<div id="attachment_25557" style="width: 231px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25557" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/FullSizeRender-2-e1499367397553-221x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25557 size-medium" width="221" height="300" />Thao Do, PhD., 23andMe’s Education and Academia Program Manager</div>
As schools were letting out for the summer, 23 professors and teachers from public and private universities, community colleges and Ivy League schools across the U.S. convened at 23andMe headquarters in Mountain View for the inaugural 23andMe Educators Summit.
Although they have different teaching backgrounds, they all came together with the same goal: finding the best teaching practices to engage students to learn genetics.
“Great teachers matter,”  said Thao Do, PhD., 23andMe’s Education and Academia Program Manager. “They can engage a student’s curiosity long after the class ends.”
<h5>Collaboration</h5>
Dr. Do, who organized the summit, said the goal of bringing these professionals together was to spark creative new ideas.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_4543-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25558" width="300" height="200" />
“When a group of diverse, passionate educators come together, something magical happens,” she said. “They start sharing their brilliant ideas and collaboratively innovate new teaching strategies together. The excitement and energy in the room were electric. This is what great learning and teaching look like and it is such an honor to witness.”
The summit is in line with the 23andMe’s Education program’s mission, which seeks to modernize genetics education and provides free educational resources to support teachers.  
As part of the Educators Summit, participants got a little lesson in what 23andMe does day to day, learning about the science behind our ancestry and health reports and about our innovative research and therapeutic efforts.
Beyond the work that is being done by 23andMe scientists, the participants also heard from  four seasoned educators —Dr. David Matthes (University of Minnesota), Dr. Bryant McAllister (University of Iowa), Dr. Stuart Kim (Stanford University), and Dr. Charles Aquadro (Cornell University) — who presented their own lesson plans to the group, inspiring discussions about their teaching approaches in the classroom.
<h5>Lesson Plans</h5>
At the end of each day, the participants formed small groups to collaboratively design new lesson plans together and shared their ideas with each other.
<div id="attachment_25560" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25560" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/FullSizeRender-300x152.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25560 size-medium" width="300" height="152" />23andMe Director of Research Services Carrie Northover presenting at 23andMe&#8217;s Educator&#8217;s Summit.</div>
“Attending the 23andme educators conference was an eye-opening experience for me,” said James Mitroka, professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University. “I learned so much about how the company takes raw SNP data and translates it into meaningful trait and ancestry results. It was great getting to learn from experienced educators about how to share with students and the public the impact of genetic testing. Also, I enjoyed just getting to know educators who have a passion for the subject on a personal basis and sharing teaching ideas with each other. Overall, it was a great experience.”
Many participants found the open group discussions the most valuable, with topics ranging from common challenges of teaching genetics to strategies on how to create new educational resources for the classroom.
The discussion didn’t just end there: The group left with plans to self-organize a Genetic Literacy Consortium to continue sharing ideas about genetics education.
If you are an educator who is interested in joining a 23andMe Educator Summit, please <a href="https://education.23andme.org/educators-summit-events-form/">let us know.</a> We’ll keep you updated as new events are announced.
To learn more about the 23andMe Education Program, please visit <a href="https://www.23andme.com/education">www.23andme.com/education</a> or contact us at <a href="mailto:educators@23andme.com">educators@23andme.com</a>
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23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

