Since the inception of 23andMe, our mission has been to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-252x300.jpeg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-26375" width="280" height="334" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-252x300.jpeg 252w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-859x1024.jpeg 859w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-990x1180.jpeg 990w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-768x915.jpeg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Anne-headshot_2018-e1532470981667-739x880.jpeg 739w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px" />
We have also built a significant research team that has published over 100 scientific papers. In 2015, we launched 23andMe Therapeutics to develop novel treatments and cures based on <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/">genetic insights</a> from the consented 23andMe community.
<h6>Novel Treatments</h6>
Today, I am thrilled to <a href="https://mediacenter.23andme.com/press-releases/gsk-and-23andme-sign-agreement-to-leverage-genetic-insights-for-the-development-of-novel-medicines/">announce</a> that we are launching a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to accelerate our ability to make those novel treatments and cures a reality. <code style="display: none;"> </code>
I hear regularly from customers that they want to be part of a solution that is improving health care. We all have some disease or health issue that we care about. 23andMe has created a research platform to enable customers to actively participate in research — to not wait for solutions to appear, but for people to come together and make discoveries happen.  By working with GSK, we believe we will accelerate the development of breakthroughs. Our genetic research — powered by millions of customers who have agreed to contribute — combined with GSK’s expertise in drug discovery and development, gives us the best chance for success.
<h6>Choice</h6>
Our top priority is our customer, and empowering each individual with the options to participate in research. As always, customers choose whether or not to participate in research. Customers can choose to opt-in or opt-out at any time. 
I started 23andMe with the belief that by getting people interested in learning about themselves and participating in research, we would all benefit. Today is an important milestone in how 23andMe will be able to impact the lives of those with disease and how we will be able to improve the future of healthcare.
Finally, I want to recognize GSK for their commitment to empowering consumers to play a role in creating impactful new treatments and helping redefine how we discover novel medicines in the future.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/sig_small_transparent.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-23161 size-full" width="318" height="133" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/sig_small_transparent.jpg 318w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/sig_small_transparent-300x125.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px" />

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

A Note On 23andMe’s New Collaboration with GSK

At 23andMe, we are committed to accelerating and advancing Parkinson’s disease research. So when April comes around, employees make a point of honoring Parkinson’s Awareness Month.
As we’ve done in the past, this year, 23andMe employees organized a fundraiser and participated in a walk at the May 6th Moving Day event in San Francisco organized by The Parkinson’s Foundation.
<h6>A Special Day</h6>
This year’s fundraiser was extra special because it coincided with 23andMe’s 12th anniversary on April 27th! It included a bake sale, a silent auction, and probably the most fun event of all, an employee talent show in front of the entire company.
<div id="attachment_26183" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26183" class="size-large wp-image-26183" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PD-Moving-Day-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PD-Moving-Day-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PD-Moving-Day-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PD-Moving-Day-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PD-Moving-Day-880x660.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PD-Moving-Day-1180x885.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />From left to right: Fah Sathirapongsasuti, Briana Cameron, Sarah Laskey, Olga Sazonova, Karl Heilbron, Rajan Patel, Cody Sam, Ksenia Kriksunov, Margaret Adams, and Liz Noblin.</div>
“How many adults get to participate in a talent show at work? Not many,” said Patricia Penton, a 23andMe employee and one of last year’s talent show performers. “And how many adults get to participate in a talent show at work to raise funds for Parkinson’s disease research? Probably just us. That’s pretty awesome.”
<h6>Raising Awareness and Raising Money</h6>
What’s even more awesome is that, together, 23andMe employees were able to raise money for Parkinson’s disease research. 23andMe has participated in the Moving Day event since 2016, and has raised close to $50,000 for this event since then.
23andMe’s commitment to Parkinson’s research goes back to some of our <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1002141">earliest published work</a>, and our Parkinson’s disease community which has been a great partner in advancing this research. We will continue to build this community, which is focused on better understanding the role of genetics in this disease. Our goal is to improve diagnosis and treatment, and maybe even help find a cure for Parkinson’s disease.
<h6>Fox Insight</h6>
With that in mind, last fall, we <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/news/new-parkinsons-disease-research-collaboration-michael-j-fox-foundation/">expanded</a> our long-running partnership with The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) to join forces and extend MJFF’s online clinical study, <a href="https://foxinsight.michaeljfox.org/">Fox Insight</a>, to 23andMe customers with Parkinson’s disease.
Through Fox Insight, people with and without Parkinson’s are providing researchers with critical insights about the lived experience and variability of the disease, simply by answering health-related survey questions. More than 18,000 participants have already enrolled, but that’s just the beginning. The study aims to recruit tens of thousands more participants, because a large, diverse group has great potential to lead to a better understanding of Parkinson’s disease.
<div id="attachment_26189" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26189" class="wp-image-26189 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8133-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8133-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8133-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8133-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8133-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8133-1180x787.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Multi-talents Thao Do and Aaron Petrakovitz show off their ballroom dancing moves.</div>
<div id="attachment_26188" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26188" class="wp-image-26188 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8094-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8094-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8094-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8094-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8094-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_8094-1180x787.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Sloshing around the gene pool were one of this year&#8217;s talent show acts the &#8220;Synchronized Scientists.&#8221;</div>
Eligible Fox Insight participants with Parkinson’s can help researchers gain a holistic picture of the disease by joining the Fox Insight Genetic Sub-study, powered by 23andMe. To sign up, individuals first need to join Fox Insight and complete some basic study steps. Eligible enrollees are then invited to participate in the sub-study. Through this sub-study, eligible participants can also receive genetic counseling at no cost.
23andMe customers with Parkinson’s disease are welcome to enroll in Fox Insight and share their genetic data through the Fox Insight Genetic Sub-study. Participants’ de-identified genetic data will be coupled with survey response data and made available to qualified researchers at 23andMe and other organizations to drive Parkinson’s disease research and development of new treatments. <a href="https://foxinsight.michaeljfox.org/">Learn more</a>.

