<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-18433" alt="23andMe Portraits" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/23andMe-Andy-0011-210x300.jpg" width="210" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/23andMe-Andy-0011-210x300.jpg 210w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/23andMe-Andy-0011-768x1097.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/23andMe-Andy-0011-717x1024.jpg 717w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/23andMe-Andy-0011-616x880.jpg 616w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/23andMe-Andy-0011-826x1180.jpg 826w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/23andMe-Andy-0011.jpg 1434w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px" />Earlier this week 23andMe<a href="https://mediacenter.23andme.com/?p=1182"> appointed</a> Andy Page as company president.
Andy brings to the job incredible business experience as well as a long history with 23andMe. He has watched the company closely since its founding and he has served on the board of directors since 2012. &nbsp;During that time Andy has seen 23andMe grow and articulate its business model. He is both very familiar with what 23andMe does and what it needs to do to continue to be a leader &nbsp;in the personal genomics sector.
He also jumps on board just as 23andMe has hit a period of rapid growth. As president of 23andMe Andy will oversee not just our business strategy, but also our operations. He will report to CEO and Co-Founder Anne Wojcicki, who will lead 23andMe’s research organization and continue to shape the long-term vision of the company.
After talking to employees earlier this week, Anne put Andy’s new position into perspective in a press release.
“Today’s announcement broadens the management team and reflects both our extraordinary growth and future ambitions,” Anne said this week. “Several months ago, we announced a goal of attracting one million customers by the end of 2013. I believe this goal is a stepping-stone for empowering even more individuals to take greater control of their health through personal genetics. Looking to 2014 and beyond, I see the need to focus on this vision for the future as well as our business strategy to ensure the company scales effectively.”
For his part, Andy sees a lot of potential for the business.
“This company can be transformative on a global scale, making personalized medicine and real-time research a reality,” Andy said. “The company has made significant progress in achieving its potential, and working with Anne and the rest of the 23andMe team I look forward to building a successful company that improves health care and &nbsp; advances the understanding of the human genome.”
Check out our press release<a href="https://mediacenter.23andme.com/?p=1182"> here</a> for more about Andy.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

23andMe Appoints Andy Page President

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-18272 size-medium" title="DNA Poster" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-232x300.jpg" alt="" width="232" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-232x300.jpg 232w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-768x994.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-791x1024.jpg 791w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-680x880.jpg 680w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster-911x1180.jpg 911w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DNA-Poster.jpg 1275w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px" />With participation by 23andMe and the three other major companies involved in DNA testing for ancestry, as well as talks from some of the most respected names in the field, it’s no wonder organizers are predicting the June 6th “Family History and DNA” conference in Burbank will sell out.
The event, planned in conjunction with the annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, will feature Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., Spencer Wells, and 23andMe’s own Joanna Mountain to name just a few.
Gates, the author of “Faces of America,” will give the luncheon address. The Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, Gates is also the director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research. He is known for both his literary and cultural criticism, but more recently has gained popular notice through his shows on PBS that focus on ancestry and genetics.
<a id="docs-internal-guid-6bc9beae-b41b-3dcd-f9c4-6e544487efad" href="http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/Jamboree/2013/Schedule.htm">The line-up</a> for the day will also have representatives from all four of the major consumer genetics companies involved in genetic genealogy –   <a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/">23andMe</a>, Ancestry.com, FamilyTree DNA, and the<a href="https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/"> Genographic Project</a>.
“This is the first genetic genealogy conference ever to bring together speakers from all of the major DNA testing companies that offer services to the genealogy community,” said<a href="http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/"> CeCe Moore</a>, the conference coordinator and co-chair.
CeCe has close working relationships with all the four major testing companies including 23andMe. She is also the Southern California Regional Coordinator for the International Society for Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG). The ISOGG and the Southern California Genealogical Society teamed up to make this inaugural event a reality.
The conference is scheduled for the day before the three-day Genealogy Jamboree, which goes from Friday the 7th through Sunday the 9th.
The Family History and DNA conference is already 85 percent sold out, said CeCe. Beyond the great lineup of speakers, the conference comes just as the use of DNA to learn more about ancestry is becoming more and more a part of the zeitgeist, she said.
“My experience leads me to believe that we are on the brink of widespread interest in and acceptance of personal genomics,” said CeCe.
Some of that interest is because of the work of Prof. Gates and his popular television show<a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/"> Finding Your Roots</a>, Dr. Wells’ Genographic Project, and the many stories coming out of 23andMe about people <a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/2/">who made surprising discoveries</a> about their family history using genetic testing.
All of that has helped open “the public&#8217;s eyes to what can be discovered from DNA testing,” CeCe said. “With the information age upon us, it is simply astounding what we can learn about ourselves and our family history.&#8221;
If you’re interested in going sign up now, tickets are going fast.