23andMe Educators Summit

By Jessie Inchauspe, Product Manager &#8211; Research Experience
Since 2010, 23andMe’s research team has made groundbreaking discoveries on the role of genetics in health, discoveries made possible because of customers&#8217; contributions to research. We’ve published them in top scientific journals along with world-class collaborators — and we hope they will lead to advances in medicine that will make life healthier for everyone.
23andMe customers who participate in research are the reason this is possible. By answering questions about themselves and sharing with us their genetic data, they enable our research team to make discoveries and publish them. 
<h5>Did you know there’s now a place where 23andMe customers can see exactly which published discoveries they individually made possible?</h5>
<h5><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-1024x645.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-25697 size-large" width="1024" height="645" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-1024x645.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-300x189.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-768x484.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-880x554.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Publications-Page-1180x743.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></h5>
We’ve recently added a new feature to our logged-in site that lets 23andMe research participants see how their research responses and DNA were used and which published scientific discoveries they’ve personally helped fuel.
When participants see a “You Contributed” tag on a publication, it indicates that their data was used in the analysis performed by our researchers to lead to this new breakthrough. It takes on average about two years from the moment a customer answers a question to the publication of a new discovery that leverages their data. 
And every customer who participates plays a role &#8211; even those with no medical conditions. For research to happen we need to compare the DNA of healthy people (controls) to the DNA of people with a condition (cases).
By agreeing to answer 23andMe’s online survey questions, they’ve made it possible for our researchers to link genetic data to critical study topics from ancestry to traits to disease. Genetics research is an exciting but complex field, and the simple truth is, we couldn’t do it without our participants.
Our own CEO has <a href="https://www.23andme.com/publications/contributions/QW5uZXw0Nnw5N2VmY2VhOTFiYmZjODVjMzAxYjU0ZWI5YTkyYTE4Yg==/">contributed to 46 publications</a> at the time of writing. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-1024x765.png" alt="" class="size-large wp-image-25572" width="1024" height="765" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-1024x765.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-300x224.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-768x574.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0-880x658.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pasted-image-0.png 1172w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
What’s your number? Log-in to <a href="https://you.23andme.com/research/publications/">find out</a>. 
Not yet a customer? You can see all our published discoveries here, find out more about <a href="https://www.23andme.com/research/">23andMe research</a> and what you <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/">can learn</a> about yourself by using 23andMe.

23andMe Customers Now See Their Contributions To Research

That urge to explore, to go beyond what we know, is programmed into our DNA — a central part of the story of human history, where people journeyed first out of Africa, and then beyond, to populate the world.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-25537 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-522001452.jpg 1254w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
And now our DNA doesn’t just compel us to discover new frontiers, it gives us the map of where to go.
Customers at 23andMe have begun to use their DNA test results as a roadmap of sorts. They have created travel itineraries, picked trip destinations from their newfound ancestral lands, and even visited with relatives they met through 23andMe.
“I got my results one day, and I jumped on the map view to see if I had family in any of the places where my ancestry is supposedly from,” said<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/more-deserving/"> Rachel Kilgore</a>, a product manager in Los Angeles. “There was one distant cousin in Norway!”
<h5>Mapping It Out</h5>
Rachel may have been in the vanguard when she used her 23andMe results three years ago to map out a summer vacation, but her story isn’t so unusual now as a steady stream of people have followed her lead and used the discoveries they made with their 23andMe results to help plan their travel.
People have used their 23andMe results to help direct their <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry">travel to their ancestral roots</a> in Africa, the United Kingdom and Russia, for instance.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry-Comp-Home-e1498680599352.png" alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-24211" width="300" height="190" />
Risa Rubin used her 23andMe results to help her and her brother find members of her mother’s family who they thought had died in the Holocaust. Risa eventually<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/meant-to-be/"> traveled to Israel</a> to meet her newfound cousin Ayelet. Mike Lattimore knew he’d travel to Africa, but he said his results helped push him in the<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/the-keeper-of-memory/"> right direction</a>. For Alyssa, another customer with African ancestry, her results directed a journey to Ghana that turned into an extended stay where she<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-customer-stories/alyssas-23andme-ancestry-story/"> volunteered at an orphanage</a>.
When scientists first mapped the<a href="https://www.genome.gov/glossary/index.cfm?id=106#human_genome_project"> Human Genome</a> in 2003, they knew it would guide scientists studying disease for decades to come. What they didn’t know was that it could help people navigate their own personal journey of discovery.
“I strongly feel that we should invest in finding our ancestry because it really helps us as human beings,” said Mike.
This summer, we are launching the Golden23SM Sweepstakes to send 23 winners on trips around the world based on their DNA. Starting today through August 3, one lucky winner will be chosen each day to embark on an exciting genetic adventure. Travel packages are valued up to $20,000 and include round-trip airfare for two, five nights of accommodations, customized itineraries and more. Learn more and enter <a href="https://23andme.com/dna-travel">HERE</a>.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A purchase will not improve your chances of winning. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and D.C., 18 or older. Sweepstakes ends at 11:59 pm PT on 8/3/17. You must complete the 23andMe Personal Genetic Service™ to qualify to win. Itineraries are not for entire duration of stay. For free entry method and complete details, see <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-travel-rules">Official Rules</a> that govern this Sweepstakes. Sponsor: 23andMe, Inc. Void where prohibited.
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DNA Travel, It’s a Trip