Honoring Parkinson’s Awareness Month

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

Overturning long-held beliefs about the past, new insights from ancient DNA have revealed exciting surprises about who we are as people and how we got here.
In just the last few years, the ability for scientists to extract and sequence DNA from bones that are tens of thousands of years old has changed our understanding of the human story. Perhaps there are few better to tell that tale than the population geneticist David Reich.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-199x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26087" width="199" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-199x300.jpg 199w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-768x1160.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-678x1024.jpg 678w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-583x880.jpg 583w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-781x1180.jpg 781w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres.jpg 1500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" />
In his new book, Who We Are and How We Got Here, Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past, Reich explains the significance this new technical innovation has had in the study of human history and prehistory. He has packed into this book, not just an explanation of the difficulty in initially finding and sequencing DNA from these samples, but also what it means and how it has changed what we know about out our history.
“Basically, it’s a gold rush right now;” Reich said in a February 2016 interview with <a href="http://edge.org/conversation/david_reich-the-genomic-ancient-dna-revolution">The Edge</a>. “It’s a new technology, and that technology is being applied to everything we can apply it to, and there are &#8230; many gold nuggets strewn on the ground that are being picked up very rapidly. That’s what’s happening now.”
In his book, Reich describes ancient DNA researchers like himself as barbarians overturning the old and long standing approaches to studying human history.
<div id="attachment_26088" style="width: 968px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26088" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26088 size-full" width="958" height="1146" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539.jpg 958w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539-251x300.jpg 251w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539-768x919.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539-856x1024.jpg 856w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539-736x880.jpg 736w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 958px) 100vw, 958px" />David Reich &nbsp;&nbsp; Photo: Bizu Tesfaye (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)</div>
“Ancient DNA has allowed us to peer deep into time and force us to question our understanding of the past,” he writes.
A professor of Genetics at Harvard University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Reich opened his own ancient DNA lab at Harvard in 2013, with the help of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/15/svante-paabo-dna-neanderthal-genetics">Svante Paabo</a>, who was the first to use DNA extracted from ancient bones to sequence the Neanderthal genome. That has revealed the more than being just ancient cousins, early modern human and Neanderthal interbreed, and DNA fragments of those encounters live on today in all humans outside of Africa. Similar findings have been made around Denisovans, another ancient human cousin, and other “ghost populations” that have died out. And with each revelation comes a revision of human prehistory and mankind’s migration out of Africa and across the globe.
In his book, Reich also reveals in a chapter called “The Great Mixing” a refrain in of human history, that no matter how divergent the population, humans intermixed and that all populations today are mixed.
“The mixtures of highly divergent groups have happened time and time again,” he writes.
He uses examples <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08365">of populations in India</a>, that intermixed 2,000 to 4,000 years ago, as well as more recent mixing among <a href="http://www.cell.com/ajhg/pdfExtended/S0002-9297(14)00476-5">African Americans, Latinos and European Americans</a>. Some of that mixing also reflects the “deep history of inequality” among the different populations and sexes.
Toward the end of his book, Reich talks about his optimism that this work to highlight human connections, not their differences.
“[If] you actually take any serious look at this data, it just confounds every stereotype. It’s revealing that the differences among populations we see today are actually only a few thousand years old at most and that everybody is mixed,” he said in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/ancient-dna-history/554798/">a recent interview</a>.

