In his last fight– the one against Parkinson’s – Muhammad Ali went the distance finally succumbing in early June to complications from a respiratory problem.
He was 74.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24008" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Ali-300x168.png" alt="Ali" width="300" height="168" />
In the more than 30 years since Ali was first diagnosed, our understanding of Parkinson’s has changed enormously and yet there is still much we don’t understand. While many assume that it was Ali’s many years in the ring that caused his Parkinson’s, it’s likely much more complicated than that.
<a href="https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/leaders.html?communications#racheldolhun">Dr. Rachel Dolhun</a>, the vice president for medical communications with the Michael J. Fox Foundation, recently wrote about this.


“(H)ead trauma and traumatic brain injury are associated with an increased risk of Parkinson&#8217;s but the mechanisms for how they are connected are unclear and direct causation (head or brain injury actually causing Parkinson&#8217;s) has not been established,” Dolhun writes. “More work is necessary to fully understand this relationship.”
While head trauma has been linked to Parkinson’s, so too has exposure to chemicals and genetics.
“Genes load the gun” and some environmental exposure or head trauma, “pulls the trigger.”


What complicates the picture is also the nature of Parkinson’s itself. It may not be one disease, but many different conditions that fall under one diagnosis. This evolving understanding of the disease was noted in a recent article in <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/06/ali-and-parkinsons/485798/">The Atlantic</a> by one of the magazine’s senior editors, Dr. James Hamblin. He notes that some neurologists have come to use the term<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27262147"> “Parkinson’s disease syndrome”</a> to describe the condition.
In the same way our understanding of what causes the disease has also come to include many different culprits – including head trauma.
While Hamblin focuses on just one genetic discovery by a team at Northwestern University, there have been many found over the years, including genetic variants that might mitigate the risk for the disease. Each finding has helped researchers deepen their understanding of the biological underpinnings of the disease, which in turn has helped to focus efforts looking at new treatments for the condition.


As<a href="https://blog.23andme.org/news/forever-grateful/"> we noted</a> in our blog earlier this month, Ali himself (along with his daughter Laila) supported research into the disease. With 23andMe the two helped produce <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B9cgyEeULU">a video</a> to encourage participation in Parkinson’s research. 23andMe now has the <a href="https://www.23andme.org/pd/">largest Parkinson&#8217;s community</a> for genetic research in the world. It’s allowed researchers to make important breakthroughs and uncover new genetic associations for the disease.


Find out more about our research into Parkinson’s <a href="https://www.23andme.org/pd/">here</a>.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Ali and Parkinson’s

