<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-17038 size-full" title="Mike &amp; Eric" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Mike-Eric.jpg" alt="" width="1721" height="1190" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Mike-Eric.jpg 1721w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Mike-Eric-300x207.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Mike-Eric-768x531.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Mike-Eric-1024x708.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Mike-Eric-880x608.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Mike-Eric-1180x816.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1721px) 100vw, 1721px" />Mike and Eric
Our team rolled out a new feature called<a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/press/ancestry_composition_2012"> Ancestry Composition</a> last week that will tell you more about what you’re made of, or more precisely, the geographic origins of your DNA.
Principal Product Scientist Mike Macpherson, former Research Scientist Chuong “Tom” Do, and Computational Biologist Eric Durand led the team that spent many months developing an innovative and accurate tool to determine your ancestry going as far back as 500 years.
One of the stunning aspects of Ancestry Composition is that it&#8217;s based on the newest advances in machine learning and thus will get better over time.
“Ancestry Composition is truly innovative. Not only does it use public-genetic databases for reference, it also uses the data set from 23andMe, so as more people join 23andMe, the more powerful and more accurate Ancestry Composition will become,” Mike said.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-17039 size-full" title="European and Native American Ancestry" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Native-American.jpg" alt="" width="807" height="468" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Native-American.jpg 807w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Native-American-300x174.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Native-American-768x445.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 807px) 100vw, 807px" />
The feature can very accurately detail the mosaic of your ancestral background, distinguishing British and Irish ancestry, for instance, or telling you the breakdown of your Scandinavian or Italian ancestral origins. It’s also a powerful tool for finding Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.
Right now, Ancestry Composition is particularly interesting for people of mixed ancestry: individuals who have Native American, Latino, African American or mixed European heritage.
It’s a great tool already and promises to keep getting better.
An update is planned in the near future to add more detail for people with African and Asian ancestry.
This will give a finer level of detail and help customers zero in on the regions of their ancestral origins.
But the feature can be enlightening for people of any background offering a view of an individual’s genetic ancestry, breaking down the mix of ancestry by percentage and putting it all into an intuitive visualization.
There are several other bells and whistles for those who want to dive in and find a few fun surprises.
One of those is the Split View, which gives great detail for customers who have at least one parent also in the 23andMe community. If at least one parent has been tested and is linked through the Family Tree feature, Ancestry Composition’s Split View will tell you what mix of your ancestry comes from your mother and <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">what mix of your ancestry</a> comes from your father.
Another add-on to the feature is a Chromosome View, which “paints” the ancestry on each of your 23 chromosomes.
If you’d like to see more detail on how this has done you can look both at a<a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry_composition_guide/"> white paper</a> put together by Mike or a recent<a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121027_ancestry_painting_methods_poster.pdf"> poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics</a>, which outlines the technique.
The new feature replaces 23andMe’s “ancestry painting” and “global similarity,” two tools that were equally pioneering when they were first introduced.
But with Ancestry Composition 23andMe breaks new ground and sets a new standard for determining genetic ancestry.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-17041 size-full" title="split view" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/split-view.jpg" alt="" width="1744" height="911" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/split-view.jpg 1744w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/split-view-300x157.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/split-view-768x401.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/split-view-1024x535.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/split-view-880x460.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/split-view-1180x616.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1744px) 100vw, 1744px" />