Ancient DNA offers new insight into the human story

Encouraged by the success of our African Genetics Project, 23andMe is now undertaking one of its most ambitious ancestry initiatives to date, <a href="https://23andme.com/global-genetics/"> The Global Genetics Project</a>.
As part of this effort, 23andMe is reaching out to thousands of individuals with recent heritage from dozens of countries in Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas. This work will help 23andMe expand its reference data sets, improve the ability of our scientists to study groups who are currently underrepresented in genetic research and reveal new insights into patterns of human migration and genetic diversity. The goal is to recruit more than 5,000 individuals over the next two years to participate in this study.
Our researchers modeled the Global Genetics Project using what we learned in doing the<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/the-african-genetics-project/"> African Genetics Project</a>, which launched in late 2016. That effort was successful in quickly recruiting about 1,000 individuals with four grandparents from one of 16 countries in Africa, and the data from those participants is already yielding insights that will improve not just research, but also results for 23andMe customers trying to learn more about their African heritage.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-25982 size-full" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1200x628_icon_notext.png" alt="" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1200x628_icon_notext.png 1200w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1200x628_icon_notext-300x157.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1200x628_icon_notext-768x402.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1200x628_icon_notext-1024x536.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1200x628_icon_notext-880x461.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1200x628_icon_notext-1180x618.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />
As did the African Genetics Project, the Global Genetics Project will recruit individuals — who are 18 years of age or older and live in the United States —  whose four grandparents were born in one of several dozen countries across the globe. Each participant will be asked to provide a saliva sample for genetic analysis and complete 23andMe’s Family Origins survey. 23andMe believes that the Global Genetics Project will not only enrich our understanding of human genetic diversity, but also power insights into conditions that may impact populations that are underrepresented in genetic research.
To do that, 23andMe is looking for people who are not currently customers and have four grandparents from the high priority underrepresented populations that are part of this project. (Go the the <a href="https://23andme.com/global-genetics/">Global Genetics Project</a> page for the full list of all 61 countries.)
While the thrust of the Global Genetics Project is to improve insights into ancestry, it could also help 23andMe conduct significant health-related research within underrepresented populations.  Although for many health-related conditions, ethnicity is correlated with risk,<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v475/n7355/full/475163a.html"> more than 90 percent</a> of the research into the genetics underlying health conditions is on individuals of European descent alone. By diversifying its own data with efforts such as the Global Genetics Project, 23andMe believes it can conduct the kind of research that benefits a much broader community.
This effort is also part of a long standing commitment 23andMe has had to improve diversity in genetic research. From 23andMe’s<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/roots-into-the-future/"> Roots Into the Future</a> project designed to study the genetics of diseases impacting African Americans, to a<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/23andme-scientists-improving-diversity-in-genetic-research/"> NIH-funded project</a> to develop a new way to detect disease-causing genetic variants among ethnically mixed populations. More recently 23andMe began an <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/african-american-sequencing-project/">African-American Sequencing Project</a>. That project, which was partially funded by a<a href="https://mediacenter.23andme.com/press-releases/23andme-nih-work-to-reduce-health-research-disparities-among-african-americans/"> grant</a> from the<a href="https://www.genome.gov/"> National Human Genome Research Institute</a>. These initiatives all aim to improve diversity in research. Continuing that trend, the Global Genetics Project aims to enroll at least 5,000 participants within 2 years.
Learn more about the Global Genetic Project, including eligibility,<a href="https://23andme.com/global-genetics/"> here</a>.