Best Buy, the big box retailer, just became the latest store to start selling 23andMe kits on its shelves.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MKT6908-237x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25517" width="237" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MKT6908-237x300.jpg 237w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MKT6908.jpg 572w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 237px) 100vw, 237px" />
Customers can now find the kits on Amazon, at CVS, and Target. Going beyond online sales is all part of our effort to make the product more readily available to consumers.

Over on the<a href="https://corporate.bestbuy.com/23andme-now-at-best-buy-helps-reveal-story-of-who-you-are/"> Best Buy blog</a>, 23andMe’s vice president of consumer marketing and acquisition, Jon Ward, explained a little about our service and the decision to sell on store shelves as well as online.
Here’s what he said:
How does 23andMe differ from traditional genetic testing?
We really pride ourselves on taking complex, powerful technologies and making them relevant to consumers. We try to keep things as easy as possible for people. The instructions for how to handle the saliva tube are very clear, and shipping the kit back to us is prepaid. The customer doesn’t see the most complicated parts — extracting the DNA, genotyping someone’s sample and running the data through our systems to interpret the relevant information. That all happens behind the scenes.
How many people have used 23andMe?
More than 2 million in 60 countries. We’ve been at this for 11 years, but our growth has really started accelerating recently.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-300x219.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25605" width="300" height="219" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-300x219.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-768x559.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-1024x746.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695-880x641.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/33111270506_6cdfd74444_k-e1502216359695.jpg 1075w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />You can get a better understanding of yourself and your place in the world. A lot of people are looking at health. They want insights into how they can live longer and healthier lives. There’s another group who’s very interested in ancestry and their families. Those people want to know where they’re from and who they might be related to. They want to know any surprises or interesting tidbits that might not have been captured in their family story. And the third big area, honestly, is people who just want to know more about themselves. They’re not really sure what they’re going to get.
Why is Best Buy a good fit for this product?
We believe Best Buy has an audience of early adopters — people who are very open to new technologies that help them live better lives. And we think it fits with a lot of the emerging categories at Best Buy, like mobile and health tech.
Have you taken the test? What did you learn from it?
Yes. I learned I’m a carrier for a hearing disease called Pendred Syndrome, which, if my wife were a carrier, we might have a deaf child. So that’s pretty interesting. I know I’m not a carrier for cystic fibrosis or Tay Sachs or any of the other 40-plus carrier diseases. I also found out that based on my genetics I&#8217;m more likely to be  lactose intolerant. I had no idea, but now I’ve been able to change how I eat. And I found out that I am 1 percent Ashkenazi Jewish. Who knew?
What are some of the less serious — more fun — things you can learn?
There are a whole bunch of things people find interesting. We know things like how likely you are to move during your sleep, or whether you prefer sweet or salty snacks. We can tell you if you’re likely to have a bald spot, <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/traits/cheek-dimples">cheek dimples</a> or a cleft chin. We assess your most likely eye color and how likely you are to have red hair or curly hair. We can tell you if you’re likely to have photic sneeze reflex, which causes you to sneeze when you look into the sun.
You mentioned that you can test for a person’s<a href="https://mediacenter.23andme.com/press-releases/23andme-inc-granted-first-fda-authorization-market-direct-consumer-genetic-health-risk-reports/"> genetic health risk for diseases like Parkinson’s and late-onset Alzheimer’s</a>. What type of response have you seen from consumers?
We’ve seen a lot of interest in those diseases. People with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in their families want to look into their risks so they can understand the latest research and maybe make lifestyle changes to help to the extent they can mitigate the onset of the disease.
What do you do once you get your results? <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BBY_on_gray-e1498579519190-300x220.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-25529 size-medium" width="300" height="220" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BBY_on_gray-e1498579519190-300x220.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BBY_on_gray-e1498579519190.jpg 452w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
A lot of people print their results and go right to their doctor. If you’re negative for every carrier disease, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re completely in the clear. But it’s a good baseline test for some of the most common variants associated with those diseases. If you’re considering having children, you’ll want more comprehensive screening done. And if you have one of the variants we test for, you’ll probably want to have additional testing, have your partner tested and have a family-planning discussion to make sure you know what you’d do if you had a child who had one of those diseases. And, for example, if you’re positive for the genetic mutation associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s, we will point you to<a href="https://medical.23andme.org/resources/"> resources we’ve curated on our website</a> where you can learn more about the disease.
A lot of this information is very personal. How do you protect customer privacy?
We wouldn’t have a business if we didn’t protect people’s information. We have state-of-the-art security and privacy policies, and we have a full-time privacy officer. We give people enormous control. If you want, you can download your data and close your account at any time.
The test results can have a big impact on someone’s life. What are some of your favorite<a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/"> customer stories</a>?
The stories that always get me are the ones where people have discovered long-lost relatives on 23andMe. We have an optional feature called DNA Relatives that, if you choose to participate, will match you with others in the database who share DNA segments—from distant cousins to close relatives. There was a story where a half-brother and sister discovered each other mid-life. I think they were both only children, but all of a sudden their family opened up. Another one was a story about a woman named Angel who had been given up for adoption, and we helped reunite her with her family for Christmas. She was probably in her 60s and suddenly she has this big, fully formed family she didn’t know she had. It’s just very moving.