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

23andMe’s Newest Feature Explores Your Ancestry

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-17010 size-full" title="23andMe-Anne-001" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/23andMe-Anne-001.jpg" alt="" width="165" height="236" />
Today we’re announcing <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/press/12_11_2012/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">some big news</a>. I don’t want this moment to go by without a note of gratitude to our customers and those who have been advocates for 23andMe over the years.
We have come a long way together.  Because of you we pioneered the use of personal genetics.  You are helping us establish a new medical era that is defined by wellness, disease prevention, and personalized care.  You also helped us create a novel research platform.  By leveraging online tools, social networking and crowd sourcing, and combining them with genetics, we created a platform that has set the stage to transform the way pharma companies and academics do health and wellness research.
We want to do more.
23andMe has raised more than $50 million in new financing with the goal of reaching one million customers.  To help us reach our goal, we are happy to announce today, that we are dropping our price to $99.
One million customers can be the tipping point that moves medicine into the molecular era.  Hundreds of you have written to us about how genetic information changed your lives and, in some cases, saved your lives.  We believe genetics should be an integral part of health care and we will work hard in the coming year to help genetics become part of everyone’s health and wellness.
A community of one million individuals will also benefit the world.  A genetic data resource of this magnitude has enormous potential to address unanswered questions related to the contributions of genes, the environment and your health.  Understanding these factors and their interactions could lead to major improvement in diagnostics, preventive medicine and therapeutics [<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v429/n6990/abs/nature02628.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Collins NATURE | VOL 429 | 27 MAY 2004</a>].
This change is not just about a new price point for personal genetic testing. It is about an ambitious plan that could transform medicine for generations to come.
If you have questions about the new pricing please go to our FAQ or email your questions to customercare@23andMe.com.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-10785" title="sig_small_transparent" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/sig_small_transparent-300x125.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="125" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/sig_small_transparent-300x125.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/sig_small_transparent.jpg 318w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

One Million Strong

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-17015 size-medium" title="MPN-progression" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/MPN-progression-e1354839090623-300x228.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="228" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/MPN-progression-e1354839090623-300x228.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/MPN-progression-e1354839090623.jpg 700w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Earlier this year we met our goal of enrolling 1,000 people in a community with a collection of rare blood disorders known as<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/snpwatch/snpwatch-the-jist-on-jak2-and-myeloproliferative-neoplasms/"> myeloproliferative neoplasms</a>, or MPNs.
<h2>Presenting Findings</h2>
Since then, we’ve been able to replicate known genetic associations with these rare disorders and make new findings. In the next few weeks, we’ll begin detailing some of these exciting discoveries.
First, 23andMe’s Principal Scientist in Statistical Genetics, David Hinds, PhD, will offer up some of those findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta. With him in Atlanta will be Kim Barnholt, PhD, the project manager for our MPN initiative. In addition, the members of our unpaid MPN advisory board, Dr. Ross Levine, Dr. Jason Gotlib, Dr. James Zehnder, and Dr. Ruben Mesa, will also be attending the meeting.
Dave will discuss various topics, including discovering new associations between these rare blood disorders and variants in the TERT and ATM genes.
<h2>Telomeres</h2>
The TERT gene encodes for telomerase, a protein involved in telomere maintenance.
Telomeres are repetitive sequences at the ends of chromosomes that have an important role in maintaining the integrity of chromosomes during cell division.  Telomeres tend to shorten as cells divide, and telomere shortening is thought to be a key aspect of aging at the cellular level. When its telomeres reach a certain minimum size, a cell loses its dividing capacity.  In cell types that must continue dividing throughout life, such as stem cells in the bone marrow, telomerase prevents this telomere shortening.
In some tumors, cancer cells express TERT, which prevents progressive telomere shortening during cell division. This can enable these cells to override the normal cell aging process and divide without limits, thus leading to excessive growth.
<h2>Changes in Blood Vessel Structure</h2>
The ATM gene is involved in the cell’s response to DNA damage.  Mutations in the ATM gene are responsible for ataxia telangiectasia, a rare disease with symptoms that include poor coordination and changes in blood vessel structure, as well as sensitivity to radiation and a substantially higher risk of blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. The more common variant we identified in ATM has previously been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
We will also present preliminary data on our ability to detect some somatic mutations—these are mutations that a person isn’t born with but develops during their lifetime. Specifically, using our “V3” 23andMe genotyping arrays and saliva DNA, we can detect a mutation in the JAK2 gene commonly found in patients with certain MPNs.
The probes for this variant were part of the custom content we included in the design of our V3 chip.
We plan to offer more details on these findings in the coming weeks, but this work clearly points to the power of our research model. In a little more than a year, we recruited patients with this rare blood disorder and started generating new discoveries about the disease.