A Personalized Guide to the Incredible You
By Scott Andress, Director of Product Design at 23andMe
Your 23andMe results have arrived. The day you’ve been waiting for is here. It’s the culmination of curiosity, mystery — even trepidation. What will you find out about yourself and your family? The answers are just one click away.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24050 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-300x202.jpg" alt="Homepage4" width="300" height="202" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-300x202.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-768x518.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-1024x690.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-880x593.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homepage4-1180x796.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
This is a pivotal moment for our customers – and this is where we first placed ourselves as product designers. How can we help people navigate through a rich forest of hundreds of thousands of genetic markers and show them the ways their genes make them truly unique?
<h2>The opportunity</h2>
Designing a consumer product powered by complex genetic information is challenging. 23andMe provides customers with deeply personal insights into themselves and their families. Access to this knowledge is useful, interesting, and fun, but it can also be sensitive. As product designers, we strive to create a customer experience that presents a wide range of information with a clear, approachable, and human tone.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24049 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-300x114.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="114" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-300x114.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-768x291.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-1024x388.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-880x333.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/group_sprint-1180x447.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Late last year, we launched the new 23andMe experience, making us the first and only direct-to-consumer company to offer reports that meet FDA standards for scientific and clinical validity. Building on what we learned from earlier versions of our product, our objective was to design a more streamlined interface that would clearly present personalized information on carrier status, traits, and ancestry.
The new website design improved our product in many ways. Overall, streamlining the experience paid off by making genetic information easier to access and comprehend. But our homepage — the first thing our customers see when they log in to our service and the crossroad for our experience — was overly simplified and lacked key functionality. We knew we could do better.
Early this year, we took a fresh look at our homepage. Our goal was to create something that would guide customers through our services by providing meaningful and personalized information, while surfacing interesting activities to engage with. Here’s how we approached this project.
<h2>Our process</h2>
To kick off our project, we conducted a design sprint. For inspiration, we looked to the great foundations provided by the <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24046" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-300x137.jpg" alt="sketch_wall" width="300" height="137" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-300x137.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-768x351.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-1024x468.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-880x402.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sketch_wall-1180x539.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Day one of our sprints started with an intensive cross-functional collaborative session that included not just designers, but product managers, engineers, and scientists. Each team member brought their own experience, perspective, and data to the table so that we could paint a holistic picture of the possibilities and challenges at hand. After setting the stage and outlining the customer journey, we separated to individually create a broad range of potential solutions through rapid, low-fidelity sketches. Our goal was to generate and collect as many different concepts as possible. When we reconvened as a group, we critiqued, questioned, and ranked each concept. From there we decided which ideas were the top contenders to inform a design prototype that we would test with customers. Clear themes were beginning to emerge:
<ul>
<li>Personalization is essential. Everyone is unique and their results should illustrate that. If we could create ways to personalize the experience, we would make our services feel more friendly, human and approachable.</li>
<li>Easy navigation will enhance value. Some of our customers know exactly what they are looking for and just want a quick way to find it. Other customers aren’t sure what features are available to them. We should create a system that allows all customers to find what they are looking for, while also offering a way to discover new things they were previously unaware of. As customers go on their own individual journeys, they would benefit from recommendations for what to do next.</li>
<li>Summarize and provide context. Ultimately our goal is to help customers better understand themselves through genetics. We should find ways to inform and educate our customers about how genetics influences their lives. Our job is to connect the dots and provide easy to understand take-aways.</li>
</ul>
Days two and three of our sprint focused on bringing these ideas together into a cohesive design for us to test. As the design team started to work through the concept sketches and notes from the previous day, organizing them according to themes and emerging principles, we started to see some patterns that indicated two possible directions.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24048" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-300x164.jpg" alt="homepage laydown 9" width="300" height="164" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-300x164.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-768x420.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-1024x560.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-880x481.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-1180x645.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-271x149.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-372x204.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-574x315.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-9-980x539.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />The first direction centered around a comprehensive overview that encouraged free-range exploration. In this model we would reveal almost everything available for the customer to explore, all on one dashboard. The other direction provided a more focused and guided experience, where we would provide some high-level information and focus on a personalized activity feed that would recommend what the customer could do next. After debating the merits of both ideas, we came to the conclusion that each direction had promise. We decided to rapidly design and prototype both models. Essentially, we kicked-off a UX bake-off, putting both designs up against each other to find the ultimate customer experience.
On days four and five we tested our design prototypes with current customers and with people who were not familiar with 23andMe. We learned a lot from these interviews. First, we found that both directions were perceived as an improvement over the current version. Good news —  we were on to something! But instead of a singular winning direction, we learned that customers wanted the best parts of each design. Customers want clear and easy navigation, interesting take-aways and guidance on what to do next. We also relearned something that we had, admittedly, heard in previous studies – personalization doesn’t necessarily mean a prominently featured profile photo. “I already know what I look like! I don’t need to see my face at the top of the page,” is something we heard from more than one participant. Okay, no big profile photos — got it!
<h2>The outcome</h2>
Having a robust, clear, and well-grounded point of view is essential for meaningful product experiences. As designers and as a cross-functional product team, we should strive to be the experts of our product and formulate a vision for how it should evolve over time. A crucial part of this expertise is gained by becoming ardent advocates for our customers and understanding their points of view. Being open and receptive to their candid feedback is essential. A highly effective product team knows how to gauge and absorb feedback while thoughtfully incorporating it into the directional vision.
When done successfully, the result fulfills the customer’s desires and the overall goals for the product experience. This approach is especially important when designing for new and emerging experiences like personal genetics and consumer health products. These capabilities are so new to most people that it is our responsibility to show our customers what is possible, to educate them about the science and to guide them through the best ways to take advantage of what they learn.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24047" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-300x164.jpg" alt="homepage laydown 10" width="300" height="164" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-300x164.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-768x420.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-1024x560.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-880x481.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-1180x645.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-271x149.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-372x204.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-574x315.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/homepage-laydown-10-980x539.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />As our design sprint approached conclusion, we used our study findings to help us blend the best components from both directions into a single compelling design.
The final homepage design provides our customers with just three main elements: an interactive header that educates by providing context for results, quick navigation fortified with some basic summary information and a dynamic activity feed that recommends items to see and do. In other words, this page answers these questions for our customers; How do my genes make me unique? Where is my most important information? What can I do next?
Next, we started the hard work to bring the vision to life. For several weeks our product management and engineering teammates collaborated to build the functionality required to power the personalization and other new capabilities of the homepage. One key element was the new interactive header module. This was a big opportunity to provide valuable, personalized context and education to our customers. It was also a chance to incorporate our vibrant and friendly brand. Tuning this interaction to make it work well responsively — across desktop, tablet and phone browsers — was a big challenge. But the result is a great example of how a delightful interactive element can enhance the presentation of substantive information.
Before we made the new homepage available to all of our customers, we conducted a final series of tests with live traffic on our website to compare how well it would perform relative to the version it would replace. Overall, the results of this test showed us that customers spent more time on the new homepage and on the entire website each time they logged in. They also engaged with more reports and other key features compared to our original homepage. These findings demonstrated that our goal had been achieved. Our new homepage was a valuable guide for customers, helping them gain most from our services.
<h3>What’s next?</h3>
Our new personalized homepage advances our goal to provide customers with easy and straightforward access to their most important personal information — their own genetics. Customers can easily gain insights into how their genes make them unique. And the new homepage guides them with personalized recommendations to get the most from our service. But this is just the beginning of a continuously improving and expanding experience. The page will evolve as we learn more from our customers over time.
So what lies ahead for product design at 23andMe? After the success of our design sprint for the new homepage, we started to ask how we might take this thinking and apply it to other key features across our customer experience. Stay tuned — we’re working hard on some awesome new capabilities for the 23andMe service over the next few months.
Special thanks to Crystal Shei, Diane Wei, Caitlyn McCarthy, Gloria Lin,   and Susan Furest on our product design team, as well as Sooyun Choi and our brand and marketing team, for bringing their talents and insights to this project.   And a shout out to our cross-functional team across product management, science, consumer insights, analytics and engineering for enthusiastically embracing the design sprint process and for collaboratively driving this project from concept to reality.

