Soccer fans in the United States have a long tradition of enduring disappointment, but the US Men National Team’s elimination late last year from the World Cup left many wondering which team to cheer for at this year&#8217;s tournament in Russia.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-300x300.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26170" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-300x300.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-372x372.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2.png 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

It’s the first time since 1990 that the team has been eliminated. So fans in the United States won’t get the chance to watch their team hold Brazil to a single goal, yes that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDGxXrCb9xw">happened</a>. Or see the team notch an <a href="https://www.si.com/longform/soccer-goals/goal5.html#colombian">improbable victory over, say, Colombia</a>, as they did way back in 1994. 

So, apart from waiting until the next World Cup in 2022, or simply watching the women’s team play next year, what is a soccer nut to do?

Here’s an idea — why not pick a team based on your genetic ancestry?

23andMe makes this a breeze with a new in-product featured called “Root for your Roots.” This allows customers to use their DNA to connect with a team that’s playing in this year’s World Cup.

Starting this week, 23andMe customers who log into their report will see a new feature that will surface those countries in the tournament that they have the strongest DNA connections with. Based on our internal data, the majority of customers have direct DNA links to the following countries (in order of most prevalent):

<ol>
<li> UK,</li>
<li> Mexico</li>
<li> Poland</li>
<li> Germany</li>
<li> Russian Federation</li>
</ol>

But even if one of your strongest DNA connections isn’t with a team you are interested in rooting for, you can pick more distant matches or a “wildcard” team with whom you have no connection, maybe an underdog team such as  <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/sports/soccer/iceland-world-cup-qualifying.html">Iceland</a> or <a href="https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/04/27/how-tragedy-turned-to-talent-and-triumph-for-egypts-national-team/">Egypt</a>. 

23andMe linked up with <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup">Fox Sports</a>, the exclusive broadcaster of the World Cup in the U.S., and launched a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2r5jQfdV3k&#038;feature=youtu.be">“Root for Your Roots”</a> campaign last month. The World Cup is a truly huge global phenomenon that brings together international fans who all share the same love of what’s known as the “beautiful game.”
“We hope this collaboration becomes a new way for people to experience global events like the World Cup,” said Tracy Keim, Vice President of Consumer Marketing at 23andMe. “We are creating an authentic experience that can open our minds and bring people together to celebrate diversity, and our global teams rooted in our DNA.”
&nbsp;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-1024x565.png" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26169" width="1024" height="565" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-1024x565.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-300x166.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-768x424.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-880x486.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-1180x651.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-271x149.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-372x204.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1.png 1487w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

