I love family. Modern families. Blended families. Adopted families. And, DNA families.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24348 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Anne-and-her-sisters-300x229.jpg" alt="Anne and her sisters." width="300" height="229" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Anne-and-her-sisters-300x229.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Anne-and-her-sisters-768x585.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Anne-and-her-sisters-1024x780.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Anne-and-her-sisters-880x671.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Anne-and-her-sisters-1180x899.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Anne-and-her-sisters.jpg 1252w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Over the last ten years, I’ve seen the ancestry part of our genetic service change lives. Every day I watch people connect with their DNA family, and see how the concept of family can evolve into something greater – and even more meaningful.
There’s always been the possibility of learning about your family’s past through historical documents and public records, but the scientific data – your genetic data – can make the story of someone come alive in another way. From sperm donor brothers and sisters finding each other; to adoptees meeting cousins; to co-workers finding out they are related; to simply seeing what you share with the family you already know, DNA gives us deeper insight into ourselves. In fact, customers write in and tell me how they’ve been able to discover records and photos and share the oral traditions of their rich family history, through their new, 23andMe connections.

<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">23andMe Ancestry Service Highlights
• In 2008 we were the first to conduct comprehensive autosomal analysis for ancestry across all 23 pairs of chromosomes to inform ancestry reports.
•  In 2009 we launched our Relative Finder tool (now called DNA Relatives) that allowed users to find relatives in our database based on shared segments of DNA.
•  In 2011 we introduced our Neanderthal Report, allowing people to see how much Neanderthal DNA they carried.
•  In 2012 we broke new ground with our Ancestry Composition Report, based on a proprietary machine learning algorithm, that provided insights into ancestry from 21 populations. We have since updated that report to use an even more reference populations – 31.
• In 2016 we launched our Relatives in Common tool, which allows customers to see how their known relatives and mutual relatives are related to each other based on their DNA.</div>
We all have a beautiful rich genetic story inside each of us. I believe looking at your genetic ancestry is as important as being able to look at yourself in a mirror. Understanding who you are and where you come from is one of the most powerful ways to learn about genetics.
From the very beginning, 23andMe has been focused on two things: providing people with access to information from their own DNA, and building a world-class scientific organization to push the boundaries of genetics research in both health and ancestry. While I firmly believe in the power of everyone accessing their genetic health data, I understand some people want to explore genetics through the journey of their family first. (And family is first for me!)
Today, I want to enable more families to come together to learn who they are and where they are from – and have the choice to see the world as one big, modern DNA family. All of us here at 23andMe are excited to offer a $99 ancestry service with ancestry-only reports.
Our population geneticists, statistical geneticists and computational biologists have worked with our engineers and designers to build fun and engaging features backed by our research.
We feel this standalone ancestry service offers some of the best features on the market, as we pioneered many of the most powerful DNA ancestry tools including autosomal analysis, ancestry composition and DNA relatives since the beginning.
The future of genetic ancestry is exciting.  We are all in this together.
Coming together as a global genetic family can only help all of us understand how we are genetically related to the world around us. (Remember we are 99.9 percent genetically the same!)   As the world of genetics continues to expand with new health and ancestry discoveries, so do the personal insights we each will gain, deepening our own understanding into who we are as individuals, as humans, and possibly as part of one big DNA family.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Reinventing The Way We See Family

Nevada-based Renown Health and the Desert Research Institute are collaborating with 23andMe in a population <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23374" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon-285x300.jpeg" alt="Research Icon" width="285" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon-285x300.jpeg 285w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon.jpeg 673w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 285px) 100vw, 285px" />health study in that state.


Combining health and environmental data collected by those institutions with genetic and phenotypic data from study participants who test with 23andMe, researchers hope to learn more about a broad range of public health risks.
Tapping into existing sources of data already collected by Renown, such as the health histories, patient demographics, as well as other social and environmental data points, researchers hope to better understand the health needs of residents in the state, said Anthony Slonim, M.D., DrPH, Renown Health president and CEO.


“This is the ultimate example of population health in action in a community based setting,” said Dr. Slonim.


Funded by the Renown Health Foundation and Nevada’s Knowledge Fund, this pilot study will offer 5,000 Nevada residents the opportunity to participate in this research and receive their 23andMe results, which include more than 65 personalized genetic reports on their health, traits and ancestry, at no cost. Using this study, researchers hope to build the infrastructure that could be used for all Nevada’s 2.8 million residents. This in turn could help researchers build predictive models to aid in better health outcomes for state residents.
The study will use <a href="https://researchers.23andme.org/?_ga=1.22318587.11442988.1396887568">23andMe’s Genotyping Services for Research</a> platform, which enables researchers to review genetic data and health-related survey responses from study participants. Combining genetic data with health and population data from Renown, as well as information from environmental databases, DRI scientists will analyze and model public health risks ranging from disease and illness, to the effects of air quality on the health of Nevadans.
“We see this as an innovative approach to population health that will benefit Nevadans, and could serve as a model for other states,” said Andy Page, president of 23andMe.