New Discoveries about Rare Blood Disorders from 23andMe

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-6586" title="23andMe_Logo_blog" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" 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: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
23andMe received more than half a million dollars recently from the<a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/press/nih_awards_2012"> National Institutes of Health (NIH) for three research projects</a>.
The grants support some of the important online genome-wide association studies 23andMe has pioneered – in this case one grant will go towards research into the genetics of allergies and asthma. But the NIH money will also support two other research projects that help push our work into new realms.
One project will develop methods for assessing the accuracy of new sequencing technologies in clinical applications, while the third grant supports a project to develop new survey and data collection tools that can be used in whole-genome sequencing research.
Principal Scientist and statistical geneticist Dave Hinds is spearheading the <a href="http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?icde=0&amp;aid=8394670">research into asthma and allergies</a> by leveraging the more than 100,000 people in our database who have consented to participate in research. As part of the grant, Dave plans to partner with experts in the genetics of asthma and allergies.
Our research platform gives the team working on this project a bit of a head start because we have about 25,000 customers participating in research who also report having one or more allergies. About 8,000 say they’ve been diagnosed with asthma. This gives us two large cohorts to help us begin the work that could provide breakthroughs to help so many more people. Allergies and asthma affect as many as one in five Americans, making better understanding of the genetics behind these conditions an important public health priority.
We are also excited by the research being overseen by Brain Naughton, our Founding Scientist. The project, <a href="http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?icde=0&amp;aid=8394910">“Development of DNA Sequencing Data-Quality Metrics for Personal Genomics”</a> will be important for laying the groundwork for the eventual broad adoption of whole-genome sequencing. Before that can happen however, we must ensure that the results are accurate and create standards for how that is measured. Brian and his team will analyze about 150 exomes (including 50 new exomes sequenced for this project) and 100 whole genomes to investigate false positive and false negative rates for variants located in known disease genes.
Finally, Nick Eriksson, also a Principal Scientist and statistical geneticist, will lead the development of tools that would <a href="http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?icde=0&amp;aid=8395172">improve the reliability of online self-reported data</a>. &nbsp;The long-term goal of this multi-phased project is to accelerate the research 23andMe currently does and increase the scope and reach of that research.

Three New Research Projects from 23andMe

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-3440 size-medium" title="Abstract DNA" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/istock_000002166527xsmall-300x219.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="219" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/istock_000002166527xsmall-300x219.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/istock_000002166527xsmall.jpg 406w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Earlier this month Public Health Genomics published<a href="http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowAbstract&amp;ArtikelNr=343792&amp;Ausgabe=0&amp;ProduktNr=224224"> a paper by a team of Swiss researchers</a> that reinforces the growing body of work showing both a strong consumer interest in DNA testing, and positive experiences with personal genetic testing.
In this study, the participants were life science students at the University of Zurich who purchased the kits from 23andMe at an educational discount. While these participants had more genetic expertise than the average consumer, their responses were not very different from people in other recent studies. 
Many of the respondents described their experience as “fun” and said part of their motivation for getting genotyped was to advance genetic research.
“Their experiences provide valuable insights into the role of personal curiosity and altruism (fostering medical research) as motivations for testing and the utility attributed to both,” the study concludes.
<h6>DNA Testing Does Not Induce Anxiety</h6>
Ninety percent of them described their experience as positive, and a majority indicated the test would impact how they thought about their health.
the study also appears to add more evidence that direct to consumer testing doesn’t induce fear. Although a little more than half the respondents had some concerns about confidentiality and privacy, only one described those as  “serious concerns.”
We’ve written several times about other studies that show people don’t freak out about what they learn from their genetic information. People also say they find value in getting genotyped.
<h6>Motivations for DNA Testing</h6>
This study – the first to look at direct to consumer genetic testing in Europe – shows much the same as previous studies done in the United States. But unlike most of the other studies, it also delves into both why people get genotyped and how they look at that information.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-16940 size-medium" title="Motivations for DNA testing for consumers" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/updated-swiss-study-graph-300x181.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="181" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/updated-swiss-study-graph-300x181.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/updated-swiss-study-graph.jpg 362w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
In another recent study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in San Francisco, Sandra Lee, Ph.D., a Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, presented findings from a study on 23andMe customers. Most of those in her study freely shared their genetic data with family and friends. Many of them also posted their results on Facebook. This was also the case in the Swiss study, in which about 64 percent of those asked said they’d share their results with family.
Another finding from the Swiss study was that consumers were motivated not just by curiosity but a desire to participate in research in some way.
“23andMe gave them an opportunity they otherwise would not have had to help advance research,” the paper said. “Individual contributions to research were discussed in terms of ‘investments’ in the future. (The) returns being the acceleration of medical discovery and better medicine.”