Scott Andress

Designing the New 23andMe Homepage

In the largest-ever <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-19308" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Migraine-Photo-200x300.jpg" alt="Migraine Photo" 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" />with these sometimes debilitating headaches that are estimated to affect as many as a billion people worldwide.
<h2>Genetic Associations &amp; Vascular Dysfunction</h2>
Along with identifying 44 variants associated with migraines, the findings also point to vascular dysfunction as one of the biological underpinnings for the disease. Researchers have debated for years whether vascular or neuronal dysfunction could explain a propensity for migraines. This study provides the first genetic evidence pointing to vascular dysfunction as a potential cause.
“We provide evidence that migraine-associated genes are involved both in arterial and smooth muscle function,” the researchers wrote. “These results suggest that vascular dysfunction and possibly also other smooth muscle dysfunction likely play roles in migraine pathogenesis.”

<h2>What Are Migraines?</h2>
Migraines often involve debilitating pain that can last many hours, or, in some cases, days. Beyond the pain, the symptoms can trigger nausea, vomiting, and, for some who suffer from migraines with auras, distorted vision, or flashes of light. This subtype of migraine includes symptoms that often occur before a migraine starts, where those with the condition report having blind spots in their vision or seeing bright lights or other patterns.
Although the researchers looked, they could not detect any genetic associations that would differentiate the two types of migraines.
The 44 genetic variants they identified are located in 38 genes or gene regions, and many of those loci are involved in regulating vascular tissue and soft muscle tissue, such as that found inside blood vessel walls. Of the genetic variants associated with migraines, 28 were identified for the first time.
<h2>Risks Associated with Migraines</h2>
These findings are consistent with research that shows that individuals who suffer from migraines are at a higher risk for stroke and cardiovascular disease. Interestingly, the researchers also found that the same genetic variant in the PHACTR1 gene that is associated with risks for a tear in arteries in the neck – a phenomenon called Cervical Artery Dissection that is a common cause of strokes for people under 50 – is also associated with migraines.
The study&#8217;s researchers, published this week in the journal Nature Genetics, performed a meta-analysis that gathered 22 different genome-wide association studies and included data from more than 375,000 individuals worldwide.
About 173,000 of those individuals are 23andMe customers who consented to research. The 23andMe cohort was by far the largest used by the researchers. Much of the other data was collected together by the<a href="http://www.headachegenetics.org/"> International Headache Genetics Consortium</a> and included contributions from researchers in the UK, Iceland, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and Estonia. This work also follows a study done by the consortium.
&#8220;We simply can’t overstate the importance of international collaboration when studying the genetics of complex, common diseases,&#8221; said Palotie, who heads up the International Headache Genetics Consortium and works as a Research Director at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, as well as serving as an associate member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
The researchers said the findings from this study could be a first step in developing new treatments for migraines.
The study can be found in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v48/n8/full/ng.3598.html">Nature Genetics.</a>