A Day For Family History And DNA

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-17048" title="Abstract DNA" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall.jpeg" alt="" width="406" height="296" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall.jpeg 406w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/istock_000002166527xsmall-300x219.jpeg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 406px) 100vw, 406px" />
This month marks the tenth anniversary of one of the greatest scientific achievements of our time when in 2003 researchers decoded the last of the three billion letters that make up the human genome.
Dr. Eric Green, director of the<a href="https://www.genome.gov/"> National Human Genome Project,</a> spoke with reporters a week ago saying that the milestone might not be breaking news, but it does warrant a few moments of reflection.
Green noted the  breadth of technical, scientific and medical advances made in the last ten years.
For Green, those advances have set the stage for what will become the age of genomic breakthroughs. We’ve already made great strides that have changed people’s lives in both big and small ways, he said.
&#8220;By improving our understanding of basic genome biology, the genomic underpinnings of disease and genomic medicine, the field gets ever closer to its ultimate goal &#8211; improving human health through genomics research,&#8221; he said.
Pointing to cancer, as an example, Green said genetics has transformed how it is diagnosed and treated. The astounding drop in the cost of sequencing has opened the way for doctors to easily use genetic information when treating patients. In the case of breast cancer, doctors now regularly sequence tumors and if they find that the tumor is positive for a genetic signature known as “HER-2” they know that their patient will benefit from the drug Herceptin. And in the case of prescription drugs, the FDA now recommends the use of genetic testing in prescribing more than 100 medications, to help ensure that the right amount of the right drug is prescribed to the right patient.
Some of the most dramatic breakthroughs in genetic science have been in the treatment of rare diseases. While rare diseases are individually rare, when you add up all the people who suffer from a rare disease it amounts to about one in ten, or about 30 million people in the United States. Doctors now know the genetic underpinnings of almost 5,000 rare diseases, more than twice as many as a decade ago.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18056 size-full" title="hgp_measures" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures.jpg" alt="" width="1667" height="2274" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures.jpg 1667w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-220x300.jpg 220w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-768x1048.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-751x1024.jpg 751w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-645x880.jpg 645w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hgp_measures-865x1180.jpg 865w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1667px) 100vw, 1667px" />
And the science has had tremendous impact on many lives. Consider the case of Nic Volker, a 4 year-old Wisconsin boy suffering from a mysterious life-threatening disease that had required multiple painful surgeries. His story,<a href="http://www.jsonline.com/dna"> written about eloquently</a> by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher, had a happy ending after doctors worked tirelessly to identify the genetic mutation causing the problem. Knowing the mutation allowed them to come up with a possible treatment – a risky but ultimately successful bone marrow transplant.
While saying that &#8220;we have a long way to go to deliver on the promise of genomic medicine,&#8221; Green said the progress thus far has been &#8220;amazing.&#8221;

The Decade After Decoding

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18019 size-full" title="Helix" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix-.jpg" alt="" width="1372" height="1014" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix-.jpg 1372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--300x222.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--768x568.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--1024x757.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--880x650.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Helix--1180x872.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1372px) 100vw, 1372px" />
Last week the sale of some high-profile memorabilia attracted our attention, and no, we’re not talking about the $2.1M price tag for a Honus Wagner baseball card.
It was the sale of two sets of items once owned by Francis Crick, who with James Watson discovered the structure of DNA back in 1953.
Auctioneers sold off Crick’s Nobel prize – along with a few other items like his lab coat and a sailing journal – last Thursday for about $2 million. But also <a href="http://www.christies.com/salelanding/index.aspx?intSaleID=24391" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">auctioned off last week</a> was a handwritten letter Crick sent to his then 12 year-old son describing his and Watson’s discovery and the DNA model of the double helix structure they created.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-18020 size-full" title="crick&amp;watson" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/crickwatson.jpg" alt="" width="708" height="433" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/crickwatson.jpg 708w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/crickwatson-300x183.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 708px) 100vw, 708px" />Crick and Watson
It’s the letter – grabbed by an <a href="http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/11/francis-cricks-letter-to-son-describing-dna-auctioned/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">anonymous bidder for $6 million</a> – that attracted the attention of many of us here.
In March of 1953 just before Crick and Watson had their findings published in Nature, Crick sent off this simple note to his son.
By now the double helix is so iconic that we forget how brilliant it is in its simplicity. As Crick said in the letter to his son, the “structure is very beautiful.”
<a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Crick-letter-to-Michael1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">His letter</a>  accomplishes the difficult task of explaining this scientific breakthrough in terms that even a 12 year-old could understand. In describing the quality of DNA that allows our cells to divide and make copies of themselves, he wrote:
“It is like a code. If you are given one set of letters you can write down the others.&#8221;
He went on, “Now we believe that the DNA is a code. That is, the order of the bases (the letters) makes a gene different from another gene (just as one page of print is different from another.) You can now see how Nature makes copies of the genes. Because if the two chains unwind into two separate chains, and if each chain then makes another chain come together on it, then because A always goes with T, and G with C, we shall get two copies where we had one before.”