23andMe Kits At Best Buy

Bones found in an old mine at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco have scientists rethinking their understanding of mankind’s origins in Africa —
<div id="attachment_25487" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25487" class="wp-image-25487 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2-300x104.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="104" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2-300x104.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2-768x267.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2-880x306.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/546212a-f2.jpg 946w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />A view of the site at Jebel Irhoud where the bones of early humans were found. Photo: Shannon McPherron, MPI EVA Leipzig</div>
indicating that our story there is much more complicated and goes back longer than we once thought.
The fossils — the oldest homo sapiens remains ever found — counter the idea that modern humans emerged 200,000 years ago in one verdant valley in <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-and-you/genetics-101/human-prehistory-101-out-of-eastern-africa/">East Africa</a>.
Instead, the find points to the possibility that modern humans emerged as far back<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v546/n7657/full/nature22335.html"> as 300,000 years ago</a>, and in multiple places across Africa. Our origins were not in one “cradle of civilization,” according to the researchers.
“There is no Garden of Eden in Africa, or if there is a Garden of Eden, it’s Africa,”<a href="https://www.nature.com/news/oldest-homo-sapiens-fossil-claim-rewrites-our-species-history-1.22114"> said paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin</a> of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and the lead author of the studies published in<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v546/n7657/full/nature22335.html"> Nature</a>. “The Garden of Eden is the size of Africa.”
Not everyone agrees, suggesting that perhaps <a href="http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2017/06/out-of-north-africa.html">North Africa</a> is the site of human origin, but the findings in the journal<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v546/n7657/full/nature22335.html"> Nature</a>, are only the latest <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25485" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Skull-178x300.jpg" alt="" width="178" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Skull-178x300.jpg 178w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Skull.jpg 441w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 178px) 100vw, 178px" />in a series of archeological and DNA inspired discoveries in the last five years that have significantly altered our understanding of human history.
From genetic evidence of intermixing between modern humans,<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/news/the-neanderthal-within/"> Neanderthals</a>, Denisovans — and possibly other now extinct archaic humans — to new fossil remains of<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/hello-cousin/"> Homo naledi</a>, perhaps a primitive offshoot of our direct lineage, found at the so-called Rising Star Cave in South Africa. Each new bit of information has added greater complexity to the already interesting human story.
In truth the findings fill in gaps in both the fossil and genetic record that scientists are using to trace back to the dawn of humanity. The human family tree is much more complicated, and interesting, than we thought. It includes many twisting branches, some that lead to now our extinct archaic human cousins, some that curve back into our own lineage.