The role of genetics in migraines

Over the years we&#8217;ve been lucky enough to hear from customers who&#8217;ve used 23andMe to connect with their dads.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-21188" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/David-Quote-200x200.jpg" alt="David Quote" width="200" height="200" />


Some of them simply shared their results to see the kinds of traits they shared with the fathers. But several customers, mostly adoptees, have been able to use 23andMe to find their biological fathers. We&#8217;ve heard from  several who have found their fathers and met them for the first time.
As we get ready to celebrate Father&#8217;s Day we wanted to share one of those stories with you.
Here&#8217;s David Alquist&#8217;s story, which was recently picked up by Channel 9 in Denver. 
<iframe loading="lazy" width="640" height="360" style="border-width: 0;" src="https://interactive.tegna-media.com/video/embed/embed.html?id=2221711&#038;type=video&#038;title=DNA%20match%20helps%20Westminster%20man%20find%20biological%20father&#038;site=73&#038;playerid=6918249996581&#038;dfpid=32805352&#038;dfpposition=Video_prestream_external §ion=home"></iframe>

Happy Father’s Day 2016

There’s a time when all of us settle down, but Robert isn’t there quite yet.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23983" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW-300x300.jpg" alt="RoberW" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW-980x980.jpg 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RoberW.jpg 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />


He’s 29, single and has a good job as an architect. He’s in no rush, but all the same that hasn’t stopped him from at least thinking about his future and what comes next. In part that’s why he tested with 23andMe.
“I was interested in learning more about my ancestry, especially within Europe,” said Robert, who lives in Maryland. “I was also interested in learning any health information that could help me plan my life better, especially since I’m at an age when having a family is on the horizon.”


His results revealed a few surprises about his ancestry, but it was the health information that he viewed as invaluable not just for his future, but also to explain something about his sister, who he said was born profoundly deaf. His test showed that Robert is a carrier for an inherited form of hearing loss.


“The cause was unknown but genetic hearing loss was always low on our list of possible reasons because no one else in our family is deaf,” Robert said. “They assumed it was not genetic, so it was always a mystery.”


The family speculated that perhaps her deafness was caused by a fever during infancy, or something his mother may have been exposed to or even his father being in areas that were sprayed with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The family didn’t know so they were left to speculate about what caused Robert’s sister to be deaf.
But Robert believes his 23andMe results may offer a plausible explanation. His test revealed that he is a carrier for GJB2-related nonsyndromic hearing loss and deafness, DFNB1, an inherited form of hearing loss.*
To be affected a person must have two variants in the GJB2 gene, but Robert inherited just one copy, meaning he is only a carrier.
Because the condition is nonsyndromic  – meaning it lacks other symptoms – detecting it at birth in the past was exceedingly difficult.  Recent advances in universal newborn hearing screening, however, have made this and other forms of congenital deafness easier to detect. When Robert’s sister was born the family didn’t have access to those tests.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23811" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Inheritance-300x266.jpg" alt="Inheritance" width="300" height="266" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Inheritance-300x266.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Inheritance.jpg 697w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />


“Finding out that I am a carrier may shed some light on my sister&#8217;s condition,” Robert said.


But since she hasn’t had a genetic test for the condition, he can only assume his sister may have gotten two copies, one from each of their parents.
For Robert, his results are important, he said. If, or when, he decides to have a family, knowing that he’s a carrier is something he’d want to share with his partner. That kind of knowledge is power, but Robert understands not everyone would feel the same way. Not everyone would want to know.


“Everyone is different in the way they handle that sort of news,” he said.


Robert also said that it makes a lot of sense to talk to his doctor or medical professional at some point about the results and how to best use what he’s learned.
Still he feels better knowing.
“I am glad I received this information,” Robert said. “The results were a little sobering at first, but I think it will help me plan for a better life in the long run.”


