<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-7626 size-medium" title="brian-ancfinder-full" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/brian-ancfinder-full1-300x200.png" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/brian-ancfinder-full1-300x200.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/brian-ancfinder-full1-768x513.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/brian-ancfinder-full1-880x588.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/brian-ancfinder-full1.png 912w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
If you&#8217;re just joining us, our scientists are busy this week presenting findings from our research at ICHG/ASHG 2011 in Montreal.
But not all of our scientific contributions are in the realm of genetic associations. As some of our other conference posters have shown, we also spend a lot of time thinking about unique methods for analyzing and evaluating data, not just to investigate pressing scientific questions of relevance to our product, but to provide a comprehensive service that continuously evolves as the science does.
Our final set of posters  focuses on our Ancestry features, which include innovative tools like Relative Finder and Ancestry Finder, and  our Health reports, for which we have designed a framework that fits the unique context of direct-to-consumer, participant-driven genetics research.
(For a list of all of our presentations, click <a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ASHG2011posters23andMe.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.)
<h5>Learning more about where people are from with Ancestry Finder</h5>
Nearly two years ago we launched Relative Finder, an innovative tool for analyzing autosomal DNA data to match genetically related individuals. About a year later we followed this up with a feature called Ancestry Finder, which uses the same algorithm as Relative Finder to identify matching DNA segments between individuals but goes an extra step of providing geographic ancestry information corresponding to country of origin for each individual&#8217;s grandparents. More than 35,000 customers have filled out this information, providing a wealth of data to investigate how well self-reported ancestry reflects genetic ancestry.
Research Scientist Dr. J. Mike Macpherson shares findings from an analysis of the data driving Ancestry Finder during the poster session on Friday October 14th from 2-3pm with his poster,
&#8220;Intra-European Ancestry Assignment: Insights from Identity-By-Descent in a Large Database of Self-Reported Ancestry.&#8221; (#445F)
<h5>Keeping customers updated on the latest genetics research</h5>
One of 23andMe&#8217;s missions is to be the world&#8217;s most trusted source of genetic information. While this includes the actual As, Ts, Cs, and Gs, it also includes information about associations between genetic variants and various health conditions and traits. The available knowledge is constantly evolving as researchers conduct and publish studies, and thus we are constantly evaluating new findings as they come out. Ensuring scientific validity is paramount, but with a large customer base holding varied interests, we must also consider the relevance, completeness, and diversity of content when deciding which findings to report.
Science Content Manager Dr. Shirley Wu discusses these considerations and the criteria we&#8217;ve developed to address them during the poster session on Friday October 14th from 2-3pm with her poster.
&#8220;Criteria for evaluating genetic associations for use in direct-to-consumer personal genetic analysis.&#8221; (#1353F)
  
(Also see our white paper describing our criteria for vetting genetic associations reported in the scientific literature.)
Check back later for recaps of the event!