Human Origins

Sprinkled in the crowds at <a href="http://www.gaypridecalendar.com/">Pride marches</a> this weekend, as with every year, will be employees from 23andMe, who will be there with their families, partners and friends to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture and civil rights.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-199x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25500" width="199" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-199x300.jpg 199w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-768x1156.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-680x1024.jpg 680w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-585x880.jpg 585w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-784x1180.jpg 784w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-scaled.jpg 1701w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" />
“We’ll be there to celebrate the diversity of love,” said 23andMe computational biologist Fah Sathirapongsasuti, PhD. “Like our genomes, love unites us in its diversity. We want to showcase the different shades of love within our own community too.”
When he isn’t marching with his partner in support of LGBTQ rights, or blitzing through a workout, or hiking to the base of Mount Everest, Fah wrestles with some of 23andMe’s most difficult and important research questions. He is instrumental in hunting through mountains of genetic and biomedical data to find new <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-and-drug-discovery/">drug targets to treat disease</a>. During his Ph.D. studies at Harvard, Fah developed the first method to detect copy number variations from exome sequencing data, and as an undergraduate at Stanford was honored with the President’s Award for Academic Excellence.
Coming to 23andMe was a natural step, Fah said. It allowed him to to continue to work on the forefront of genetic research, but do it at a place where he felt welcomed.
“This is the work I love, but I’m also inspired by the talented team that is as committed to this science as I am,” he said. “And what’s important for me is that this place doesn’t just welcome diversity it celebrates it.”
23andMe has always been a place that’s inclusive, but this isn’t just about the workplace culture, it is also about the work we do, said Fah, who helps head up the LGBTQ community at the company.
Fah recently invited fellow employees to share their photos of themselves and loved ones that capture moments of love as part of a celebration for Pride Month and the diversity of love within our company.
As a scientist another attraction of working here is the willingness of the company to study many different questions around genetics.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/pride_TW-300x150.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-25501" width="300" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/pride_TW-300x150.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/pride_TW-768x384.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/pride_TW-880x440.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/pride_TW.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
For example, 23andMe began doing research around <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andme-studies-the-genetics-of-sexual-orientation/">sexual orientation</a> more than six years ago, in part because our customers said they wanted to know more about this.  Ultimately we conducted one of the first large genome-wide association studies of sexual orientation ever done. While we are yet to identify any common genetic markers associated with sexual orientation, we did find some <a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Drabant-Poster-v7.pdf">intriguing leads</a> for future research. Genetics clearly plays a role, but sexual orientation is the product of both genetic and environmental factors and more work is needed to determine the role they each play. Adding to the complexity, many researchers conceptualize sexual orientation as having three components like a layered cake: self-identity, behavior, and attraction.
For Fah this is the point of much of the work that’s done in genetics research; it’s fundamentally an exploration about what makes us who we are. It explains both how we are each unique, but also how much more we have in common. Genetically we are 99.5 percent similar.
“We should recognize our common humanity, and also celebrate our diversity and what makes us unique,” Fah said. “There is a parallel with genetics in that while love comes in different forms, in all those forms, love is love.&#8221;
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Celebrating Diversity

Today more than ever, it’s easy to focus on all that separates us, but our DNA tells another story. <div id="attachment_25469" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25469" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-501466418-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-25469 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-501466418-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iStock-501466418.jpg 724w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Having just landed in a small boat, a refugee family walks up from the beach toward a road on the north coast of the Greek island of Lesbos.</div>
We are all much more alike than we are different. In fact, each and every one of us is 99.5 percent genetically similar. Those small difference shouldn&#8217;t separate us. All of us are 100 percent human. 
Today is<a href="http://www.un.org/en/events/refugeeday/index.shtml"> World Refugee Day</a>, a time to reflect on the plight of millions of people fleeing war, famine and persecution across the globe. 23andMe wants to raise awareness about the global refugee crisis, and celebrate the humanity we all share. 
Learn more about the worldwide refugee crisis visit the United Nations World Refugee Day<a href="http://www.un.org/en/events/refugeeday/resources.shtml"> website</a>, or to find out how you can help visit the<a href="https://www.rescue.org/"> International Refugee Rescue Committee</a>.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-634x1024.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25493" width="634" height="1024" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-634x1024.jpg 634w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-186x300.jpg 186w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-768x1241.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-545x880.jpg 545w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-730x1180.jpg 730w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/40884_17_23ME_008_001v5.p181-scaled.jpg 1584w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px" />
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World Refugee Day