23andMe Launches The Global Genetics Project

Even after a best-selling book and countless articles, few of us know the name Henrietta Lacks — but we should.
<div id="attachment_26005" style="width: 260px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26005" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Henrietta_Lacks_1920-1951.jpg" alt="" class="size-full wp-image-26005" width="250" height="362" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Henrietta_Lacks_1920-1951.jpg 250w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Henrietta_Lacks_1920-1951-207x300.jpg 207w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px" />Henrietta Lacks</div>
The young African American mother of five, who died in 1951 of an aggressive form of cervical cancer, has remained a hidden figure in our history. Yet her contributions to science — in the form of the human cancer cells cultured from her body — have transformed medicine. These immortal “HeLa cells”, as scientists dubbed them, have been vital for the development of everything from the polio vaccine, to chemotherapy drugs, HPV treatments, in-vitro fertilization and gene mapping. And the cells are still being used today, critical in important research. It’s distressing to learn now that at the time it never occured to doctors or scientists to even ask Henrietta or her family for permission.
This week 23andMe participated in an event to honor Henrietta Lacks’ contribution to science. Put together by <a href="http://www.aachac.org/">African American Community Health Advisory Committee,</a> in partnership with the San Francisco-Peninsula Alumnae Chapter, <a href="http://www.dstsfpa.org/">Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc</a>., and the <a href="https://www.smchealth.org/division-public-health-policy-and-planning">County of San Mateo,</a> California, the event included two members of the Henrietta’s family in part to help bring awareness of health issues for people of color. 
The tragedy of Henrietta’s death, and the loss experienced by her husband and children, was compounded by the fact that no one ever told her family that her cells had been taken and cultured for research. Major breakthroughs were made, and so were billions of dollars, but her family — who lived in the shadow of the world-renowned John’s Hopkins Hospital where some of this research took place — was kept in the dark for decades. They first learned about what was happening when <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-23611189">scientists reached out </a>to them for additional blood samples. And in an irony of this story, while Henrietta’s cells were so vital for medical research, many of her family members lived without basic health insurance. At the event this week, her grandson Frank Lacks was there to encourage people to learn from her story. The lesson isn’t that underrepresented people should walk away from participating in this kind of research, said Frank, they should be demanding a seat at the table so they too can benefit from it.
Henrietta’s story, so ably told in<a href="http://rebeccaskloot.com/"> Rebecca Skloot</a>’<a href="http://rebeccaskloot.com/">s</a> 2010 book<a href="http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/"> The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks</a> and in a new<a href="http://www.hbo.com/movies/the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks"> HBO Films movie</a> starring Oprah Winfrey, is both moving and important for finally recognizing the contribution of this hidden hero. 
Her story also reminds us of how far we’ve come, and how important one person, like Henrietta, could be for research. It also highlights how much more needs to be done to improve health research in underrepresented populations.
After years of developing 23andMe’s unique research model — one that enlists people as participants in research, not subjects to it — we’ve learned that people want to participate in important science, and more than 80 percent of our customers choose to participate in research. But our research participants also want to know and have control over how their information is being used. They want the choice to participate, or not, an option Henrietta never had. They do not want someone else making that choice for them. They want to know what happens to their data, and when a discovery is made, they want to hear about it. 23andMe works toward being as transparent with our own customers as possible, sharing with them information about research we do using customer data, and giving customers control over whether or not they want to share their data. 23andMe also gives participants the option of opting out of research at any time. For more please read our<a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/privacy/"> privacy statement</a>,<a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/tos/"> terms of service</a>, our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/consent/">consent form</a>, or visit our bibliography cataloguing  <a href="https://www.23andme.com/publications/">our research</a>. 
Henrietta didn’t just help power scientific research: Her story helped transform how researchers treat people who participate in scientific studies. Research on human subjects now must be overseen by independent review boards to ensure that participants understand the research being done with their information, that they are not harmed by that research, and that their interests are protected. 
For all of that and more we owe our thanks to Henrietta, and we should each learn more about her story. It was also a fitting way to begin Black History Month.
&nbsp;
<h5>To Learn More</h5>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://henriettalacksfoundation.org/">Henrietta Lacks Foundation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://rebeccaskloot.com/">Rebecca Skloot</a>, author of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks</li>
<li><a href="http://www.hbo.com/movies/the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks">HBO Films “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”</a></li>
<li><a href="https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2013/08/07/hela-cells-a-new-chapter-in-an-enduring-story/#more-1902">HeLa Cells: A New Chapter in an Enduring Story</a>, blog by NIH Director Francis Collins</li>
<li>NIH Henrietta Lacks Timeline</li>
</ul>

