breakthroughs.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20889" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Power-of-One-Graphic--300x194.jpg" alt="Power of One Graphic" width="300" height="194" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Power-of-One-Graphic--300x194.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Power-of-One-Graphic--768x497.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Power-of-One-Graphic--1024x663.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Power-of-One-Graphic--880x569.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Power-of-One-Graphic--1180x764.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Power-of-One-Graphic-.jpg 1224w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
23andMe can quickly gather data on a broad range of topics from a large pool of people to help make discoveries about various conditions and traits. This can often be done much faster than with traditional research methods.
The customers who consent to research and fill out surveys fuel the progress of 23andMe&#8217;s research. As more people join, it increases the power of our research and broadens what 23andMe&#8217;s scientists can study.
In doing this 23andMe asks customers a wide variety of questions, from whether they can do a cartwheel to whether they’ve been diagnosed with different types of cancer, and each of these seemingly disparate questions can give researchers more insight into both human disease and traits.
23andMe has also created research communities that focus on specific diseases, such as Parkinson’s, a rare blood cancer called MPN and Sarcoma to name a few, which may ultimately give us more insight into both the causes and potential cures for those serious conditions.
Each person who participates in 23andMe&#8217;s research helps to power as many as 230 different studies. This is the power of one. By combining those responses with the responses from others who have also consented to research, 23andMe has the power to gain true insight into both the genetic and non-genetic influences of various conditions.
This kind of research has already helped 23andMe   identified hundreds of new genetic associations, and it has enabled our scientists to publish on dozens of new scientific findings.