Consumer Interest in Genetic Testing

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-8732" title="DNA-chains" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DNA-chains-300x225.jpg" width="300" height="225" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DNA-chains-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DNA-chains.jpg 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
The story <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/health/tests-of-parents-are-used-to-map-genes-of-a-fetus.html?pagewanted=all&#038;_r=0">first broke</a> in the summer of 2012 – two separate research groups, one from the University of Washington and the other from Stanford, announced within weeks of each other that they had successfully sequenced a human fetus and done so noninvasively.
Scientist <a href="http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/137/137ra76.short">Jacob O Kitzman</a>, who led the University of Washington study, sequenced the fetal genome by analyzing a blood sample from the mother and a saliva sample from the father, while <a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11251.html">H. Christina Fan</a>, leader of the Stanford study, just analyzed a blood sample from the mother.
By sequencing DNA from one or both parents and applying some computational tricks, these researchers were able to decode the genome sequence of the fetus. Their approach was possible because a small but very measurable percentage of DNA found in a pregnant mother’s bloodstream comes from the fetus.
At the ASHG 2012 meeting earlier this month, we heard first hand from Kitzman about their study. When they sequenced the pregnant mother’s plasma (a component of blood) they found that 87 percent of the DNA was of maternal origin and 13 percent was of fetal origin. When they compared their decoded genome to the actual genome of the fetus, which they sequenced using umbilical cord blood collected at birth, their accuracy was around 98 percent for most regions of the genome.
Noninvasive sequencing of human fetuses holds clinical utility. Since the approaches pioneered by Kitzman and Fan don’t rely on <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/amniocentesis/MY00155">amniocentesis</a> or <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chorionic-villus-sampling/MY00154">chorionic villous sampling (CVS)</a> for obtaining fetal DNA, they do not pose a risk to the developing fetus. Both amniocentesis and CVS are invasive procedures that carry a small risk of miscarriage.
Noninvasive fetal sequencing is also clinically useful because it provides a whole genome’s worth of information.
Some might wonder how it’s different from the relatively <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/business/sequenom-test-for-down-syndrome-raises-hopes-and-questions.html?pagewanted=all">new blood-based screen</a> that some are calling “the Down syndrome test.” This test, already commercially available, only requires a sample of the mother’s blood and is therefore non-invasive. But it differs from fetal sequencing because it only detects large chromosomal abnormalities – for instance having an extra chromosome, which occurs with Down syndrome. In contrast, fetal sequencing detects both chromosomal abnormalities as well as very small mutations like those causing single-gene disorders like cystic fibrosis. Fetal sequencing can also detect <a href="http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/glossary=denovomutation">“de novo” mutations</a>, changes in DNA that are not inherited from parents but instead occur very early in the course of a person’s life and can also cause disease.
But it’s likely going to take some time before fetal sequencing is actually offered to the general public. The costs need to drop significantly – it’s currently around <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/health/tests-of-parents-are-used-to-map-genes-of-a-fetus.html?pagewanted=all&#038;_r=0">$20,000-$50,000</a> per fetal genome. More work is also needed to refine the approach and improve the accuracy.
For this study Kitzman drew a blood sample when the fetus was around 18 weeks of gestation, but scientists expect the test to become available for women who are in earlier stages of pregnancy, for instance during the first trimester.
As with traditional prenatal screening such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS), fetal sequencing can predict a serious medical condition. Fetal sequencing goes further, however, and may enable parents to obtain a rough prediction of traits such as the future eye color of the fetus. If current trends continue, some prospective parents will want such information, while others will prefer to wait until after the baby is born to learn about medical and non-medical conditions. The utility of this test and the decision to use it will depend a great deal on the test’s accuracy, which currently isn’t very high. But it’s clear that testing options for prospective parents will continue to grow in number and complexity.