<div style="float: centered; text-align: justified; width: 650px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
Press Coverage of the Study
</div>
<div style="float: centered; text-align: justified; width: 650px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
• Fast Company 
<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3063694/23andmes-newest-health-research-partner-the-state-of-nevada" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&#038;q=https://www.fastcompany.com/3063694/23andmes-newest-health-research-partner-the-state-of-nevada&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1474134333445000&#038;usg=AFQjCNGQ0wzhqIjRVzWSmhhF8Q-gq3xghw" rel="noopener noreferrer">23andMe&#8217;s Newest Health Research Partner: The State Of Nevada</a> 
&#8211; Engadget 
<a href="https://www.engadget.com/2016/09/15/23andme-study-needs-5-000-nevada-volunteers/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&#038;q=https://www.engadget.com/2016/09/15/23andme-study-needs-5-000-nevada-volunteers/&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1474134333445000&#038;usg=AFQjCNEwNQig-w-Ygt2QlbVTBdYi9d0w1Q" rel="noopener noreferrer">23andMe health study needs 5,000 Nevada volunteers</a></div>
<div style="float: centered; text-align: justified; width: 650px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
• Reno Gazette-Journal 
<a href="http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2016/09/15/renown-dri-partner-company-test-dna-5000-including-gov-sandoval/90408762/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&#038;q=http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2016/09/15/renown-dri-partner-company-test-dna-5000-including-gov-sandoval/90408762/&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1474134333445000&#038;usg=AFQjCNHUnQN-Yfuz0uzLwbaRbxbcZytWKw" rel="noopener noreferrer">Renown, DRI partner with 23andMe to test DNA of 5,000 Northern Nevadans</a></div>
<div style="float: centered; text-align: justified; width: 650px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
• Las Vegas Review Journal 
<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/life/health/northern-nevadans-offered-free-genetic-testing-exchange-their-data" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&#038;q=http://www.reviewjournal.com/life/health/northern-nevadans-offered-free-genetic-testing-exchange-their-data&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1474134333445000&#038;usg=AFQjCNHQnVwCXZr5L7qRfZB2Lru5bPxNGg" rel="noopener noreferrer">Northern Nevadans offered free genetic testing in exchange for their data</a>
</div>

Innovative Population Health Study Announced

After four days in Berlin attending the massive annual meeting of the<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-22635" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Brain-Logo-287x300.jpg" alt="Brain Logo" width="287" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Brain-Logo-287x300.jpg 287w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Brain-Logo.jpg 438w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px" />back hopeful for the future.


The challenge for Paul is distilling the most important takeaways from a meeting that included more than 5,500 participants, 2,111 scientific abstracts and hundreds of presentations.
This year the meeting included news of promising clinical trials, innovative technology for monitoring symptoms, and new findings in the hunt for the genetics behind the disease.


“Since this was a meeting primarily intended for specialists and others caring for individuals with Parkinson’s and other movement disorders there was a lot of focus on new therapies including non-drug related ones,” said Paul.
There was also a lot of new data on the importance of nonmotor function symptoms associated with Parkinson’s, including a sobering study that showed that half of all Parkinson’s patients<a href="https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/865758"> suffer anxiety</a> which in turn can lead to debilitating depression.
For both those treating and studying the disease understanding these nonmotor symptoms is <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23733" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PD-Infographic-Top-244x300.jpg" alt="PD Infographic Top" width="244" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PD-Infographic-Top-244x300.jpg 244w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PD-Infographic-Top-768x946.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PD-Infographic-Top-831x1024.jpg 831w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PD-Infographic-Top-714x880.jpg 714w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PD-Infographic-Top-958x1180.jpg 958w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/PD-Infographic-Top.jpg 1010w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 244px) 100vw, 244px" />important not just to maintain a patient’s health but also for understanding whether these seemingly unrelated symptoms might shed new light on the progression of the disease or even offer new ways of making an earlier diagnosis.
But patients themselves often do not draw attention to these symptoms – which might include such things as insomnia, difficulty with regular bowel movements and sexual dysfunction – because they believe they are unimportant for treating Parkinson’s.
Paul was particularly interested in the work presented around sleep disorders for individuals with Parkinson’s, particularly related to something called<a href="http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/06/11/brain.aww124.long"> REM sleep behavioral disorder</a> or RBD. It’s a common symptom among Parkinson’s patients that includes vigorous movement during REM sleep. This can sometimes be dangerous for both the patient and their partner. It’s also an early sign of the disease and, similar to Parkinson’s is believed to be related to misfolding and clumping of alpha-synuclein in the brain.