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

What’s Behind 23andMe Health and Ancestry

In our last post, we announced four of the posters 23andMe scientists will be presenting in Montreal this week describing characteristics of our database and research platform. With the help of our tens of thousands of research<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-large wp-image-10018" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/phenome-crop.png" alt="" width="1" height="1" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/phenome-crop.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/phenome-crop-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/phenome-crop-295x300.png 295w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/phenome-crop-271x149.png 271w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1px) 100vw, 1px" /> participants, we&#8217;ve already made novel discoveries into the genetics of common traits as well as Parkinson&#8217;s disease. At ICHG/ASHG 2011, we&#8217;ll share some more of the novel findings we&#8217;ve discovered, covering everything from allergies to risk assessment.
(For a full list of 23andMe&#8217;s presentations, click &nbsp;<a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ASHG2011posters23andMe.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.)
Piecing together the complicated picture of allergies
If you’re like 20% of Americans, you probably suffer from at least one allergy. Your particular trigger might be cats, or maybe it&#8217;s dust mites, pollen, nuts, shellfish, or bees. And if that&#8217;s not enough misery, allergies are often accompanied by asthma as well. To learn more about the genetic factors influencing the allergy-asthma spectrum, scientists from 23andMe, Stanford, the United Kingdom, and Johnson &amp; Johnson analyzed data from more than 20,000 participants in the 23andMe database and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).
Principal Scientist Dr. David Hinds discusses their findings during the poster session on Thursday October 13th between 2-3pm with his poster, &#8220;Genetics of allergy and related phenotypes in participant driven and cross sectional cohorts.&#8221; (#417T)
(Also see our Research Finding on correlations between allergies.)
N 
ew genetic factors for hypothyroidism
What do Oprah Winfrey, Kelly Osbourne, and Linda Ronstadt have in common? Yes, they&#8217;re all famous women, but they also all suffer from hypothyroidism, a condition that affects about 5% of the population. 23andMe scientists conducted the first genome-wide association study of this common thyroid condition and identified four genetic factors associated with the disease, some of which have already been implicated in other thyroid disorders and some that are novel.
Founding Scientist Dr. Brian Naughton presents these findings and their broader connection with other autoimmune diseases during the poster session on Wednesday October 12th between 3-4pm with his poster, &#8220;Novel associations for hypothyroidism include known autoimmune risk loci.&#8221; (#1334W)
From genome to phenome
What do you get when you cross thousands of SNPs with thousands of phenotypes gathered from tens of thousands of people? Intriguing associations for everything from migraines to mosquito bites. Many genetic variants are associated with multiple conditions, a finding that was especially prominent amongst physical traits. We also found that associations for seemingly frivolous traits (breast size) can uncover biological relationships for serious diseases (breast cancer).
Principal Scientist Dr. Nick Eriksson describes these and other fascinating discoveries during the poster session on Thursday October 13th between 2-3pm with his poster, &#8220;Phenome-wide studies of SNPs from GWAS in a broadly phenotyped population.&#8221; (#430T)
All in the family &#8212; or not?
Conventional wisdom says that family history is the best overall method for assessing a person&#8217;s risk for disease, but is it really? How do SNP-based models compare to family history in assessing risk for disease? &nbsp;Perhaps not surprisingly, neither method is universally better than the other, but rather the relative performance of each depends on the characteristics of the disease. For less common diseases in particular, SNP-based risk assessments may perform better than family history.
Principal Scientist Dr. Nick Eriksson will be presenting the results of these analyses performed by Scientist Dr. Chuong (Tom) Do during the poster session on Wednesday October 12th between 3-4pm with the poster, &#8220;Prediction of complex multifactorial disease: comparing family history and genetics.&#8221; (#408W)
And that’s not all…
Read more about characteristics of our database and research cohorts <a title="23andMe Scientists Head to Montreal for ICHG/ASHG, Eh" href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/23andme-scientists-head-to-montreal-for-ichgashg-eh">here</a>. Check back tomorrow to learn more about the last two presentations we’ll be giving covering methods behind our Ancestry Finder feature and how we decide what genetics findings to include in our Personal Genome Service ®.
For a full list of 23andMe&#8217;s presentations, click <a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ASHG2011posters23andMe.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
You can also follow us on Twitter for highlights from the conference <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/23andme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@23andMe</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/23science" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@23science</a>.

23andMe Scientists at ICHG/ASHG 2011

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-9894" title="ICHG Poster" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ICHG-Poster-e1317946714742-300x249.jpg" alt="" width="285" height="249" />
The joint  <a href="http://www.ichg2011.org/">12th International Congress of Human Genetics</a>  and  61st Annual Meeting of the  <a id="internal-source-marker_0.19561975239776075" href="http://www.ashg.org/">American Society of Human Genetics</a>  held this week in Montreal is expected to draw more than 7,000 attendees over five days. Joining the throng will be about a dozen scientists from 23andMe.
We’ll be there presenting a wide spectrum of research and perspectives driven by  our growing database. Along with findings on hypothyroidism, allergies, and risk prediction for complex diseases, we’ll be presenting several posters at the conference describing various aspects of our database and our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/research/">research model</a>.
(For a full list of 23andMe&#8217;s presentations, click <a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ASHG2011posters23andMe.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.)