Researchers have identified genes that influence both the risk for schizophrenia and the development of certain personality traits.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-21718 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/iStock_000015521781Small-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/iStock_000015521781Small-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/iStock_000015521781Small-768x511.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/iStock_000015521781Small.jpg 849w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
The work published late last month in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-02346-3">Scientific Reports</a>, a Nature Research publication, follows on a study published late last year by the same group of scientists that identified six loci associated with personality traits.
<h2>Correlations with Personality Traits</h2>
That study found correlations between those traits and psychiatric disorders. Still, the work published this week confirms that there is more than just a correlation between certain personality traits and schizophrenia. There are genetic variants that influence both.
The findings also provide new insights into the genetic processes underlying schizophrenia and personality traits, according to the researchers.
The research is consistent with what scientists have suspected all along: that certain personality traits and psychological disorders are related and share some genetic influences. Studies in recent years have shown correlations between psychiatric disorders and personality traits—measured on a spectrum known as the “Big Five” that includes neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
<h2>Insights from Large Amounts of Data</h2>
While scientists have long believed that genetics plays a role in personality and the risk for mental illness, pinpointing which genes are involved has been difficult. In the past, the limited size of genome-wide association studies has stymied efforts to identify specific genetic variants associated with these conditions.
The breakthrough with these most recent studies is that researchers have used a meta-analysis to combine data from numerous sources and power their research with enormous data sets.
In this case, researchers used data from about 60,000 23andMe customers who consented to participate in the research and data from more than 80,000 individuals who are part of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) cohort.  The PGC unites investigators from around the world to study the genetics around psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia. The group has also become a sort of repository for data that can be used for these studies.
<h2>Neurotocism and Schizophrenia</h2>
The researchers working on this latest study found six genetic variants shared between schizophrenia and openness to new experiences.
They found three variants that influence both schizophrenia and the personality trait of neuroticism. Although these associations were found using a meta-analysis of the combined 23andMe and PGC data, the researchers also demonstrated that these results could be replicated in the individual cohorts..
“Altogether, our study provides new insights into the genetic architecture of schizophrenia and personality traits,” the researchers said in the paper. “The findings comply with accumulating evidence from genetics and neuroscience suggesting that mental disorders are not discontinuous with normal variation in neurobiological and behavioral dimensions.”
<h2>Learn More</h2>
You can read the paper at Scientific Reports <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-02346-3">here</a>.