The Power of One

In her 30 years of searching, Perline Porter had to chase down rumors, uncover lies and overcome false assumptions, but in the end she discovered the truth.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20880" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Perlines-Photo-278x300.jpg" alt="Perline's Photo" width="278" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Perlines-Photo-278x300.jpg 278w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Perlines-Photo-768x828.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Perlines-Photo-950x1024.jpg 950w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Perlines-Photo-817x880.jpg 817w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Perlines-Photo-1095x1180.jpg 1095w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Perlines-Photo.jpg 1493w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 278px) 100vw, 278px" />
“I finally know where I came from,” said Perline, a 58-year-old retired computer tech. “I found my biological father and family.”
The searching – dizzying in its twists and turns– finally ended last year when Perline found her half-brother using 23andMe. Her decade’s long search and ultimate success in finding her lost biological family became the fodder of her book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/My-DNA-Search-my-Roots/dp/098962000X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&#038;qid=1396908948&#038;sr=8-2&#038;keywords=my+dna+roots" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“My DNA Search for My Roots.”</a>
The pages of her story track the years of disappointment Perline endured during her search. Through it all she never lost hope, a hope fueled by a feeling that ever since she was young she knew there was something about her that set her apart from her family.
“When I was around 10 years old I suspected something was different,” she said.
Her older brother and sister used to tease her saying she had a different father. On her own, she also found evidence that all the stories she’d heard about who her father was didn’t add up.
At the same time, Perline felt proud of who she thought was her dad, a man named Harry Holbert. But she looked nothing like her two older siblings who were fathered by Harry.
Perline had a tough childhood. Her mother drank, and she grew up in an alcoholic dysfunctional family. At 16, Perline got pregnant and married her boyfriend. She lived with his family and worked in the kitchen of a rest home.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20884" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/My-DNA-Search-Book-Cover-200x300.jpg" alt="My DNA Search -- Book Cover" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/My-DNA-Search-Book-Cover-200x300.jpg 200w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/My-DNA-Search-Book-Cover.jpg 231w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
When Perline was 17, her mother, in a drunken stupor, finally told her the truth about Harry. He wasn’t her father he had died before she was born. Her mother said Perline’s father was a man named Buck Casper, a close friend of Harry’s but it turned out to be a false lead that took decades to unravel and it wasn’t the only one. Perline learned that her mother had somehow changed the name of her father on her birth certificate.
As she searched through the years, Perline got very good at tracking down names and addresses and using public records. She also went back into her mother’s history. Harry ran a bar in Kelso, in California’s Mojave Desert where they lived. Kelso was a train depot not far from Barstow.  Perline realized that although she was born in Utah, she must have been conceived it Kelso, so she knew that learning more about her mother’s time in Kelso might help her find her biological father.
Over the years she got close to who she thought was her biological family only to learn she was wrong. All that experience taught her something too. Much is said about being able to track public records and people to learn the truth. But Perline asks: “What about when people and paperwork lie?”
Perline eventually turned to 23andMe to get tested because she knew that at least, “DNA doesn’t lie.”
When she tested in 2011, she got a match with a second cousin and his daughter. But she was still fixated on finding “Buck” and she ignored the match. She did find Buck, and although Buck was not well, his son tested. Perline was sure they were related, but it turned out what her mother told her was not true, Buck was not her father.
That’s when she went back to her second cousin match on 23andMe.Using the help of genetic genealogists, Kathryn Johnston and CeCe Moore, Perline zeroed her search for her father to three brothers John Collins, Edward Woodrow (Woody) Collins and Hugh Collins. Because of their ages, Perline thought for sure it was “Woody” or “Hugh.” She didn’t consider John Sr., who would have been 17 at the time of her conception. Her mom had been 25 at the time, was a widow with two small children.
It turned out Perline was wrong. As she was contacting relatives of the brothers, they all seemed to be saying the same thing – the younger brother John Sr. was the lady’s man. They thought he was her father.
Eventually, Perline contacted John’s son, John Jr.
He wanted to know more about who she was and because Perline had already met relatives of his through 23andMe, she recommended he contact them about her. Eventually, he did and decided that Perline wasn’t trying to scam him and he agreed to test with 23andMe. Perline traveled to California and met John Jr. She immediately noticed their similarities in John Jr., and her and saw pictures of John Sr. that resembled her two sons.
“I was totally amazed at how much he looked like my two boys,” she said.
They were able to confirm the connection using 23andMe.
John saw in Perline his father’s mannerisms and even the way she told a story or liked to drop one-liners. It all seemed uncannily similar to his dad.
“It is truly amazing how you can inherit traits from your father without even knowing who he is,” John said in a newspaper article about their reunion.
He also introduced Perline to her half-sister Carey, and they all got together in person in Fallon, Nevada.
For her part, Perline marvels at ultimately finding who her father was. There were many times that she was so discouraged that she wanted to abandon her search. Indeed she’d sometimes stop and focus on her life, but she never gave up entirely, she said. She was driven to find out the truth about herself.
&#8220;When you don&#8217;t know who your other half is, you&#8217;re just missing something,&#8221; she said.
23andMe provides genetic testing services for informational purposes; your results may or may not help you to search for or identify relatives or family members.

Searching For Her Roots

23andMe is a big fan of the exhibit <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-20848" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Annimated-Genome-Exhibit.jpg" alt="Annimated Genome Exhibit" width="218" height="137" />
Today, on DNA Day, the museum is unveiling The <a href="http://unlockinglifescode.org/learn/the-animated-genome" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Animated Genome</a> on the “Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code” website (<a href="http://unlockinglifescode.org/explore">unlockinglifescode.org</a>). The five-minute feature is meant to both inspire and educate, and adds to the long list of great <a href="http://unlockinglifescode.org/learn/resources-teachers">educational resources</a> that are part of the exhibit.
More than 1.6 million people have already seen the exhibit itself since it open last June. Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code also included contributions of other private foundations and companies including 23andMe. Even a few 23andMe customers shared their own stories about DNA testing for use in the exhibit.

