23andMe’s research is unique in that it enlists the participation of customers to power scientific breakthroughs.
23andMe can quickly gather data on a broad range of topics from a large pool of people to help make discoveries about various conditions and traits. This can often be done much faster than with traditional research methods.
The customers who consent to research and fill out surveys fuel the progress of 23andMe’s research. As more people join, it increases the power of our research and broadens what 23andMe’s scientists can study.
In doing this 23andMe asks customers a wide variety of questions, from whether they can do a cartwheel to whether they’ve been diagnosed with different types of cancer, and each of these seemingly disparate questions can give researchers more insight into both human disease and traits.
23andMe has also created research communities that focus on specific diseases, such as Parkinson’s, a rare blood cancer called MPN and Sarcoma to name a few, which may ultimately give us more insight into both the causes and potential cures for those serious conditions.
Each person who participates in 23andMe’s research helps to power as many as 230 different studies. This is the power of one. By combining those responses with the responses from others who have also consented to research, 23andMe has the power to gain true insight into both the genetic and non-genetic influences of various conditions.
This kind of research has already helped 23andMe identified hundreds of new genetic associations, and it has enabled our scientists to publish on dozens of new scientific findings.