“It’s of interest in terms of Parkinson’s research because it appears to be a precursor to a number of alpha-synucleinopathies,” Paul said.


RBD occurs in about half of individuals with Parkinson’s often, but not always preceding PD diagnosis. Looking at many of these non-motor symptoms collectively may help researchers identify people who are at risk for developing Parkinson’s, Paul said. The challenge, at least with RBD, is that formal diagnosis, currently requires overnight observation in a sleep clinic, an option that is impractical for many Parkinson’s patients.
Another highlight of the meeting in Berlin was new research around mutations in the GBA gene, carrying two copies of which is associated with developing Gaucher’s disease, an inherited disorder that causes fatty substances to accumulate in cells.
This rare condition was first linked to Parkinson’s in 2008. The same mutations that put someone at risk for Gaucher’s are also associated with a higher risk for developing Parkinson’s. Unlike Gaucher’s, carrying one mutant version of the gene is sufficient to increase the risk of PD. Researchers are looking at parallels in the biology of the diseases. In Gaucher’s disease the genetic mutations lower the level and activity of an enzyme that helps break down proteins and lipids. Lower levels of this same enzyme may allow for the accumulation of alpha-synuclein in the brain.
There’s much more, but for Paul what was most compelling was news that there is research from a number of groups that has identified compounds that target that key enzyme and may in turn be useful for treating both Gaucher’s and Parkinson’s.
“There is also reason to believe that this mechanism might work on regular Parkinson’s not just those cases that are due to GBA mutations,” said Paul.


But as yet none of the compounds are in the clinical testing phase.
That said, the meeting in Berlin did include information on several different promising treatments that are in either the clinical trials phase or beyond. Some of those involved several new treatments for patients who have tremors, including the use of<a href="http://journals.lww.com/neurotodayonline/blog/NeurologyTodayConferenceReportersMDSInternationalCongress/Pages/post.aspx?PostID=13"> focused ultrasound</a>. There is also progress in testing of the drug<a href="https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/news-detail.php?record-pace-of-recruitment-speeds-isradipine-trial"> isradipine</a>, a drug used for treating high blood pressure, use of which has been shown to be associated with a lower incidence of Parkinson’s. The drug is now in a phase three clinical trial, according to Paul.
Finally, he noted that the Berlin meeting also featured several studies showing the steady progress around exploration of Deep Brain Stimulation as a way to treat many of the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s.


“In one clinical study DBS appeared to have better outcomes than ‘best medical treatment’,” Paul said.

International Parkinson’s Meeting News

“Citizens worldwide have too long a history of being passive players in health care &#8212; blindly following <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-22084 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-250x300.jpg" alt="Anne_Color_ Seated" width="250" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-250x300.jpg 250w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-768x923.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-852x1024.jpg 852w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-732x880.jpg 732w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Anne_Color_-Seated-982x1180.jpg 982w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px" />instructions from providers.” 


The quote above, taken from a <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/stop-the-privatization-of-health-data-1.20268">Nature Comment</a> published yesterday by John Wilbanks and Eric Topol, encapsulates my motivation for co-founding 23andMe a little over 10 years ago.
I believed then as I do now that if people want to be healthier, they must take more ownership and responsibility for their health.
A key part to being an empowered health consumer is being in control of your health data, understanding it and using it to make the right decisions for you.  
<h6>Access</h6>
This is absolutely core to the soul and mission of 23andMe. The data is yours even though some may try to tell you it is not or they may make it challenging for you to get it.  I have had numerous instances throughout my life where I have had to work hard to get my health data – and those challenges continue to exist today.
My hope for 23andMe customers is that they not only learn about genetics but that they get a taste of what it’s like to be in control of important health information and that this inspires them to be more proactive with all their health data.