Animated Genome Film Unveiled By The Smithsonian

This interview is part of an occasional series of profiles introducing you to the people behind 23andMe’s compelling research. Joyce Tung is the Director of Research at 23andMe. She has contributed to several of our research publications and currently leads the research team, spending a lot of time thinking about improving the experience of participating in research. Prior to her work at 23andMe, Joyce studied t<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20820" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Joyce-Tung-Photo-200x300.jpg" alt="Joyce-Tung Photo" width="200" height="300" />he genetics of fertility. She continues to be interested in that topic and we’re currently collecting survey data around fertility from 23andMe customers. 
“Genetics is a cool way of looking at the world.”
Tell us about a recent breakthrough in genetics research that you think will have a big impact. 
Traditionally, genetic testing (with the exception of prenatal testing) has been used to diagnose an existing problem. Recently, however we’ve been able to use genetics more generally in a way that predicts for which conditions people might have a higher risk. This is important because there are a million things you could be doing to improve your health – and genetic risk factors could help us prioritize.
In addition, we’re starting to see genetics move into the clinic and inform drug development and other functional studies. We used to only factor human data in during the clinical trial phase, which is problematic as animals aren’t always a good proxy for humans. Now, we can use all this non-invasive genetic data to take advantage of real-world, real-time data to design better experiments and drugs.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Joyce Tung, PhD Director of Research 
Originally from: Saratoga, CA 
Education: BS: Biological Sciences from Stanford University 
PhD: Genetics from University of California, San Francisco 
Post-doc: Stanford University 
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at University of California, San Francisco 
Fun Fact: The only flavor of Doritos I will eat is Nacho Cheese.</div>
Tell us about one of your interesting findings. 
On the lighter side, in 2013, 23andMe published a first of its kind study looking at the genetics behind stretch marks, identifying new genetic associations that can provide deeper insights into the root causes of the condition. This kind of research could help in developing better treatments and point the direction for future study. For example, one area our researchers would like to look at further is the potential effects of genes associated with obesity and the development of stretch marks.
We’re often finding things in the database we didn’t expect!
What&#8217;s one thing the average person should know about genetics? 
A lot of people either don’t know anything about genetics, or they’ve only heard about extremely rare conditions like Huntington’s disease. That makes genetics seem scary, but that’s slowly starting to change.
People should know there’s nothing all that special about the information your genes provide. If you have <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/health-predispositions/fh/">high cholesterol</a> you’re at increased risk for heart disease. You might also have an increased risk for heart disease because of a genetic predisposition. Those two things sound different, but they both are risk indications that can be used to help you and your doctor manage your health. In fact, genetics is no different from any other innate risk.<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jpm4T2-v_bw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

A Conversation with 23andMe’s Director of Research

“I feel that genetics is something that everyone has a deep intuition about.”<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-20791" alt="Nick Furlotte Photo" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Nick-Furlotte-Photo-200x300.jpg" width="300" height="450" />


This interview is part of an occasional series of profiles introducing you to the people behind 23andMe’s compelling research. Nick Furlotte studied computer science and bioinformatics at the University of Memphis and later received his Ph.D. in computer science from UCLA.
At 23andMe, Nick tries to understand the relationships between disease risk, genetics, and lifestyle. He does this by looking at gene-by-environment interactions and by finding new associations between phenotypes. He’s found for example, that there’s an association between stress levels and average fruit intake per day.

<h6>
What were you researching before you came to 23andMe?</h6>

My background is in computational genetics. At a high level, that means I was developing statistical and computational approaches for solving problems that fell in the arena of genetics.
I worked mostly on a particular class of statistical models called linear mixed-models.  
These models have been used since the 1950s in cattle breeding programs. They were used to do things like maximizing milk yield, and have been found to be extremely useful in mouse and human genetics. When you start to scale up to large sample sizes, linear mixed-models become computationally cumbersome. So I spent a lot of time making these models faster.   This allows us to apply some very powerful techniques to problems in human genetics. For example, trying to understand the relationships between genotypic and phenotypic variation.