World Cup Fans You Can Root for Your Roots

A new study found that many common genetic variants together explain why migraines cluster in some families.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Migraine-Photo-200x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-19308 size-medium" title="migraines" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Migraine-Photo-200x300.jpg 200w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Migraine-Photo.jpg 566w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
The <a href="https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(18)30322-2">study</a>, lead by scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, the Broad Institute and the University of Helsinki, investigated three subtypes of migraines. Researchers used data from about 1,500 Finnish families. 
It is the largest ever study of families with migraine. 23andMe was one of more than a dozen institutions that contributed to this study. 
“Both rare, high-impact and common genetic variants with smaller impact could contribute to the familial aggregation of migraine,” said Padhraig Gormley, Ph.D, a lead author of the study who works at the Broad Institute. “In this study, we wanted to find out which one is more important and whether the genetic load is higher in certain types of migraine.”
<h6>Migraine Subtypes</h6>
Migraines — the severe recurring headaches that may include symptoms such as nausea and light sensitivity — are fairly common. They affect an estimated 20 percent of the population. About a third of those with migraines experience additional neurological symptoms, referred to as aura. These often occur just before or during a migraine. 
Researchers looked at whether there were different genetic mechanisms involved in two subtypes of migraines with aura. The two of subtypes were migraines with typical visual aura, and the less common subtype, hemiplegic migraines, which are accompanied by a motor weakness aura. Scientists had previously identified genetic variants associated with this common brain disorder. But there is still much to learn about the underlying biology. One lingering question is why the condition clusters in families, and that’s what this study focused on.
Two years ago this same consortium of scientists conducted what was at that time the largest genome-wide association<a href="https://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.3598.html"> study</a> of migraines ever done. That study found more than 40 genetic variants associated with the condition.
<h6>Polygenic Score </h6>
For this most recent study, the researchers wanted to determine if rare variants or a combination of rare and common variants could explain why migraines cluster in some families. As in the last study, this one relied in part on a meta-analysis of data gathered together from 22 different genome-wide association studies. Together this included data from more than 375,000 people, and about 170,000 of those individuals are 23andMe customers who consented to participate in research.
By using this data, the researchers were able to create something called a “polygenic risk score,” gathering together all the variants that contributed to risk for migraines identified in these studies. This model was then used in studying a smaller cohort of Finnish families with migraines. 
<h6>Risk in Families</h6>
The scientists were interested in seeing if there was a difference in comparing the genetic risk within families to risk for migraines in the general population, as well as looking to see if these differences could be explained by the accumulation of common variants or the contribution of a few rare variants. They were particularly interested in looking at hemiplegic aura migraines, which were thought to be caused by rare genetic variants in three genes.
But what the researchers found across the board was that the combined effect of common variants was greater than the effect of any rare variants.
“Our study supports the hypothesis that migraine subtypes are genetically heterogeneous diseases, and that common polygenic variation significantly contributes to the aggregation of the disease in families, both for common and rare migraine subtypes”, said Aarno Palotie, Ph.D, another study author who works at the University of Helsinki.
The study was conducted in collaboration with members of the<a href="http://www.headachegenetics.org/"> International Headache Genetics Consortium</a> and the 23andMe <a href="https://research.23andme.com/research/">Research Team</a>.
Read more on the study in the publication <a href="https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdfExtended/S0896-6273(18)30322-2">Cell</a>.

Largest-ever family study of migraines provides new insight into the disease

It’s 23andMe’s birthday today.

Don’t worry if you didn’t get us something. The best present of all are <a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/">the stories</a> we hear every day from customers who’ve shared with us how 23andMe has impacted their lives. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Chromosomescolor-300x184.png" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-26160 size-medium" height="184" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Chromosomescolor-300x184.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Chromosomescolor-768x470.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Chromosomescolor-1024x627.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Chromosomescolor-880x538.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Chromosomescolor.png 1149w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

Those never get old.

But we can’t let our 12th anniversary pass without marking a few milestones, and the biggest one starts with a “B,” as in “Billion.” 

That is the number of phenotypic data points customers have shared with us for research — actually now more than 1.4 billion — making 23andMe by far the largest research database of genotypic and phenotypic information in the world.

A phenotypic data point is a nerdy way of describing the data from our customers answering questions about things like their health history, ancestry, lifestyle, and traits. It’s this data, along with genotypic data that help inform our research. And each one of those bits of data adds to the power of 23andMe’s unique research engine. It’s that kind of “big data” horsepower that allows scientists here to reveal the biology of rare diseases, and find associations between disease and rare genetic variants, for instance.

This data has also allowed 23andMe to begin developing new types of polygenic risk reports. These will take into account not just a handful or even a few dozen genetic variants associated with a specific condition, but thousands of different variants that each have a small effect but that taken together will more accurately predict a risk.
And this data has allowed 23andMe scientists — often in collaboration with researchers at other institutions — to conduct studies on specific conditions that are consistently the largest of their kind. The largest genome-wide associations studies<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.3623"> on major depressive disorder</a>, or<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.3955?foxtrotcallback=true"> Parkinson’s disease</a> or even<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/new-research-finds-genetic-association-detached-earlobes/"> common traits</a>, for instance.

This gets us to another big milestone, one hundred. That’s the number of<a href="https://research.23andme.com/publications/"> papers that have been published</a> by 23andMe and its collaborators on topics as wide-ranging as<a href="https://www.jidonline.org/article/S0022-202X(18)31749-4/abstract"> skin cancer</a>,<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03819-3"> depression</a>,<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0100-5"> hair color</a> and<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-017-0082-6"> autism</a>.
We have a lot to celebrate, but like any 12-year-old we’ve really just begun. We’re looking forward at what is possible when consumers are empowered to explore their own DNA and invited to participate in groundbreaking research.