Honoring Henrietta Lacks

<h6>23andMe Collaborates with (RED) This Holiday</h6>
For the first time in the company’s history, 23andMe created a limited edition kit (RED)-branded genetic testing kit this holiday, to support the (RED) Non-Profit Organization’s fight to end AIDS.
“The (RED) organization has an incredible mission and believes in harnessing the power of people to help,” said Tracy Keim, vice president of Brand at 23andMe. “They know that as consumers, we all have tremendous power to impact someone else&#8217;s life with a purchase. And we were honored to be a part of their holiday (RED) initiative this year.”

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Red--1024x536.png" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-25909" width="1024" height="536" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Red--1024x536.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Red--300x157.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Red--768x402.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Red--880x460.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Red-.png 1124w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
In the spirit of the holidays and Giving Tuesday, a total of 25,000 23andMe (RED) Health + Ancestry kits will be available for purchase through: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/b?node=17159855011">Amazon.com/RED</a>, 23andMe website and certain retail outlets. Limited edition kits will be sold now through December 31, 2017 (or until we stock out). Five percent of the purchase price of every kit will be donated to fight AIDS.
(RED) partners with the world’s most iconic brands that contribute up to 50 percent of profits from (RED)-branded goods and services to the Global Fund.
Since 2006, (RED) has generated more than $475 million for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to support HIV/AIDS grants in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. 100 percent of that money goes to work on the ground – no overhead is taken. Global Fund grants that (RED) supports have impacted more than 90 million people with prevention, treatment, counseling, HIV testing and care services.

Your DNA DISCOVE(RED)

ZDogg — aka Dr. Zubin Damania, a doctor and a hip-hop humorist of healthcare — was in the house at 23andMe last week, for a conversation with our CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki for his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ZDoggMD/videos/10155753496107095/">Facebook Live show, Incident Report</a>.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-300x169.png" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-25880 size-medium" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-300x169.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-768x432.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-1024x576.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-880x495.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024-1180x663.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG-6024.png 1334w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Thick with fun and facts, the wide-ranging hour-long conversation was meant to focus on what direct-to-consumer genetic testing means for health care professionals, many of whom have been critical of offering genetic health risk reports to consumers. In the last few years, 23andMe has <a href="https://medical.23andme.org/">engaged with physicians</a> and other health care professionals both for training but also to improve what we do.
&#8220;To me, the most important thing that 23andMe is doing is we&#8217;re giving the consumer a voice in healthcare for themselves,&#8221; Anne told Zubin.
But she added that to make the kinds of changes to the healthcare system that would empower consumers, it has to be in partnership with the medical community.
A longtime customer of 23andMe, Zubin has carved out a unique following among his fellow physicians, not just an entertainer but as a healthcare visionary and evangelist for what’s being called the Health 3.0 Movement. This started back when he was still in residency at Stanford when he first started making parody rap videos tweaking the lyrics of Tupac or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfieCuBrMyE">Jay Z rhymes</a> with his own, railing against what he sees as a dysfunctional healthcare system that offers more rewards to treating illness than on preventing them from happening in the first place.
Beyond poking fun at the system, Zubin also set up a widely lauded but now closed clinic in Las Vegas called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfieCuBrMyE">Turntable Health</a>, that attempted to flip that paradigm around, based not on a fee per service but instead on a sort of monthly membership fee in a full-service clinic set up to keep them healthy. The emphasis was on prevention and fostering a deeper doctor-patient relationship.
Check out Zubin and Anne’s conversation.
&nbsp;
<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VL9PA8nxNzY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Rapping with Dr. Z at 23andMe

Oprah Winfrey just released her annual<a href="https://www.amazon.com/oprahsfavoritethings"> favorite things list</a>, and 23andMe’s on it, right up there between her Wisdom of Sundays book and Tory Sport Track Pants.
Not that you need the ultimate arbiter of taste to tell you what to buy this holiday season, but it is Oprah. As she says 23andMe is like “the ultimate selfie.”
Head on over to 23andMe.com and learn more about our latest holiday offers.
Cheers.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/O-Favorite-Things.jpg" alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-25850" width="764" height="470" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/O-Favorite-Things.jpg 764w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/O-Favorite-Things-300x185.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 764px) 100vw, 764px" />

News — Page 13