23andMe pioneered the idea of customers getting access to and owning their raw genetic data.  23andMe customers have always had the ability to access and download their raw genetic data and do with it as they please (Wilbanks and Topol mistakenly state that this data can only be shared with “certain listed <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23374" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon-285x300.jpeg" alt="Research Icon" width="285" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon-285x300.jpeg 285w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Research-Icon.jpeg 673w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 285px) 100vw, 285px" />institutions”).  
We place no restrictions on whom a customer shares his or her data with.  I would strongly encourage the thousands of individuals who are participating in federally funded research projects that involve genetics to request their data.  To date, almost no federally funded studies enable individuals to get access to their data &#8212; notable examples include the <a href="http://www.research.va.gov/mvp/">Million Veteran Program</a> and the half a million patients in the <a href="http://rpgeh.kaiser.org/">Kaiser Permanente Research Program on Genes, Environment, and Health.</a>

<h6>Privacy and Security</h6>

To encourage responsible use of the raw data, 23andMe developed an <a href="https://api.23andme.com/">API</a> that empowers 23andMe customers to securely interact with applications developed by third parties that meet our criteria.  We recently announced a ResearchKit module that allows researchers to seamlessly integrate genetic information into their app-based studies. We are also actively working on ways to facilitate easier sharing of 23andMe reports with medical professionals for those customers who wish to do so.
The paper does raise the concerns about marketing around health care data in for profit companies.  Wilbanks and Topol warn of a future in which companies use customers’ health data to “aggressively market health-related services to people.” 
23andMe does not do that, though  we do occasionally send marketing emails that customers can easily opt-out of.
23andMe does use health data  – genotypic and self-reported phenotypic data – to direct research projects and questions to customers who <a href="https://www.23andme.com/research/">opt in to research</a> by signing our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/consent/">IRB-approved consent document</a>.  I believe that customers should have the opportunity to not just own their data but to connect with researchers and participate in studies that interest them.  
23andMe actively engages with both academic and pharmaceutical partners in research.  However we never sell or give individual level genetic or phenotypic information to any third party without explicit consent.
There is tremendous potential for making novel research discoveries in a large crowd-sourced community.  Wilbanks and Topol argue for the “transformative” potential if just 5 percent of the population donated their health data to science.  
I agree.  
<h6>Research</h6>
We’ve seen the power of this first hand at 23andMe.  We have well over a million customers with more than 80 percent consenting to participate in research.  The 23andMe research team and our collaborators have made discoveries in Parkinson’s, skin cancer, migraine, and many other areas of human health, publishing more than 50 papers – the majority in open access journals.  We consider our consented customers, research partners and not “human subjects” – on average each contribute to more than 200 studies and are key in helping us make new discoveries.
I applaud Wilbanks and Topol for highlighting what’s at stake as technological advances enable the collection of huge amounts of health information.  It is still immensely challenging to get access to and own most your health data and it is imperative that the collective health care system begin to enable individual data ownership.  None of the “transformative” potential will be realized if individuals can not access and own their data in a manner as simple as owning an online bank account.


I am also glad for the authors’ recognition of the immense potential for citizen-fueled science as one of the key benefits of putting health data directly into the hands of the people. With more and more projects like the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/precision-medicine-initiative-cohort-program">Precision Medicine Initiative</a> following our lead and developing protocols that not only allow anyone, anywhere to volunteer for research, but also return data to those volunteers, I believe we really can realize the healthier future we are all working towards.

Own Your Data: A Right and Responsibility for Better Health

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.com/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.com/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.com/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.com/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

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.com/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.com/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.com/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

A big congratulations to Uta Franke, a member of our scientific advisory board and our former senior medical director, appearing on the cover of the <a href="http://www.cell.com/ajhg/current" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">American Journal of Human Genetics.</a>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-23664" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Utacover.tif-231x300.jpg" alt="AJHG_98_3.c1.indd" width="231" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Utacover.tif-231x300.jpg 231w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Utacover.tif.jpg 591w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px" />
A medical doctor and professor emerita of Genetics and Pediatrics at Stanford University, Uta joined 23andMe first as a consultant in 2007. She became our senior medical director in 2010 serving in that post for three years.
In 2012 Uta received the <a href="http://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297%2813%2900040-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">William Allan Award from the AJHG</a> for her groundbreaking work in genetics. It was one in a long string of awards in her career particularly focusing on human genetic diseases.
Uta is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She’s also a founding member of the American College of Medical Genetics and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.


Her work has included making new findings into such genetic diseases as Charcot-Marie-Tooth, Marfan, Rett, Prader-Willi, Williams, and Wiskott-Aldrich syndromes. Her work opened new avenues for the study and treatment of these disorders. She served as president of the ASHG in 1999, pushing for a more open-access model for scientific publications.
Her presidential address to the group at that time was titled “Human Genetics in the Information Age.”