A Special Day for 23andMe

Becca Krock, PhD, Product Scientist
Maybe you spat in the tube and wondered: “Why is there DNA in my spit in the first place?”

Or you got your reports and thought: &#8220;What exactly makes my DNA different from someone else&#8217;s?&#8221;<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-300x248.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26142" width="300" height="248" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-300x248.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-768x634.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-1024x845.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-880x726.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-1180x974.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery.png 1270w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

As scientists at 23andMe, we hear all the time from people who have questions about the bedrock concepts that make personal genetic testing possible.

That&#8217;s why we&#8217;ve launched a new interactive learning website called <a href="https://education.23andme.com/dna-discovery/#">Interactive DNA Discovery</a>. I worked with Thao Do, Ph.D., 23andMe’s Education and Academia Marketing Manager, and Chelsea Robertson, Ph.D., one of our product scientists, to develop the site. 

&#8220;As a scientist, I saw the magnificent beauty of the world that lies inside of all of us and I wanted to share that wonder with everyone,&#8221; Thao said. 

To do that, our team decided to create a portal that would enable people to learn about genetics quickly and in a way that&#8217;s interactive and fun. 
&#8220;Learning should be entertaining. It should feel like you&#8217;re playing a game,&#8221; she said.

<div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video">
<video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-26141-1" width="640" height="360" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://education.23andme.com/wp-content/themes/23andMe/media/dna-quiz/videos/Card-1.mp4?_=1" /><a href="https://education.23andme.com/wp-content/themes/23andMe/media/dna-quiz/videos/Card-1.mp4">https://education.23andme.com/wp-content/themes/23andMe/media/dna-quiz/videos/Card-1.mp4</a></video></div>
&nbsp;
Visitors to the <a href="https://education.23andme.com/dna-discovery/#">Interactive DNA Discovery</a> page will encounter sixteen mini-lessons on everything from where DNA is located in the body, to the meaning of the word &#8220;genome&#8221; and technologies used to study it. 

The lessons are designed so that you can either master each concept in order, or hop around and explore topics that catch your eye. Chelsea called that a &#8220;choose-your-own-adventure&#8221; structure. 

&#8220;We want to allow people to start wherever they feel comfortable and move in nonlinear ways through the things that are most interesting to them,&#8221; she explained. 

Each lesson also has an animation or illustration as well as a knowledge checkpoint question that you can (optionally!) quiz yourself on. Through our experiences working at 23andMe we&#8217;ve learned that people consume information in all kinds of ways. Thao, Chelsea, and I wanted the Interactive DNA Discovery page to work for everyone, no matter their learning style, whether they&#8217;re a visual learner or prefer reading, whether their last biology class was five years ago, forty years ago, or never. We even envision the Interactive DNA Discovery page being a resource for people who are in biology class learning about genetics right now. 

&#8220;It&#8217;s something that I wish I had when I was learning,&#8221; Thao told me. &#8220;The resources I had were just textbooks and slides. For me, I wish I had something where I could just play around with it.&#8221; 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Your-Traits-Image-1024x864.png" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26143" width="1024" height="864" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Your-Traits-Image-1024x864.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Your-Traits-Image-300x253.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Your-Traits-Image-768x648.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Your-Traits-Image-880x742.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Your-Traits-Image.png 1036w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
 

Genetics is increasingly making the leap out of the classroom and the laboratory and into our everyday lives. Questions that were theoretical in the past now have direct relevance for our health decisions and policies. And scientists continue to uncover new complexities in our genetic machinery. We want this molecular universe whirring along inside each of us to be open for everyone to explore.
 Besides creating a new lens into that universe, the concepts in the Interactive DNA Discovery page provide a solid base of knowledge to jump off of, whether your next step is diving deeper into your 23andMe reports, or exploring more about genetics. Or maybe you&#8217;re totally satisfied with having your mind blown by the fact that you have six feet of DNA coiled up inside almost every one of your cells. Whatever you choose, we&#8217;re excited to share our passion for genetics with you.