*23andMe&#8217;s carrier status tests can be used to determine carrier status in adults from saliva collected using an FDA-cleared collection device (Oragene ·DX model OGD-500.001), but cannot determine if you have two copies of the genetic variant. Each test is most relevant for people of certain ethnicities. The tests are not intended to diagnose a disease, or tell you anything about your risk for developing a disease in the future. On their own, carrier status tests are not intended to tell you anything about the health of your fetus, or your newborn child’s risk of developing a particular disease later in life.  The Nonsyndromic Hearing Loss and Deafness DFNB1 (GJB2-related) carrier status test is indicated for the detection of 2 variants in the GJB2 gene and is most relevant for people of Ashkenazi Jewish and European descent.

Planning Ahead

This past weekend the Parkinson’s disease community and the world at large lost a truly inspirational leader with the passing of Muhammad Ali. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Ali-e1496785930201.png" alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-24008" width="300" height="168" />
We want to express our sympathy to his family for their loss and join countless others in celebrating his life and extraordinary achievements on behalf of many causes. 
Of course, Parkinson’s disease is a cause <a href="https://www.23andme.org/pd/">close</a> to 23andMe. 
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1984 at age 42, twenty years sooner than the average Parkinson’s patient, Ali managed to shock the world much like he did in the ring, living more than three decades with the disease. His commitment to battle the disease everyday and to not let it define or defeat him are truly inspirational for all of those living with Parkinson’s, as well as their caregivers. 
Parkinson’s affects between 7 and 10 million people worldwide. 
Together with 23andMe, Ali and his daughter Laila produced <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B9cgyEeULU">a video</a> encouraging participation in Parkinson’s disease research. Due in large part to the awareness raised by the video, and other efforts made by the Ali family, there are now more than 11,000 patients enrolled in the 23andMe Parkinson’s research study. 


This research has led to the discovery of <a href="https://blog.23andme.org/23andme-research/new-parkinsons-findings-published/">several new genetic associations</a> for Parkinson’s Disease. We are forever grateful for the global awareness he raised.  Because of Ali’s leadership and the courage of others with PD, we are beginning to better understand the role genetics plays along with behavior and environmental factors. 
We will, like the rest of the PD community, miss his fighting spirit.  But in his memory, the fight lives on.

Forever Grateful

Among the many brilliant performances on the History Channels remake of the series <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-23978" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_short-200x200.png" alt="04012016_ancestryQuote_short" width="200" height="200" />best known for her work on the stage.


Like many of the actors who were part of this series, and the original that first aired 39 years ago, the part had special meaning for Rose, as she said in a recent interview with <a href="http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/roots-remake-history-kizzy-anika-noni-rose-anika-noni-rose-1201785035/">Variety</a>.


“I’m very proud of being able to be a part of this and bring it back for a new generation of audiences,” she said. “Because it is ours. It is the story  of America. I’m proud to be able to bring it back and make it relevant again.”
In the spirit of Alex Haley, the search for his own family’s roots that inspired his powerful novel, many of those involved in this series explored their own ancestry including <a href="http://roots.history.com/identity">using 23andMe</a>. Rose was among those who tested with  23andMe, learning about her own roots in West Africa.
Take a look at what Anika Noni Rose says about testing and her role in the series. 
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Know Your Roots