Noninvasive Sequencing of a Human Fetus

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-16917 size-full" title="Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/turkeyDinner.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="286" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/turkeyDinner.jpg 420w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/turkeyDinner-300x204.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px" />
Thanksgiving &#8212; it’s a time for friends, family and, of course, food.
Thanks to modern science, we now know quite a lot about the foods that grace our holiday tables.  Over the last few years, scientists have worked hard to sequence many common Thanksgiving foods: <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1000475">turkeys</a>, potatoes, <a href="http://maizesequence.org/index.html">corn</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v42/n10/abs/ng.654.html">apples</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7161/full/nature06148.html">wine grapes</a>, and many more (an attractive slideshow highlighting some of these food genomes is available here).
The sequencing of these holiday foods isn’t just an academic exercise; the hope is that new knowledge will lead to hardier and more nutritious crops.  Furthermore, the old adage “you are what you eat” has proven very true as insights into food genetics have translated into useful medical knowledge because of the underlying DNA similarities.  For instance, the transposon (genes that move around) were first discovered in corn, a discovery that earned Barbara McClintock her Nobel Prize.  Transposons are now understood to play an important role in disease and in <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/news/tomorrows-breakthroughs-this-is-your-brain-on-retrotransposons/">brain genetics</a>.
Because of the strong selection pressure on food crops, careful breeding and, more recently, genetic engineering, the genomes of these food items are constantly and quickly changing.  Potatoes and tomatoes are wildly different plants, and yet are only separated by a mere 10 million years of evolution. (Yes, 10 million years is “mere” on evolutionary time scales.)
<div style="float: left; text-align: justified; width: 300px; padding: 15px; border: 1px solid #ccc; margin-right: 10px;">
Don&#8217;t blame the turkey 
Did you know tryptophan has a bad, but undeserved, rap? This essential amino acid is not to blame for your post-Thanksgiving meal slumber. Turkey has no more tryptophan than chicken or many other foods. Your food coma has more to do with your large portions of carbs than tryptophan.
</div>
The <a href="https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/turkeytech/">turkey</a> has undergone some particularly astounding changes since the time of your grandparents’ childhood Thanksgiving meals. The average turkey in 1929 weighed 13.2 pounds, whereas the average turkey today is 29 pounds.  Attribute this to careful breeding and the introduction of artificial insemination in the 1960’s. (Apparently birds over 30 pounds have trouble mating).
Whether you find these changes to your dinner table troubling or exciting, it is likely that such changes will continue.   With more knowledge about the genetics underlying our foods, the gates of genetic engineering are opening wide.   For farmers hoping for heartier and healthier crops, this may indeed be something for which to give thanks, but the full extent of possibilities and risks are yet to be seen.

Genetics at the Thanksgiving Dinner Table

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12186" title="rich portrait1" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rich-portrait1-300x244.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="244" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rich-portrait1-300x244.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rich-portrait1.jpg 533w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Another friend of 23andMe, <a href="http://theastronautssecret.com/">Rich Clifford</a>, the former NASA astronaut who has become a powerful voice for those with Parkinson’s, was recently featured on CNN.
Always an inspiration, Rich spoke with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his life with Parkinson’s disease. A career military officer, he flew on the Space Shuttle Atlantis two years after getting his own diagnosis for Parkinson’s. Now, more than 20 years later, he has become an advocate for others battling the disease.
He is also a big supporter of 23andMe’s <a href="https://www.23andme.com/pd/">Parkinson’s research initiative</a>. He said 23andMe’s test offers people an opportunity to learn of their genetic risk for the disease before they get it. This gives them a chance to take steps for early intervention before they get symptoms. 
 