New ways to discover your DNA

Starting today, we&#8217;re providing an easy way for our customers to share and crowdsource treatments they use to manage common health conditions, like depression, asthma, <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/new-23andme-report-on-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder">ADHD</a> and migraine.
<h6>Conditions Pages</h6>
All 23andMe Health + Ancestry service customers will be able to learn about the effectiveness and popularity of hundreds of different treatments for common conditions — and will also be able to contribute their own personal experiences. Crowdsourced treatment ratings are just one facet of our new <a href="https://you.23andme.com/research/condition/">Condition Pages</a>, which contain database insights on 18 <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/23andme-adds-another-important-condition-to-health-communities">common health conditions</a>.
Each condition page includes scientifically curated information describing the condition, its genetic and non-genetic influences, as well as how common it is in 23andMe research participants.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26135 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Conditions-PageDepression.jpg" alt="An image from the health conditions page showing results around depression." width="890" height="681" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Conditions-PageDepression.jpg 890w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Conditions-PageDepression-300x230.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Conditions-PageDepression-768x588.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Conditions-PageDepression-880x673.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 890px) 100vw, 890px" />
The treatment section summarizes what 23andMe customers with these conditions say works or does not work in treating their condition.
<h6>Treatments Page</h6>
This kind of crowd-sourced tool allows individuals with say, depression, to see what other customers say is effective or not effective in treating the condition. This offers people a different kind of information than they could get simply by doing a Google search, because it comes from others like them living with the same conditions.
Since rolling out the treatment pages over the past few weeks, thousands of people have already contributed over 30,000 personal reviews of their responses to different treatments. This is allowing people to <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/23andme-adds-another-important-condition-to-health-communities">build communities</a> that share common conditions but have different strategies for dealing with them. At 23andMe, we believe in helping our customers manage their health — not just through <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/">genetic reports</a>, but also by giving them access to lots of useful, relevant information.
“It’s evident by the growing response from our customers that there is a real desire for information around health treatments,” says Jessie Inchauspe, the product manager who spearheaded work on the treatment pages. “It’s important to enable people to actively engage in sharing health information with each other.”
This is the first time we’ve enabled customers to share real-time health information with one another.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26134 size-large" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Treatment-effectivenss-1024x946.jpg" alt="A page from the health conditions feature that shows an example of how people report what they do for their depression including using medication and exercise and how they rate its effectiveness." width="1024" height="946" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Treatment-effectivenss-1024x946.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Treatment-effectivenss-300x277.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Treatment-effectivenss-768x710.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Treatment-effectivenss-880x813.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Treatment-effectivenss-1180x1090.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Treatment-effectivenss.jpg 1554w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
For example, you can see here the most <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/what-patients-say-works-for-bipolar-disorder">effective treatments for depression</a> reported by 23andMe customers. These include therapy, exercise, and antidepressants such as Zoloft and Wellbutrin.
<h6>Crowdsourced Information</h6>
You can also see what treatments could potentially lead to worse outcomes. For example, based on the data shared for asthma, inhalers were among the most used and most effective treatment, but they also included some cases where the symptoms got worse. However, “avoiding allergens” was a relatively effective approach without any potential negative effects.
Many treatments are designed for the average patient in mind, but few of us are actually average. We are each unique, and understanding those differences — even small ones — is essential to learn how to better treat conditions and make medical care more personalized. Genetics certainly offers important insight into how we differ in response to treatments. Allowing people to have a place to share their own experience will also aid in our understanding.
For now, the purpose of these pages is to share this crowdsourced information on the effectiveness of treatments. But the information could at some people aid in research into how people of different ethnicities or different genetic makeups respond differently to treatments.