A Letter About the Letters of Life

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17861" title="Layout 1" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Still-Point-cover-photo-202x300.jpg" width="202" height="300" />
by Amick Boone
In the memoir <a href="http://emilyrapp.com/books/the-still-point-of-the-turning-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“The Still Point of the Turning World,”</a> author Emily Rapp recounts the nine agonizing months following her son Ronan’s diagnosis of Tay-Sachs, a rare genetic disease characterized by progressive nerve cell degeneration in the brain.
<a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/carrier/tay-sachs-disease">Tay-Sachs disease</a> – there are two forms infantile and late-onset – is triggered by mutations in the HEXA gene that cause a loss of enzyme activity that leads to the accumulation of a nerve cell-destroying fatty substance in the brain. In its most severe form, this process slowly robs children of movement, vision, taste, touch and hearing, “resulting in a gradual disconnect,” writes Rapp, “from the faculties that make life livable.” There is no cure for Tay-Sachs, and the devastating severe form of the disease eventually leads to the death of the child between the ages of two and four.
Despite having testing negative for the most common HEXA mutation before giving birth, Rapp’s DNA contained a rare mutation for which the standard prenatal test didn’t screen. After Ronan’s diagnosis, Rapp saw a genetic counselor at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles who told her the odds were astronomical, but that due to an unknown thread of Moroccan ancestry, she was indeed a carrier.  Combined with her husband’s more common HEXA mutation, Ronan had the misfortune of ending up with two mutated copies of HEXA.
A writer whose own genetic disability resulted in the amputation of her foot, Rapp is familiar with the rage and helplessness that come from trying to reason with chance.  Rapp tirelessly searched to find an answer to the question, “Why me?” She repeatedly got no acceptable answer. Tay-Sachs came into her family’s life without warning, and it slowly took away her son.
When Ronan was first diagnosed with Tay-Sachs at nine months old, Rapp and her husband began the wrenching process of deciding which measures to use to maintain his life.  With doctors and hospice workers, they asked questions such as, “What will this lead to?” and, “What kind of a life is he living?”
Making these decisions for her child was beyond unbearable, and the only comfort Rapp found was from a Tay-Sachs support group she calls the “Dragon Moms.” With the Dragon Moms, Rapp discussed the latest Tay-Sachs research and navigated her child’s care plan with people who, unlike some of Rapp’s friends and doctors, didn’t struggle to sympathize, because they don’t have to.
“These mighty indefatigable Dragon Moms gave me all the grim details, compassionately but matter-of-factly, and without hesitation or pity,” writes Rapp.  This kind of support ended up being exactly what Rapp needed, and she repeatedly called on the Dragon Moms throughout Ronan’s illness.  They were a critical lifeline to her sanity and survival, that, and the writing.
Rapp tirelessly read books on grief, researched religion, meditated, learned Reiki, did yoga and visited holy sites to find solace. But it was the writing that became her “still point of the turning world.” She wrote to get away from the chaos of impermanence, loss and fear. “Writing about the experience from the inside creates something new, namely, a safe or safe-ish place to rest,” Rapp notes. “Writing would not save Ronan. But, I thought, it might save me.”
For Rapp, rendering her loss was a way of honoring Ronan’s life.  Showing how valuable and full of love Ronan’s short existence could be helped her be present and cherish every experience with her son, so she could care for him in the right way in the short time they had together before he slipped away.
Rapp’s memoir, in addition to honoring Ronan, sheds light on Tay-Sachs, informing readers about the importance of awareness and screening for the disease.  To learn more about family services, research, education and how you can help in the fight against Tay-Sachs, visit the<a href="http://www.ntsad.org/"> National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases website</a>.
In bringing attention to her experience with Tay-Sachs, Rapp also gives voice to the plight of families dealing with other rare diseases. Although individually the chances of contracting such diseases are slim, collectively one in ten, about 30 million Americans, are dealing with some kind of rare disease.