Take a look at the CNN piece.
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A more in-depth look at his story and his fight against Parkinson’s is the subject of Zach Jankovic’s soon to be completed documentary, <a href="http://theastronautssecret.com/">“The Astronaut’s Secret.”</a>
If you haven&#8217;t already, take a look at some of our recent posts on Parkinson&#8217;s:
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/in-washington-talking-about-parkinsons-research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> 23andMe Goest to Washington</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-research/23andme-research/why-not-participate-one-patients-perspective/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Why Not Participate? One Patient’s Perspective</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-research/23andme-research/23andmes-latest-publication-shines-light-on-male-pattern-baldness-and-unexpected-associations-with-disease/"> 23andMe’s Latest Publication Shines Light on Male Pattern Baldness and Unexpected Associations with Disease</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-research/23andme-and-you/23andme-and-parkinsons-past-present-and-future/"> 23andMe and Parkinson’s: Past, Present, and Future</a> 
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-research/news/the-state-of-the-science-of-parkinsons-research/"> The State of the Science of Parkinson’s Research</a>

Another Hero in the Fight Against Parkinson’s

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-16865" title="Nick" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Nick-209x300.jpg" alt="" width="209" height="300" />
You’d be forgiven for assuming your height has nothing to do with the curl of your hair or how flexible you are, but physical traits can sometimes have unexpected connections.
Last week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in San Francisco, 23andMe’s Principal Scientist and Statistical Geneticist Nick Eriksson presented findings from our database about 300 new genetic associations with various physical traits.
It’s not surprising that a single trait – having a<a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/factoids/"> unibrow</a>, for instance – might be influenced by any number of different genetic variants. In the case of unibrow, we’ve found more than 50 genetic variants associated with the trait. It is also well known that genetic variants can be associated with multiple traits and conditions. For example, variants in the PAX3 gene have independent associations with unibrow, whether you’ve got a <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/traits/cleft-chin/">chin dimple</a>, or upper back hair.
It’s the sheer volume of newly discovered associations that is so surprising. Beyond that, the work is both interesting and informative in what it says about the web of connections between these traits and conditions. These associations shed new light on how genes and gene expression may influence those conditions and traits as well as certain diseases. 
 
While there may be some novelty in finding associations with traits like breast size, sometimes these associations tell us something very important. In the case of<a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Genetic-Variants-Associated-with-Breast-Size-and-Cancer.pdf"> breast size</a> there’s a connection with breast cancer, for instance. And these associations can also lead us to new ways of thinking about how certain conditions develop.
Nick’s presentation was meant in part to simply put out there some of the findings we’ve made.
These findings were made because our customers answered questions concerning easily identifiable physical traits, such as whether they’re bald, can easily touch their toes and whether their ring finger is longer than their index finger. Comparing this data with their genetics we were able to see connections that could give us greater understanding of links between these seemingly unrelated traits.
Looking at the PAX3 gene again, which contains variants that influence normal facial development, there are variants that are also associated with a syndrome that leads to deafness, facial abnormalities and skin pigmentation irregularities. Variants in another gene HOXD, which is essential for hand and foot development, are also associated with some severe deformities. And variants in the EDAR gene – which influence the baldness, the straightness of your hair and the amount of <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/traits/back-hair/">back hair</a> you have – are also associated with ectodermal dysplasias, that effects the development of hair, nails, skin and teeth. So understanding these associations with common but complex traits can also provide insight into rare disorders and conditions.
People fuel 23andMe’s engine of discovery because they choose to answer a few questions about themselves. This has allowed us to answer questions about genetics and it has also allowed us to study over 1,000 different traits and conditions, many of which have never been analyzed in such a large scale. What we’ve gleaned from this data so far is a picture of the complex genetic architecture underlying human differences and point us in the right directions for future study.

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