Uta’s Cover

There’s a lot to like about the <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-23384" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Precision-Medicine-Initiative-200x125.jpg" alt="Precision Medicine Initiative" width="200" height="125" /> Obama recently make clear that enlisting patients as partners will ensure it works.


At a White House forum held on Thursday, President Obama said <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/us/politics/president-obama-weighs-in-on-data-from-genes.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&#038;action=click&#038;contentCollection=science&#038;region=stream&#038;module=stream_unit&#038;version=latest&#038;contentPlacement=2&#038;pgtype=sectionfront">patients own their data</a>, and that they are key to making this new research initiative succeed.
This kind of consumer-centered approach to research has been core to 23andMe since we started the company almost ten years ago. It’s heartening to hear it not just from the president, but also from other top administration officials including National Institute of Health Director Francis Collins. Dr.
Collins explicitly called this out saying individuals who participate in the Precision Medicine Initiative, should be treated as “partners in research, not subjects.”
The core of this initiative is enlisting a million Americans to contribute their data to research.
Pooling genetic sequence data from a million people will in turn help power unprecedented insights into the genetics of disease and could lead to new breakthroughs. At the forum on the initiative last week the NIH announced that they had taken some of the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/preparing-launch-precision-medicine-initiative-cohort-program">first steps</a> to build the infrastructure for that work.
But building the infrastructure and collecting data simply isn&#8217;t enough.
People are the key to this kind of consumer-driven research.


This is something that 23andMe knows a little about. Last year we became the first direct-to-consumer genetics company to genotype a million customers, and more than 80 percent of our customers consent to participate in research. Doing this right means enlisting a million people in research, who are both engaged in their health, and empowered to understand and use their personal health information.
People want access to this information, and for the most part they also want to participate in meaningful research, but they want to be treated as partners not as subjects.
23andMe has already seen the power of this sort of “people powered” research model, and it&#8217;s heartening to see officials recognize that for the Precision Medicine Initiative to succeed they must enlist people&#8217;s as partners in research.

Something We Can Agree On

New research by scientists at Vanderbilt University adds to our understanding of the legacy of our ancient cousins, the Neanderthals.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-23459 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Neanderthal-Image-247x300.jpg" alt="Neanderthal Image" width="247" height="300" />
<a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6274/737.full">The study</a> looked specifically at health conditions, finding associations between Neanderthal DNA and conditions related to immune response, blood clotting, and depression by using electronic health records from more than 50,000 individuals.
When humans migrated out of Africa they intermixed with Neanderthals perhaps 60,000 years ago, and so all non-Africans carry some remnant of Neanderthal DNA. Scientists believe that by mixing with Neanderthals, who lived and thrived in Europe and Asia for 100,000 years, modern humans got an evolutionary advantage as they migrated into those new environments.
<a href="http://www.cell.com/ajhg/abstract/S0002-9297%2815%2900486-3">A paper</a> published earlier this year suggests that intermixing with Neanderthals conferred an advantageous immune response for populations that ultimately settled in Europe. Another study two years ago looked at how intermixing with another ancient human cousin, the Denisovan, may have conferred an evolutionary advantage for Tibetans to cope with high altitude through a variant in the EPAS1 gene that helps to prevent blood thickening.
But some of those same traits inherited from Neanderthals – and presumably other ancient human cousins – that tens of thousands of years ago may have been advantageous, may not be beneficial in modern times when diet and lifestyle are so different.
“These variants sometimes protect against a disease,” said Svante Paabo the<a href="http://www.mpg.de/9819763/neanderthal-genes-immune-system"> Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology</a>.
Interviewed for a story in Science Magazine about the findings Paabo added that some of the variants may “sometimes make people more susceptible to disease.”
Although the Vanderbilt study focuses just on health related traits, it illustrates the potential of looking at a broad grouping of phenotypes like those in the electronic medical records, with known Neanderthal variants. (23andMe <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/new-neanderthal-report">reports</a> to customers the number of Neanderthal variants they carry, how that compares with other customers, and traits those variants are associated with such as back hair and height.)
In an article in the<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/02/neanderthal-dna-affects-depression-risk-today/462345/"> Atlantic</a>, Ed Yong points this out and notes that, instead of focusing on the associations with disease, attention around this study might be better focused on what those associations can tell us about the biology of certain conditions. For instance, the researchers found that Neanderthal DNA is associated with depression and certain mood disorders. Specifically, researchers speculate variants that helped Neanderthals adapt to lower sunlight exposure in northern latitudes, could have carried a higher risk for depression, which is influenced by sunlight exposure.

News — Page 16