<h6>
Why are you excited about genetics?</h6>

Genetics is something that everyone has a deep intuition about. We just haven’t always called it that. Throughout human history, we have cared about mating, and mates have been selected based on their observable traits (both genetic and non-genetic) and on the hypothetical offspring, they will have – that’s genetics. 


<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Nick Furlotte, Statistical Geneticist 
Originally from: Memphis, TN 
Education: BA: Computer Science,   University of Memphis 
MA: Bioinformatics, University of Memphis 
PhD: Computer Science, UCLA 
Fun Fact: I wanted to be an actor or comedian in high school. 
Find him at: <a href="http://whatmind.com/nickFurlotteCV.pdf">http://whatmind.com/nickFurlotteCV.pdf</a></div>

It’s an exciting time in genetics because we are entering a stage of exponential growth, where the advances we make in understanding the role of <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genetics in complex diseases</a> are about to explode. I am excited to be a part of this period of history and to help create it.   I think it will be really cool to look back at this time 30 years down the road and muse about how far we have come and how fast things have moved.

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

The movement of genetics into the information age will have a huge impact.   We’ve already seen major shifts in the way genetics research is carried out through large scale efforts like the <a href="http://hapmap.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/">HapMap</a> or the <a href="http://www.1000genomes.org/">1000 Genomes </a><a href="http://www.1000genomes.org/">Projects</a>.
The shift will be even more extreme as sequencing becomes less expensive and more approachable.
As full genome sequencing scales from 1,000 to 2,000 people being sequenced to having the full sequence of millions of people, we will have extremely dense information about people, their environment and even their lifestyles and biomes.
This kind of dense information and the computational infrastructure to support its analysis will lead to a system where the turnaround time for discoveries is faster than we have ever seen before. With the right system in place, we will be able to use these discoveries to help decrease the incidence of disease.

<h6>
Tell us about one of your interesting research findings. </h6>

I previously found some interesting results related to gene-by-environment interactions. It turns out that the risk attributed to certain genetic factors is actually dependent on your actions. While we know that certain genetic factors predispose to obesity while others may protect against it, a recent study published in<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1003607"> PLOS Genetics</a> adds a twist.
Researchers showed that a set of 12 genetic factors known to be associated with obesity had less of an effect in people who exercised more and a larger effect in people who did not exercise as often. We examined the same idea using the data from 23andMe customers and <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20711" alt="SocialPosts_Spotlight" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight-300x300.jpg" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SocialPosts_Spotlight.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
In general, we find a lot of unique associations between phenotypes at 23andMe, sometimes these come in the form of ‘ah-ha’ moments, while other times they can be very surprising.  
For example, I found one interesting association between increased fruit intake and decreased stress levels.   It&#8217;s kind of fun to think about the causality there.   Do people with more leisure time typically have less stress? Do they also have more time to eat fresh fruit, while high-stress people pressed for time grab something pre-made? Is it socio-economical?   Or is a high fruit diet actually leading to decreased stress?   I’m not sure, but I now eat like 3 apples and a couple of bananas every day.

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

I sometimes hear people say, “I don’t want to know.”  But what they should know is that genetics is not deterministic. Most of us are going to have problems with things like Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease, and other cardiovascular diseases. Yet our environment plays a large role in the development of these diseases. And while you might be at a higher than average risk for obesity, maybe that only applies if you’re 100 percent sedentary. It’s a dynamic and complex system and it’s the very early days of what we know!

<h6>
What interesting thing have you learned about yourself from being tested?</h6>

In addition to testing myself with 23andMe, I had my grandparents tested. My grandmother recently passed away at 88 and my grandfather just turned 92. Their results reflected some of the things I’ve already observed in them.   It&#8217;s also interesting to look at the ancestry finder map and see how many distant cousins I have. You can easily see a migration bubble.   I’d love to give out kits at an upcoming family reunion to investigate our ancestry more thoroughly.

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