Who participates in research at 23andMe?
Contributing to research is not typically the motivating factor for people who buy 23andMe&#8217;s Personal Genome Service ® but it turns out that most are willing to give back to science if you give them a chance.  Of the more than 100,000 people who&#8217;ve been genotyped through 23andMe, almost 90% have agreed to participate in research and, of those, nearly 90% have answered questions on everything from back hair to Parkinson&#8217;s disease.
Senior Geneticist Dr. Joyce Tung will share findings on various characteristics of this &#8220;research cohort&#8221; during the poster session on Thursday October 13th between 2-3pm with her poster, &#8220;<a href="http://www.ichg2011.org/cgi-bin/showdetail.pl?absno=21499" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Characteristics of an online consumer genetic research cohort.</a>&#8221; (#914T)
How do you make a difference in rare disease research?
Studying human disease is often a numbers game, and for rare diseases the odds are stacked against. Getting enough research participants to be able to make meaningful discoveries is a major challenge but 23andMe has shown that our revolutionary online recruitment and research platform can do the job.
Research Project Manager Dr. Emily Drabant will describe lessons learned from analyzing the impact of various recruitment strategies on enrollment into our Parkinson&#8217;s disease and Sarcoma research initiatives during the poster session on Wednesday October 12th between 3-4pm with her poster, &#8220;<a href="http://www.ichg2011.org/cgi-bin/showdetail.pl?absno=11282" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evaluation of recruitment strategies for web-based genetic studies.</a>&#8221; (#942W)
Can you use online surveys to gather high quality data on drug response?
Quick poll &#8212; can you remember how you responded to ibuprofen (or aspirin, or antidepressants, or antihistamines, etc.) the last time you took it? If you&#8217;re taking a prescription medication, do you remember if your dose was ever changed and, if so, how? Just like for diseases, learning more about how people respond to drugs requires getting enough study participants to see meaningful differences. 23andMe&#8217;s research platform &#8212; where tens of thousands of people answer questions online &#8212; can facilitate research in these areas but success hinges on whether people can accurately and consistently recall their medication usage and responses to medication when asked online.  By reaching beyond our traditional web-based survey approach to include follow-up phone interviews, we are able to learn from participant questions and  incorporate participant feedback into the  development of valid drug response questions for pharmacogenomics research.
Research Project Manager Dr. Kim Barnholt will present findings from Phase 1 of our <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/23andme-launches-first-national-institutes-of-health-funded-study" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NIH-funded study</a>  during the poster session on Friday October 14th between 2-3pm with her poster, &#8220;<a href="http://www.ichg2011.org/cgi-bin/showdetail.pl?absno=10797" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Web-based phenotyping for pharmacogenomics research.</a>&#8221; (#1391F)
Not so black and white
Looks can be deceiving, and often DNA tells a story that would otherwise remain lost in time. 23andMe&#8217;s senior writer and Content Editor Scott  <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/hidden-african-ancestry#more-9733" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently wrote</a> about an observation in our database where between 3 and 4 percent of the 78,000 customers who are likely to consider themselves as entirely of European ancestry actually have &#8220;hidden&#8221; African ancestry. In Scott&#8217;s case, learning about these bits of genetic ancestry opened intriguing windows into history, both at the personal level and at the cultural, social, and political levels.
Senior Director of Research Dr. Joanna Mountain will discuss this phenomenon and its implications during the poster session on Wednesday October 12th between 3-4pm with her poster, &#8220;<a href="http://www.ichg2011.org/cgi-bin/showdetail.pl?absno=22039" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Exceptions to the &#8216;One Drop Rule&#8217;? DNA evidence of African ancestry in European Americans.</a>&#8221; (#408W)
And that&#8217;s not all&#8230;
Learn more about the other presentations we&#8217;ll be giving <a title="23andMe Scientists Share Novel Findings From Our Research Platform at ICHG/ASHG 2011" href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/23andme-scientists-share-novel-findings-from-our-research-platform-at-ichgashg-2011">here</a>.
You can also follow us on Twitter for highlights from the conference <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/23andme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@23andMe</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/23science" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@23science</a>.