Two fire-scarred circular structures found hidden in a cave in France have altered scientists’ perceptions of our early human cousins, the Neanderthals.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23993" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/6000-300x180.jpg" alt="6000" width="300" height="180" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/6000-300x180.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/6000-768x461.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/6000-1024x614.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/6000-880x528.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/6000-1180x708.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/6000.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
What these almost 200,000 year-old sophisticated structures were used for remains unknown, but their discovery, described in<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature18291.html"> the journal Nature</a>, illustrates a level of planning and organization among Neanderthal that was not known before.
“Our results therefore suggest that the Neanderthal group responsible for these constructions had a level of social organization that was more complex than previously thought,” the paper’s authors conclude.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-23459 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Neanderthal-Image-247x300.jpg" alt="Neanderthal Image" width="247" height="300" />This adds to our understanding of our ancient human cousin, and what distinguishes them from modern humans. It’s another bit of evidence to suggest that Neanderthals were more advanced than we once thought. Neanderthals thrived in Eurasia for hundreds of thousands of years before early modern humans migrated out of Africa. At some point humans and Neanderthals crossed paths, and as shown in recent DNA studies, they intermixed. Neanderthals disappeared about 40,000 years ago, but their DNA lives on in all humans outside of Africa.
This finding, at the Bruniquel Cave in southwest France, illustrates Neanderthals may have been much more advanced than we once thought.  Over the last few years other findings have indicated that Neanderthals created tools and jewelry, and ritually buried their dead.
In the cave researchers documented how the stalagmites were each chopped into similar heights of a little over a foot high, and then arranged into two oval shapes. This was done a few hundred feet inside the cave where light didn’t penetrate, and there was evidence that they used animal bones for torches. Along the structures are specific sites that show evidence of the use of fire. There are no indications that the cave was used as a dwelling or shelter, so the purpose of the site is still a mystery. But it’s construction with hundreds of evenly cut pieces, arranged in a specific pattern, necessitated some planning.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23992" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2090-300x112.jpg" alt="2090" width="300" height="112" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2090-300x112.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2090-768x286.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2090-1024x381.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2090-880x328.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2090-1180x439.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2090.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Why Neanderthals – and another ancient cousin the Denisovans – died out and modern humans survived is a question that scientists are still trying to answer. Many of the revelations around these two ancient human cousins have been made through the use of DNA. Some suggest that intermixing with Neanderthals – which occurred about 60,000 years ago – may have helped give modern humans an <a href="https://blog.23andme.org/news/the-lasting-legacy-of-neanderthals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">evolutionary advantage </a>perhaps giving them a better immune response against disease as they migrated into Europe and Asia.
Understanding the traits we shared with our ancient cousins, and those we did not, will help us better understand why we survived and thrived and the Neanderthals did not, and ultimately it will help us to better understand what makes us human.

Neanderthals Were More Advanced Than Once Believed

In a wonderful interview he did with comedian W. Kamau Bell, actor and producer Levar Burton explained the significance of the current reboot of the series<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23977" src="https://blog-api.23andme.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-300x300.png" alt="04012016_ancestryQuote_long" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-300x300.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-768x768.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-880x880.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-372x372.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-574x574.png 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long-980x980.png 980w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04012016_ancestryQuote_long.png 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />


“Whether you feel like it has any relevance or meaning to you, the real truth is that it does,”<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/media/2016/04/history-roots-2016-remake-levar-burton-kamau-bell" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Burton said featured in the magazine Mother Jones.</a> “If you are part of the fabric of America, this is your story, too.”


That was, in part, what appealed to viewers so much when the original mini-series premiered almost 40 years ago. Roots drew in more than 100 million viewers at the time and garnered nine Emmy awards. Burton, then 19, starred as the young Kunta Kinte, both he and the series became a generational touchstone for many people, particularly African Americans.



Based on a novel by<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/546018.Roots"> Alex Haley</a>, the series tells a personal story of tracing Haley’s family history being torn from Africa, through the awful Middle Passage, and ultimately bondage in America. And driving that story all along was Haley’s own quest to learn about himself, his family and where his ancestors came from.
In an article in Reader’s Digest in the 1970s, Haley said that yearning is universal.


“In all of us there is a hunger, narrow and deep, to know our heritage to know who we are and where we have come from,” Haley said. “Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is a vacuum, an emptiness and a most disquieting loneliness.”


Many Americans are interested in their ancestors and their own cultural origins, but for African Americans, that question can be particularly hard to answer. Slavery severed their connections to Africa and the rich diversity of cultures there. Haley’s book offered African Americans a roadmap of sorts for tracing their own family stories and it reminded Americans of their own country’s history.
The advent of genetic testing has offered many African Americans a window into their ancestry that they couldn’t see any other way.
For Burton, who tested with<a href="https://www.23andme.org/roots/"> 23andMe</a>, testing was eye opening, and it’s offered others a goldmine of information that just wasn’t available before.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve always felt there was a piece of me missing,&#8221; <a href="https://www.colorlines.com/articles/see-levar-burton-malachi-kirby-learn-about-their-roots" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Burton said.</a> “I’m sure a lot of black people in this country have that same feeling… that who I am did not just begin here; that I’m part of a lineage that goes back much further than that… and to have the proof in my hand&#8230;it’s powerful.”
See Burton and the actor Malachi Kirby, who plays Kunta Kinte in the new version of Roots, talk about using 23andMe to explore their ancestry.
 
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