Amick Boone

Memoir Sheds Light on Tay-Sachs

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-6586" title="23andMe_Logo_blog" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog.jpg 350w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
You may not have thought about your genome lately, but one day you will and so will your doctor.
In an <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/13/know-your-genome-personal-genetics">opinion piece</a> published in the Guardian, Anne Wojcicki, our CEO and co-founder, offered some thoughts about why knowing your own genetic information will become increasingly important for your health.
We’ve already seen how the technology has rapidly advanced offering consumers affordable access to actionable information about their genetics.
Just as with other kinds of health information – your blood pressure, your family medical history and the details of your diet – the information from your genetics can help you and your doctor make the right decisions for your health. As Anne says in her Guardian piece, 23andMe was started in part to empower people and involve them in their own health care. Access to genetic information also helps open the way for more personalized treatments. By aggregating that information and involving people in research, scientists can more quickly gain understanding of the genetic components of disease and speed develop treatments, new drugs and diagnostics.

Getting to Know Your Genome

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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-8518 size-full" title="RDD_white" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/RDD_white_lg.jpg" alt="Rare Disease Day logo" width="600" height="573" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/RDD_white_lg.jpg 600w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/RDD_white_lg-300x287.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />
February 28 is Rare Disease Day – a concept first initiated by the European Rare Disease Organization (EURORDIS) and now recognized around the world. Around 6,800 rare diseases have been identified and up to 80% of them have a genetic origin. 23andMe provides genetic health reports for many of these conditions and also carries out research on a few of them. 
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When it comes to rare diseases, rare is not actually that rare.
Take that one person with <a href="https://www.23andme.com/health/Cystic-Fibrosis/">cystic fibrosis</a>, the other person with sarcoma, and then someone with <a href="https://www.23andme.com/health/Sickle-Cell-Anemia-Malaria-Resistance/">sickle cell anemia</a>. All of these conditions are considered rare, but when you add up all the people with a rare disease you land at “one in ten.” This means that roughly <a href="http://www.rarediseases.org/">30 million Americans</a> suffer from a rare disease.
Definitions can vary, but in the United States the “rare” label is applied to any condition that affects <a href="http://rarediseaseday.us/about/">fewer than 200,000 individuals</a>, or roughly one in 1500. Rare diseases are often poorly understood, with symptoms that can be difficult to diagnose, and can be life-threatening.
Most rare diseases can’t be cured and many lack effective treatments because research is often hampered by a scarcity of study participants and poor funding. 23andMe hopes to change this.
Our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/mpn/">Myeloproliferative Neoplasms</a> and <a href="https://www.23andme.com/sarcoma/">Sarcoma</a> research initiatives are aimed at understanding what causes these conditions, information that may one day help bring about a cure.
Beyond these initiatives we also research rare diseases through the typical customer experience. Individuals come to 23andMe, receive their genetic results, and if they desire, contribute to research by providing information about themselves. Our scientists aggregate this information and draw interesting correlations.
A first-glance finding is that roughly nine percent of 23andMe customers have a rare disease, right on par with the national average of ten percent. Slightly more 23andMe individuals with a rare disease are women.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17662" title="rare disease" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/rare-disease.png" alt="" width="950" height="306" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/rare-disease.png 950w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/rare-disease-300x97.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/rare-disease-768x247.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/rare-disease-880x283.png 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px" />

One in Ten Lives with a Rare Disease

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17116" title="Virginia Hughes" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Virginia-Hughes-300x173.jpg" width="300" height="173" />
Thank you, Virginia.
In<a href="https://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/01/ethics_of_genetic_information_whole_genome_sequencing_is_here_and_we_need.single.html"> a recent article</a> in Slate, <a href="http://virginiahughes.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Virginia Hughes</a>, who also blogs for National Geographic, nails it, hammering home the point that people are much smarter and tougher than they’re depicted in many news articles about genetic testing.
We’ve written before about what feels like fear mongering in some stories about DNA testing. Hughes writes that a lot of the media coverage is stuck on the same refrain that people won’t be able to handle the information they get from genetic testing.
“&#8230;this is the wrong question, or at least one that’s becoming increasingly irrelevant,” Hughes writes. “The personal genomics horse has bolted, and yet many paternalistic members of the medical community are still trying to shut the barn door. In doing so, they’re fostering a culture of DNA fear when what we really need is a realistic and nuanced genetics education.”