23andMe Scientists Head to Montreal for ICHG/ASHG, Eh

<div>With Kim Barnholt</div>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-10030 size-medium" title="50-50-poster" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/50-50-poster-203x300.jpg" alt="" width="203" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/50-50-poster-203x300.jpg 203w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/50-50-poster.jpg 214w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px" />
From the minute it became clear that Adam had cancer, he became a statistic, a diagnosis, a “case study”. One of the statistics he made sure to read up on were his chances of surviving. The odds &#8212; 50/50 &#8212; didn’t seem fair in the context of his life, but his friend Kyle put it into a different perspective: “Dude, if you were a casino game, you’d have the best odds!”
Thus begins Adam’s journey with neurofibrosarcoma, a rare form of spinal cancer. His friends, his family, his girlfriend &#8212; even his therapist &#8212; try to comfort him with cliches, touting the healing properties of pets, green tea, and physical touching, the latter which feels to Adam like “getting slapped by a sea otter.”
Adam also experiences a side of having cancer that can’t be found in any textbook. His chemo buddies joke that the diagnoses with the most syllables have the worst outcomes. Kyle tries to get him to use his illness to score girls, saying “it makes you different.” And, as everyone keeps telling him “you’re going to be okay,” Adam slowly, helplessly realizes that it’s a distinct possibility that he won’t be.
Through Adam’s struggles, and the struggles of those around him, we learn that cancer is anything but straightforward. It is messy and unpredictable, often ironic, turning life at once surreal and the most real that it &#8212; and its alternative &#8212; can be. And yes, it is awkward, and it can even be funny. Lost in all the numbers and textbooks and fundraising campaigns is the fact that cancer is a uniquely human experience, different for everyone, and completely incomprehensible until you come face to face with it in yourself or a loved one.
By putting a human face on cancer, “<a href="http://www.50-50themovie.com/">50/50</a>”, a new film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam and Seth Rogen as Kyle, refuses to let it be stereotyped. There is no sugar-coating and no pretensions. The film is simply life at its most fragile and frustrating, alternately hilarious, maddening, heartbreaking, and uplifting.
At 23andMe, we think about cancer a lot. In fact, we’ve dedicated two of our first<a href="https://www.23andme.com/research" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> research initiatives</a> to<a href="https://www.23andme.com/sarcoma"> sarcoma</a> and<a href="https://www.23andme.com/mpn"> myeloproliferative neoplasms</a>, both rare forms of cancer. But even with the best intentions we can be too easily distanced from the human side of the conditions we strive to cure.
Watching “50/50” reminded us that behind every research participant is a person with a unique story and unique experiences. Seeing Adam struggle for his life, in terms of his health but also in the overall sense of regaining his humanity and normalcy, was both humbling and inspirational.
This film makes us appreciate the effort required for research participation when life is in chaos. So we thank all of our sarcoma research participants who have chosen to join us in the fight against the disease so far. Together, we can work towards better odds.
“<a href="http://www.50-50themovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50/50</a>” is in theaters now.  Check your local listings for show times.
Learn more about sarcoma at the <a href="http://www.curesarcoma.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sarcoma Foundation of America</a>, <a href="http://www.beatsarcoma.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beat Sarcoma</a>, and <a href="http://www.sarcomaalliance.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sarcoma Alliance</a>.
Learn more about contributing to 23andMe’s Sarcoma research initiative <a href="https://www.23andme.com/sarcoma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