Crowdsource Treatments for Health Conditions

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have identified more than a dozen new genetic variants associated with depression, offering more details of the influence genetics has on the condition, which affects more than 322 million people worldwide.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/iStock_000009024892XSmall.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-17675" height="310" width="387" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/iStock_000009024892XSmall.jpg 387w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/iStock_000009024892XSmall-300x240.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px" />
The study — funded by the science charity <a href="https://wellcome.ac.uk/about-us">Wellcome Trust</a> — was published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03819-3">Nature Communications</a> and used data from more than 300,000 people that are part of the<a href="http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/"> UK Biobank</a>. Researchers identified almost 17 genetic variants associated with depression, and the findings were then replicated against data from a similar-sized dataset that consisted of 23andMe customers who consented to participate in research.
While twin studies have long shown a strong genetic influence for depression, pinpointing the genes and genetic variants involved has been elusive until only the last few years. Access to new and very large data sets is revealing genetic associations that could not be seen before in smaller studies.
“These new findings help us better understand the causes of depression and show how the UK Biobank study and big data research has helped advance mental health research,” said Professor <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/clinical-brain-sciences/news/news-jan-jun-2018/genes-trigger-depression">Andrew McIntosh</a>, Ph.D., of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences and the lead author of the study.
The UK Biobank data includes individuals with depression classified in three different categories: clinically diagnosed major depressive disorder, self-diagnosed “probable” major depressive disorder, and a third category defined as broad depression that may also include traits such as anxiety. The researchers found associations across all three categories and identified 17 genetic variants associated with depression. While a few of these variants have been identified in other studies to be associated with depression, 14 of the associations are new. Those genetic variants influenced genes involved in the function of synapses in the brain.
&#8220;This study identifies genes that potentially increase our risk of depression, adding to the evidence that it is partly a genetic disorder,” said David Howard, Ph.D., a co-lead author of the study and a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh&#8217;s Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences.  “The findings also provide new clues to the causes of depression and we hope it will narrow down the search for therapies that could help people living with the condition.&#8221;
Separate to this work, 23andMe has worked on other studies investigating depression. In 2016, along with Massachusetts General Hospital and Pfizer, we published findings in what was by far the<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/ng.3623"> largest study</a> of its kind focused on major depressive disorder. In that study, researchers identified 15 new genetic regions linked to depression. And last year 23andMe launched a<a href="https://www.23andme.com/depression-bipolar/"> depression and bipolar disorder study</a>, quickly enrolling 15,000 people with major depressive disorder. That work is ongoing, and we look forward to continuing to contribute to advances in depression research.

Study Finds New Genetic Associations for Depression

Expanding on a series of initiatives to improve diversity in genomic research, 23andMe is launching the <a href="https://research.23andme.com/populations-collaborations/">Populations Collaborations Program</a>, partnering with researchers working across the globe to genotype people in communities who are underrepresented in genetic research.

Everyone, no matter their ethnicity, should benefit from the scientific insights we gain through research but that hasn’t happened to date because of a lack of diversity in biomedical and genetic research. Underrepresented communities already frequently experience <a href="https://www.kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/disparities-in-health-and-health-care-five-key-questions-and-answers/#footnote-195310-1">less access to health care and poorer outcomes</a>, and because there are <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/genomics-is-failing-on-diversity-1.20759">fewer studies among these underrepresented populations</a> those disparities are compounded.

Through the Populations Collaborations program, we will provide financial and scientific support for qualified researchers from academic research institutions in the United States to genotype people in communities across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. This, in turn, will help improve the diversity of our data as well as improve genetics research globally.

“Many populations around the world remain missing from genomic databases,” said Brenna Henn, an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis. “In order to increase representation, DNA sampling often requires serious engagement from academic institutions and local communities, but few funding sources support the necessary field work. 23andMe’s Populations Collaborations Program provides an exciting new mechanism to improve our understanding of human history and genetic diversity everywhere around the world, while also helping their customers pinpoint their diverse ancestries.” 

&nbsp;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/World-Map-1024x625.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-26132 size-large" title="Diversity in genomic research" height="625" width="1024" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/World-Map-1024x625.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/World-Map-300x183.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/World-Map-768x469.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/World-Map-880x537.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/World-Map-1180x721.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/World-Map.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />


The effort follows collaborations 23andMe has <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/13/5154.long#sec-11">already completed</a> or initiated with researchers recruiting participants from places like Honduras and Angola. The most recent completed project is a collaboration with Dr. Nathan Nunn, Frederic E. Abbe Professor of Economics at Harvard, who is studying individuals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The genetic data we provide will assist those researchers in their studies, and be used by 23andMe to conduct research for publication and to improve our products and services, such as providing finer resolution for our ancestry reports.