The role of genetics in personality and schizophrenia

A generation ago it was a felony to marry across racial lines in Virginia and 15 other states in the south, and the repercussions of those laws are still felt today.
<div id="attachment_25461" style="width: 396px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25461" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Mildred_Jeter_and_Richard_Loving.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-25461 size-full" height="258" width="386" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Mildred_Jeter_and_Richard_Loving.jpeg 386w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Mildred_Jeter_and_Richard_Loving-300x201.jpeg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 386px) 100vw, 386px" />Mildred Jeter and Ricahrd Loving, the couple who were at the center of the US Supreme Court Case Loving v. Virginia that struck down laws against interracial marriage.</div>
The movie “<a href="http://focusfeatures.com/loving">Loving</a>” tells one side of that story, the moving tale of Mildred and Richard Loving, who defied the law and married. The couple’s almost decade-long legal fight ended in 1967 with the landmark Supreme Court ruling,<a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/388/1/case.html"> Loving v. Virginia</a>, which erased laws in 16 states that prohibited marrying outside your race.
This week marks the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/12/opinion/loving-virginia-50-year-anniversary.html?_r=0"> anniversary</a> of that case.
For many other couples that crossed racial lines and dared to fall in love in those years, the Loving case came too late. Their stories have yet to be told.
Katrina Callsen, a young mom and law student in Virginia, only recently uncovered her own family’s side of that story using 23andMe.
Her dad, Clarence, a retired Army sergeant first class, was adopted at birth and never knew anything about his biological parents, but with the help of his daughter’s 23andMe results he was able to learn his story for the first time.
<div id="attachment_25451" style="width: 259px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25451" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Clarence-youth-249x300.jpeg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-25451" height="300" width="249" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Clarence-youth-249x300.jpeg 249w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Clarence-youth-768x924.jpeg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Clarence-youth-851x1024.jpeg 851w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Clarence-youth-731x880.jpeg 731w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Clarence-youth-980x1180.jpeg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Clarence-youth.jpeg 1204w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 249px) 100vw, 249px" />Clarence as a child.</div>
Clarence’s father was black, and his mother was white. They were young and in love, but they lived at a time and in a place, Virginia, where mixed race couples could not legally get married.
When Clarence’s birth mom became pregnant she and his birth father said they couldn’t get married and she didn’t feel she could keep a black child, Katrina said. 
After giving up Clarence, the couple never saw their son, or each other again.
Fifty years later, as Clarence pieced together the story. With the help of 23andMe and Clarence’s daughter, Katrina, he was first able to find his biological father by first connecting with a cousin, who also happened to live in the same town and only a few blocks away.
“My dad is an adoptee from a completely closed adoption and I did 23andme to gain some ancestry and health related insights,” Katrina said.
By testing she learned that her dad was also mixed race, she said.
“When I got my 23andme results back and found out I had a cousin living down the street from me,” she said
It was through this cousin that Clarence and Katrina were able to find out who his father was.
Now 85, Clarence’s biological father had never told anyone — his wife or stepchildren — that he had had a child.
<div id="attachment_25453" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25453" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Katrina-as-child-225x300.jpeg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-25453" height="300" width="225" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Katrina-as-child-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Katrina-as-child-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Katrina-as-child-660x880.jpeg 660w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Katrina-as-child-885x1180.jpeg 885w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Katrina-as-child-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" />Katrina as a child.</div>
When Clarence was finally able to meet him in person, he told his son that his biological mother was white, and although they had wanted to, at the time it was illegal for them to marry in Virginia.
“My biological grandpa told my father he thought of him many times and … made a plea to meet him before it was too late, and there he was delivered on his doorstep,” Katrina said.
After that initial meeting and using information that Clarence’s father shared, he and Katrina were later able to find his birth mother.
She too had kept his birth secret, and the agony she had at having to give up her son.
Some of the emotion around that history is still raw, and both of Clarence’s birth parents coming to terms with finding their son. For their part, Clarence and Katrina have asked that his birth parents names not be used to respect their privacy, and allow Clarence time to get to know them and their families.
For Katrina the story brings full circle a painful personal and national history. Recently, Katrina and her dad spoke on a panel moderated by lifestyle blogger Serein Wu, at the<a href="http://www.mixedremixed.org/mixed-race-multiracial-americans-celebrate-50th-anniversary-interracial-marriage/"> Mixed Remixed</a> festival in Los Angeles celebrating the anniversary of the Loving case, and shared their story.
“Got us all in tears in here,” Tweeted Katy Monty after listening to Katrina and her dad talk about finding his biological family.
Even after the law changed, biracial couples have struggled. Katrina said her parents also faced some of those same tensions. Clarence is black and Katrina’s mom is white, and initially their parents did not embrace the marriage. But their mixed race children grew up in a different time.
“Thirty years and four kids later they are still together,” said Katrina.
<div id="attachment_25463" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25463" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/image1-300x288.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-25463" height="288" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/image1-300x288.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/image1-768x736.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/image1-1024x981.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/image1-880x843.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/image1-1180x1131.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Clarence and Katrina at the Mixed Remixed festival in Los Angeles with moderator Serein Wu.</div>
And making this connection and learning of the story of her dad’s birth has been important for Katrina and her father. Finding family roots, history and relatives has connected them to their history. Even Katrina’s move to Charlottesville to attend law school feels to be part of that. Her biological family has deep roots there and she herself feels connected to the place, a connection that — as the daughter of an Army NCO who regularly moved every few years — she’d never had before.
“It is hard, if not impossible, to put in words what it means to suddenly find a biological family, to find roots, to realize that the place you have felt naturally drawn to holds centuries of your family history,” Katrina said. “Genetics can hold stories and answers we didn’t even know we were seeking. It can show you the family you never knew, who lives around the corner, and is overjoyed to welcome you back home.”

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