“50/50” Shows Us the Human Side of Cancer

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-9830" title="MBG_Jacket(1)" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MBG_Jacket1-187x300.jpg" alt="" width="187" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MBG_Jacket1-187x300.jpg 187w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MBG_Jacket1-768x1230.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MBG_Jacket1-639x1024.jpg 639w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MBG_Jacket1-549x880.jpg 549w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MBG_Jacket1-737x1180.jpg 737w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MBG_Jacket1-scaled.jpg 1598w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 187px) 100vw, 187px" />
<a href="http://www.lonefrank.dk/" target="_" rel="noopener">Lone Frank</a>, the award-winning Danish science writer, claims to be shy, but I don’t believe her.
There’s nothing reserved about exposing yourself as she’s done in her entertaining and enlightening new book My Beautiful Genome: Discovering Our Genetic Future One Quirk at a Time. (Oneworld Publications, October 2011.)
Frank bears all in a book that is at once about cutting edge genetic science and also about someone on a personal journey of discovery.
&#8220;What is the most interesting subject in the world?” Frank asks. “For all of us, it’s the same thing – ourselves. Me.&#8221;
But Frank, who has a Ph.D in neurobiology, isn’t navel gazing here. She uses herself and her &#8220;quirks&#8221; to delve into the scientific as well as social implications of people having access to their own genetic data. She thinks it&#8217;s a good thing, and although this book is about her, Frank is really asking much broader questions.
&#8220;The past, in its way, was gone. And the future – well, you could see an end to it,&#8221; Frank writes. &#8220;At forty-three, I’d reached the age when the chance of having children was pretty much theoretical.&#8221;
And at this point in her life, she has questions:
&#8220;Where do I come from? Who am I? Am I going to be like my parents? How will I die? And when?&#8221;
Not shallow inquiries at all.
Inquiries like these have driven other great scientific pursuits. As the renowned Oxford evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins recently told the <a href="https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/science/20dawkins.html&amp;OQ=Q5fQ72Q3dQ31Q26Q70Q61Q67Q65Q77Q61Q6eQ74Q65Q64Q3dQ61Q6cQ6c" target="_" rel="noopener">New York Times</a>, these are the questions that fuel his work.   &#8220;My interest in biology was pretty much always on the philosophical side. &#8216;Why do we exist, why are we here, what is it all about?'&#8221;
Framing her own journey, Frank begins her book with a quote from Danish artist Asger Jorn – “The only way to be general is to be deeply personal.”
That’s what she’s done here.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="My Beautiful Genome: Genetic Family History" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MRvmg1Oap_c?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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During a call from her home in Denmark, Lone Frank provided the Blog with a few tidbits about her new book My Beautiful Genome.
Frank believes we’re at the dawning of the age of personal genomics. It’s a time that’s not too different from the moment just before the personal computer revolution began 30 years ago.
&#8220;I think what’s most useful is just getting on the bandwagon and becoming engaged with your biology,&#8221; Frank said of genetic testing. &#8220;You learn so much more about who you are.&#8221;
There’s no doubt from her book that she’s all in on the idea. 
The process of looking into her genetics made her “more present in my biology” or simply put – more attuned to her body. 
Your genetics are actually malleable, she said. For Frank this was particularly relevant because of her bouts of depression.
&#8220;It turns out I&#8217;m homozygous for all the bad variants, which makes a lot of sense,&#8221; said Frank. &#8220;But you can turn that around. When I know this is a biological disposition it&#8217;s easier to understand and I can use it to distance myself from stuff when I&#8217;m going down that black hole.&#8221;
Some tend to see genes as a set of fixed instructions. But those instructions and how a gene is expressed &#8212; turned on or off &#8212; are influenced by everything from nutrition, stress, hormones and environmental exposures.
&#8220;It&#8217;s like the black box is getting opened and you&#8217;re seeing how your genes and the environment determine whether you get a disease or not,&#8221; Frank said.
</div>
One reviewer called Frank&#8217;s book a bit &#8220;masochistic&#8221; for her frankness about her bouts of depression, her family&#8217;s history of suicides and her own psyche. But there&#8217;s a purpose to her over-sharing. In a world where consumers are increasingly getting access to their own genetic data,  Frank turns to genetics for answers about her ancestry, her traits and her risks for diseases. And she uses it to delve into difficult questions about her prickly personality.
In one of the many wry and offhand comments in the book she responds to a researcher&#8217;s insight into her harsh judgment of others with the thought,  &#8220;Give me a break. Doesn&#8217;t the man realize how stupid other people can be?&#8221;
The book tracks both a personal and a physical journey. As any good journalist would, Frank travels to the source, manifested here by visiting genetics pioneer  <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/watson-bio.html" target="_" rel="noopener">James Watson</a> at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Watson, who with <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/index.html" target="_" rel="noopener">Francis Crick</a> discovered the structure of DNA, has his own personality &#8220;quirks&#8221;, highlighted publicly through some boorish opinions about women, Africans and overweight people. But Frank bypasses this for a chance to get some insight from him about where the study of genetics is going.
Watson sends her off with two ideas: that &#8220;missing heritability&#8221; – the Holy Grail of genetics  – will be found in rare genetic variants that arise not from the genes you inherit from your parents but through mutations that arise through illnesses and environmental factors; and that &#8220;If you want to know something about your genome, you have to have a lot of eyes on it.&#8221;
Frank takes this last bit of advice to heart. She uses several direct-to-consumer genetics services to learn about her ancestry, health and traits. She meets with a series of innovators in the personal genomics industry. There&#8217;s a conversation with <a href="https://www.23andme.com/">23andMe</a> co-founder Linda Avey, and deCODE Genetics&#8217;s Kari Stefansson. She gets some time with Harvard’s <a href="http://arep.med.harvard.edu/gmc/" target="_" rel="noopener">George Church</a> of the Personal Genome Project and <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/explorers/spencer-wells/" target="_" rel="noopener">Spencer Wells</a> of the National Geographic Society&#8217;s &#8220;Genographic Project.&#8221;
Frank also submits to a study by University of Copenhagen researchers doing experimental work about the genetics around personality. For Frank it isn’t pretty.
&#8220;Your agreeableness couldn’t be lower,&#8221; they conclude. &#8220;Then there is your low score on altruism and sympathy.&#8221;
She talks to researchers using genetics to determine the effectiveness of medicines, and delves into whether her Danish ancestry might include a long lost Spaniard. She learns of her risks for breast cancer and peripheral arterial disease. And she dives into how her genetics may influence her propensity toward depression.
In the end Frank finds the process freeing. Genetics isn&#8217;t her destiny, she says.
&#8220;My genome is not a straitjacket but a soft sweater to fill and shape, to snuggle up and stretch out in,&#8221; Frank says. &#8220;So who am I? I am what I do with this beautiful information that has flowed through millions of years through billions of organisms and has, now, finally been entrusted to me.&#8221;
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Lone Frank’s “Beautiful Genome”