In addition to considering scientific merit, we will evaluate how the research benefits the community being studied. The research process — which requires that researchers obtain consent from participants — will be overseen by an independent review board from the researchers’ institutions, as well as ethics review boards in the countries where the research is conducted. We will give preference to studies that engage local researchers and community members in the project, and we’ll provide additional support for community investments.

Improving diversity in genetic research is a global challenge, but it’s a priority for our company. 23andMe’s mission has always been to help people — all people — access, understand and benefit from the human genome. So over the years, we have endeavored to create programs to reach people in underrepresented communities. 

Those efforts go back several years and include 23andMe’s <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/roots-into-the-future/">Roots Into the Future project</a>, which was designed to study the genetics of diseases impacting African Americans. We’ve also worked on an NIH-funded project to develop a new way to detect disease-causing genetic variants among <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/news/announcements/23andme-scientists-improving-diversity-in-genetic-research/">ethnically mixed populations</a>. Our <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/the-african-genetics-project/">African Genetics Project</a> recruited people who emigrated from, or whose parents emigrated from, several specific countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to enhance research and enrich our services. 

More recently, we began an <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/african-american-sequencing-project/">African-American Sequencing Project</a>, which creates an African American sequencing panel from 23andMe customers who consented to participate in research. The data from this panel will be made available for qualified researchers conducting important health studies through an NIH database. At the end of last year, we also launched the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/global-genetics/">Global Genetics Project</a>, which provides complimentary kits to participants with all four grandparents born in countries underrepresented in our reference data. The project has gained significant momentum, with enrollment hitting over 1,600 participants in the two months since its launch.

We still have a lot of work to do, but we hope that these initiatives will help 23andMe expand its own reference data sets, improve the ability of our scientists to study groups who are currently underrepresented in genetic research, and reveal new insights. We hope our latest Populations Collaborations Program will help qualified researchers to conduct a wide range of research studies to benefit communities where they work and across the globe.

23andMe’s Populations Collaborations

Hair color is one of the first traits you notice about a person, but its genetic underpinnings are not so obvious. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Blond-Hair.png" alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-22160" height="319" width="287" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Blond-Hair.png 287w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Blond-Hair-270x300.png 270w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px" />
Twin studies suggest that up to 97 percent of variation in hair color is heritable, but the 13 loci associated with hair color that have been identified to date only explain about 13 percent of that heritability suggesting that many hair pigmentation genes remain undiscovered. 

To fill in those gaps, a research team from King’s College, London, worked in collaboration with 23andMe on a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0100-5">recently published study in Nature Genetics</a>, where they identified 124 loci significantly associated with self-reported hair color.

The team, led by Tim Spector, MD, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Director of the TwinsUK Registry, utilized large genomic datasets, including research participants from 23andMe (n=157,653) and the <a href="http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/">UK Biobank</a> (n=133,238), to identify much of the missing heritability for pigmentation. Participants self-reported their natural adult hair color as one of the following categories: blond, red, light brown, dark brown, and black. In order to minimize population admixture and stratification, the analyses were adjusted for age, sex, and the first ten principal components of the genotype matrix. The analyses were also restricted to individuals of homogenous European ancestry.

The results of a genome wide association study meta analysis reached conventional genome-wide significance (p&lt;5&#215;10-08) in 124 loci, including all 13 previously known pigmentation loci. To validate these results and introduce a testing dataset, researchers collected GWAS summary statistics from the International Visible Trait Genetics (VisiGen) Consortium, and conducted another meta-analysis of that dataset. Despite the lower statistical power of the replication cohort due to smaller sample size, most leading SNP loci from the discovery meta-analysis replicated with the same direction of association (73 of 124 loci). Analyses also confirmed a strong association in line with the known North-South cline in <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/traits/hair-color/">hair color variation</a>, especially in the less ethnically homogeneous 23andMe cohort.