That last point, the need for more genetic literacy is key. Instead of covering the gap in genetic knowledge, some writers play up this diffuse fear that a test is going to tell you your destiny or that the information is just too difficult to handle.
Hughes argues that the commonly-expressed opinion, “…that a nonexpert couldn’t possibly understand the concept of uncertain risk and would therefore be harmed by the knowledge” is “patronizing” and “probably false.”
She goes on to say that it’s better to deal with the reality that people want access to their genetic information, and that more and more people are getting tested every day. It’s time to bring a more nuanced approach to how we talk about it.
A Hughes writes, “There’s no way around the fact that genomes are complicated and, at least for now, difficult to interpret. And sometimes, yes, they will lead to unpleasant information. But [genetic information] isn’t going to suddenly fade away. More and more people are getting their DNA sequenced and eager to find out what secrets, if any, it holds. So let’s figure out how to tell them.”
&nbsp;

We Can Handle the Truth About Genetics

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-17071 size-full" title="Canadian Flag" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/iStock_000013180750XSmall.jpg" alt="" width="425" height="282" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/iStock_000013180750XSmall.jpg 425w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/iStock_000013180750XSmall-300x199.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px" />
You’ve got to love the lead sentence of the<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/would-you-make-your-dna-and-health-data-public-if-it-may-help-cure-disease/article6090038/?page=all"> Daily Globe and Mail story</a> about the launch of a Canadian Genome Project:
“Jill Davies is Canuck One.”
<h2>Genome Canada</h2>
Ms. Davies is the first of what researchers hope will be 100,000 people to join the<a href="http://personalgenomes.ca/"> Personal Genome Project in Canada</a>.
Like its counterpart in the United States, which was started in 2005 by Harvard’s George Church, the Canadian effort aims to create a public and mostly anonymous database of sequenced individuals. (Prof. Church is also on 23andMe’s scientific advisory board.)
North Americans aren’t the only ones building databases to fuel scientific breakthroughs. A similar program is expected to launch in Britain next year, while the<a href="http://www.genomics.cn/en/navigation/show_navigation?nid=5658"> Beijing Genomics Institute</a> wants to sequence a million people in China. Another effort exists to sequence 100 Arabs in Saudi Arabia as well.
<h2>Personal Genome Project</h2>
The Personal Genome Project in the US has already become an essential reference data source for researchers, including scientists here at 23andMe. The reference data has become instrumental in the development of genomic medicine. Still, the data has also helped advance our understanding of basic human biology and the origins of modern humans.
Stephen W. Scherer, the director of a $100 million genomic-medicine institute at the University of Toronto, spearheads the Personal Genome Project—Canada. Like in the US, the hope in Canada is that over time, as the costs for full-genome sequencing continue to fall, sequencing will become more common, and the growing database will fuel future discoveries.
<h2>Full Genome Sequencing Era</h2>
23andMe is also<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/?p=16963"> working towards</a> the era of full-genome sequencing. Right now, 23andMe offers genotyping, which looks at about a million points, or single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), in a person’s genome to glean health and ancestry information, rather than the entire sequence.
But in the last year or two, we’ve worked on several sequencing projects, including our Exome Pilot and a project that sequences individuals with rare mutations associated with Parkinson’s disease.
In contrast to genotyping, sequencing is a method used to determine the exact sequence of a certain length of DNA. You can sequence a short piece, the whole genome, or parts of the genome  – such as the “exome,” the part formed by exons, the coding portions of our genes. These provide the blueprint for the creation of proteins.
Depending on the location, a given locus may include some DNA that varies between individuals, like SNPs, and regions with little or no variation. Thus, sequencing can be used to genotype someone for known variants and identify variants that may be unique to that person. Finally, whereas genotyping requires upfront targeting of precise base pairs, sequencing only involves targeting the locus or the genomic region and, therefore, can discover additional genetic variation.
<h2>The Power of Big Data</h2>
Unfortunately, sequencing technology has not yet progressed to the point where it is feasible to sequence an entire person’s genome quickly and cheaply.
It took the Human Genome Project over 10 years of work by multiple labs to sequence the whole genomes of just a few individuals to the tune of almost three billion dollars. But it is getting cheap enough that projects like the Personal Genome Project are setting their sights on sequencing hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. Combined with information about people’s health and traits, these huge data sets are poised to transform medical research in the years to come.

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