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-9867" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/babyteethiSTock1-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/babyteethiSTock1-300x199.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/babyteethiSTock1.jpg 425w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
By Bethann Hromatka, Ph.D.
Anyone who’s ever spent time around babies knows that teething can be disruptive and often painful. In that sense, the somewhat violent term “tooth eruption”–referring to the process of teeth breaking through the gums–seems rather appropriate.
Most people experience this phenomenon twice, first when baby teeth come in and again between six and 13 years of age when permanent teeth appear. Some people also have wisdom teeth, which are molars that develop in young adults.
While tooth development can be influenced by environmental factors, genetics also plays a role in both the timing of tooth emergence as well as the number of teeth a person ends up with. Subtle differences in tooth development are very common–for instance roughly 10% of the population is missing some teeth.
A genome-wide association study (GWAS) published in PLoS Genetics this month by <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1002275" target="_blank" rel="noopener">researchers in Denmark</a> has now identified genetic factors associated with the emergence of permanent teeth. They analyzed DNA from nearly 9,000 individuals in Denmark and the United States, and found four SNPs that influenced the timing and number of visible teeth at various ages.
For at least three of these SNPs found in this study, the version associated with fewer teeth is relatively common in the population. And although the individual effects of the variants are small – correlated with about half to one tooth fewer, on average – they did seem to add up. In this study, someone with two copies of the “delayed tooth eruption” version at all four SNPs had about six fewer teeth (16 teeth) at 10-12 years of age compared to someone with no copies of the delayed versions (22 teeth).
Interestingly, a <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1000856" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study published a few years ago</a> showed that two of these SNPs might also play a role in the <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/2010/03/04/snpwatch-researchers-identify-variations-associated-with-when-junior-gets-his-first-chompers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eruption of baby teeth</a>.<a href="../2010/03/04/snpwatch-researchers-identify-variations-associated-with-when-junior-gets-his-first-chompers/"> 
</a>
Some genetic factors contribute to multiple growth-related traits, so the authors tested if the tooth development SNPs were also linked to traits such as age at menarche (first period in young women) and adult height. In general, the genetic factors underlying these traits did not overlap. There was, however, weak evidence suggesting that several of the SNPs associated with permanent tooth development also influence adult height and breast cancer. More research is needed to determine the exact biological mechanisms linking these different traits.
This study represents the first GWAS to look for genetic factors involved in permanent tooth eruption. Studies like this one are interesting because they reveal that there is clearly natural variation across the population–some individuals have more teeth while others have less. These findings also highlight the complex interplay between genetic factors involved in human growth and development.