The loci identified in this study explain 34.6 percent of red hair, 24.8 percent of blond hair, and 26.1 percent of black hair heritability, vastly improving our understanding of pigmentation in humans. While additional pigmentation genes are still yet to be discovered, this research will help guide future studies, including those on the functional mechanisms leading to pigmentation variation. These advances could ultimately lead to the discovery of treatments for diseases that result from biological impairment of pigmentation, such as melasma and vitiligo, and may aid forensic and anthropological applications of DNA-based prediction.

The full set of summary statistics can be made available to qualified investigators who enter into an agreement with 23andMe that protects participant confidentiality. Please contact dataset-request@23andMe.com for more information.

Hysi PG, Valdes AM, Liu F, Furlotte NA, et al. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0100-5">“Genome-wide association meta-analysis of individuals of European ancestry identifies new loci explaining a substantial fraction of hair color variation and heritability.”</a> Nature Genetics. 16 April 2018.

More on the Genetics of Hair Color

A new study has identified hundreds of genes associated with <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/traits/hair-color/">hair color</a> using a predictive model incorporating multiple genes to help explain the shades of blond locks, black manes, brown dos, and red curls among people of European ancestry.



“This work will impact several fields of biology and medicine. As the largest ever genetic study on pigmentation, it will improve our understanding of diseases like melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer,&#8221; said Professor Tim Spector of King’s College London, one of the lead authors of the paper. &#8220;The genes that affect hair color also affect other cancer types, while other pigment genes affect the chances of having Crohn’s and other forms of bowel disease.&#8221;



This very large genome-wide association study gives new insight into the genetic influence on human hair and pigmentation, according to the researchers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-combing-through-the-data">Combing through the Data</h2>



Led by scientists at Kings College London, the study included contributions from researchers at more than a dozen institutions and data from more than 300,000 people. About half of the data came from individuals who contributed data to the UK Biobank, and the other half came from 23andMe customers who consented to participate in the research.



Published in the journal Nature Genetics, the findings, including identifying 124 genes associated with hair color, were validated using two smaller datasets.



Combining the data, the researchers said that the hundreds of genetic variants they identified help explain about a third of the genetic variation that contributes to whether someone has red hair and about a quarter of the variation for both black and blond hair.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/iStock-521623751-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26009" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/iStock-521623751-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/iStock-521623751-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/iStock-521623751-768x513.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/iStock-521623751-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/iStock-521623751-1180x788.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/iStock-521623751.jpg 1254w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-latitude-and-hair-color">Latitude and hair color</h2>



The study also confirms the so-called “North-South cline” in hair color — this is the strong association between hair color and latitude, where darker hair is more common among people with ancestry from European countries in lower latitudes, and lighter locks are more common among those with ancestry from European countries in more northern latitudes. The difference also relates to the sunlight in northern and southern latitudes. Less sunlight means it is harder to produce vitamin D. An adaptation to living in those environments has lighter skin and hair that comes with less pigmentation, which in turn makes it easier to produce vitamin D.



“Besides substantially increasing our understanding of human pigmentation genetics in general, finding these new hair color genes is also important for further increasing the accuracy of hair color prediction from DNA traces in future forensic applications, which can help to find unknown perpetrators of crime,” said Professor Manfred Kayser, of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam who is also the co-lead author of the paper.



Of all the visible traits among people of European ancestry, hair color is one of the most distinguishing, but hair cells don’t control the color of each strand. Hair strand color is controlled through skin cells called melanocytes that make pigments known as melanin. The amount and type of pigmentation control the color and shade of hair. It’s this connection to the pigmentation process that, in part, explains the substantial overlap between skin pigmentation, hair color, and eye color.



While this study confirms the strong genetic influence on hair color, it also vastly improves our understanding of melanin pigmentation, which, according to the researchers, could lend further insights into diseases and conditions related to the impairment of the pigmentation process.



&#8220;While the genetics of hair color is an interesting problem in itself, we hope that better understanding of the biology of melanin pigmentation will be applicable to studies of diseases that interact with pigmentation, such as skin cancer or vitiligo,&#8221; said David Hinds, PhD, 23andMe principal scientist and a co-author.

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