Bethann Hromatka

Factors Influencing Permanent Tooth Development

By Bethann Hromatka
The human brain is hardwired to receive chemical signals from our environment. It primarily does this through receptors–proteins on the surfaces of cells that catch specific molecules when they pass by.
An interesting class of receptors is the mu-opioid receptors, so named because they influence responses to opiates (for instance morphine). These receptors are also involved in processing reward and dealing with stress.
<h6>Addiction Studies</h6>
A few years ago, researchers identified a SNP ( in the opioid receptor gene OPRM1) associated with <a title="SNPwatch: Evidence for Gene-Environment Interaction in Alcoholism" href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/snpwatch-evidence-for-gene-environment-interaction-in-alcoholism/">alcohol addiction</a>. This SNP also appears to be involved in processing responses to physical and emotional pain. In addition, studies have linked to heroin addiction and responses to Naltrexone, a medication used to treat alcohol dependence and heroin addiction.
A <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0024203" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> published this month suggests that also influences learning through positive reinforcement. The researchers behind this study tested if individuals with different versions of were more or less likely to continue choosing the right answer in a video game if they received reinforcement (in the form of a small cash prize) for correct answers.
<h6>Positive Reinforcement</h6>
The authors found that positive reinforcement prompted individuals with specific genetic variant tended to continue to choose the right answer over time. That is, positive reinforcement motivated these individuals to learn. In contrast, individuals with at another version of this marker were less motivated by positive feedback – these participants did not continue to choose the right answer over time.
In general, giving a child ice cream for good performance on a spelling bee will prompt him/her to continue to learn.  This study suggests that such responses are influenced by genetics. This report also suggests that the same version of is simultaneously involved in reinforcement learning. Many consider this to be a beneficial behavior, and alcohol addiction, an unhealthy behavior. Studies like this one may eventually help elucidate the pathways that govern both normal human conduct and complex disorders.

Genetic Variation Influences How We Respond to Reinforcement

More than two decades ago, on opposite sides of the country, two babies were cast away with slim chances of surviving.
“Miraculous Mary,” as she was called then, was found along a California highway wrapped in a towel and stuffed into a brown paper bag, while “Baby Jane Doe” was found in a box with the trash in a Bronx alley. 
Both babies survived.
Mary became Ashley and Baby Jane became Alison. Despite their dark beginnings, the two women, now 24, wanted to know about where they came from. Their stories and the story about how they traced their ancestry was told this week on Anderson Cooper’s new show Anderson.
The two women and the shows producers turned to 23andMe to help fill in the blanks.
Joanna Mountain, Senior Director of Research, traced the two women’s genetic history using samples of their saliva. 
23andMe has several tools to help customers explore their ancestry,<a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/origins/"> Ancestry Painting</a>, which break down a person’s ancestral origins and<a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/relfinder/"> Relative Finder</a> which pair people with close family matches as well as more distant cousins who may be in our database of more than 100,000 people.
Joanna was able to explain that Alison’s DNA – which included a mix of European, African and Native American ancestry – indicated that her parents were likely Puerto Rican. Looking at Ashley’s DNA, Joanna was able to determine that her ancestry was exclusively European. But in a surprising twist for Ashley, who was raised Catholic, her DNA revealed not just northern European ancestry but also Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.

Tracing Women’s Ancestry on Anderson Cooper’s Show

Even though they aren&#8217;t self-lacing and don&#8217;t come with a hoverboard, the limited-production Nike Mags – Marty McFly’s fly shoes from the 1989 movie Back to the Future II – are still flying off the shelves as part of the company’s effort to raise money for Parkinson’s disease research.
Since September 8th Nike began auctioning off 150 of the shoes a day on eBay with the money going to <a href="http://www.michaeljfox.org/">The Michael J. Fox Foundation</a>. The sale ends on September 18th.
23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki and her husband Google co-founder Sergey Brin will match all donations to the foundation, up to $50 million, through the end of 2012.
Fox, who played McFly in the three Back to the Future movies, said the campaign has brought together three passionate audiences – the Parkinson’s community, “sneakerheads,” and fans of the movies.
“With their support we can accelerate our objective of finding a cure for Parkinson’s,” Fox said.
For more than two years 23andMe has worked with the Michael J. Fox Foundation, as well as other Parkinson’s groups to enroll 10,000 patients into our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/pd/">Parkinson’s Research Community</a>. We’re more than half way there already and we’ve already made some important breakthroughs finding <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/press/pd_discoveries_plos_62311/">two new genetic associations</a> with the diseases and confirming 20 previously identified associations.
Even with the progress we’ve made so far, we still need to enroll another 4,200 people to reach our goal. If you, or someone you know has Parkinson’s and is willing to participate in this exciting new research revolution please consider signing up.

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