23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Diversity Matters in Research

23andMe’s <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Ancestry Composition report</a> is an evolving analysis of your DNA that gets more precise over time. A new update offers more detail for people with African and East Asian ancestry.
The update comes thanks to the contributions of our customers and new sources of publicly available data, such as the 1000 Genomes Project. In addition, 23andMe’s own African Genetics Project has allowed for the addition of more diverse reference populations. This, in turn, enables more detailed Ancestry Composition breakdowns for customers with African or East Asian ancestry. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26486 size-full" title="Sub-Saharian African Ancestry" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001-880x660.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
<h2>Sub-Saharan Africa and Senegambian &amp; Guinean Ancestry</h2>
23andMe researchers have added nine new ancestral regions to Africa and four more to East Asia, creating the most detailed view for customers with African or East Asian ancestry. The most significant part of this update is the additional granularity for Sub-Saharan Africa. This now includes 13 distinct ancestral populations, said David Poznik, a 23andMe Senior Scientist and Population Geneticist.
“Before this update, our Sub-Saharan Africa region had just three subgroups, belying the tremendous genetic diversity within the continent,” David said. “Humans were diversifying In Africa for hundreds of thousands of years before anyone left to colonize other parts of the world.”

These changes are currently available for customers on the company’s latest genotyping chip version. Our team is working to make this update available for all customers soon.
The addition of these new reference populations follows 23andMe’s update earlier this year, which increased the number of countries and regions included in Ancestry Composition from 31 to 151. The company is constantly striving to help customers access, understand, and benefit from the human genome, and the updates are a step forward in achieving these goals.
Three rich data sources made the updates possible: the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/africa-project/">African Genetics Project</a>, for which 23andMe provided DNA kits to individuals with four grandparents born in the same African country; customer-supplied information; and the 1000 Genomes Project, a public repository of diverse human sequences.
For 23andMe, this is just the beginning of a series of updates that will increase the number of populations covered by Ancestry Composition over time. “The Global Genetics Project is an ambitious initiative that will fuel future updates,” said Poznik.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26482 size-full" title="Global Genetics Project" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map.png" alt="" width="2841" height="1509" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map.png 2841w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-300x159.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-768x408.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-1024x544.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-880x467.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-1180x627.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2841px) 100vw, 2841px" />“We have a list of around 60 countries that we’ve identified as top priorities,” he said. “These are countries with fairly large populations but that aren’t well-represented in our database. We’re giving away kits to people with ancestries from these countries because we’re eager to collect data that will enable us to improve our product for other people from these regions.”
<h2>Let’s take a deeper dive into this newest update</h2>
23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition report enables our customers to dig into the genetic origins of their ancestors. It allows customers to learn from the DNA that makes them who they are today. 23andMe provides two types of insights that delve into different periods: ancestry composition percentages and recent ancestry locations. Your Ancestry Composition report estimates the percentage of your DNA traces to different regions. We do this by comparing thousands of chunks of DNA across your genome to reference populations, individuals with known ancestry from specific regions. By comparing customer DNA segments with reference data, we can find which matches your DNA most closely. For recent ancestor locations, we look for stretches of DNA you may share identically with other 23andMe customers from particular countries. Together, these insights give customers a more complete view of their ancestry.
Thanks to our customers, particularly those who participated in the African Genetics Project, our researchers were able to begin breaking down African ancestry in more detail. 23andMe can now estimate what percentages of your DNA derive from each of 13 populations across the African continent.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26487 size-full" title="East Asian and Native American Ancestry" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001-880x660.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />For details about these populations, visit our customer care webpage (Reference populations)
23andMe has also increased granularity in Southeast Asia, distinguishing four new populations: Chinese Dai, Vietnamese, Filipino &amp; Austronesian, and Indonesian, Khmer, Thai &amp; Myanma.
<h2>When will my report be updated? </h2>
Starting in July, 23andMe began making this update available to customers who were genotyped on the latest version of our genotyping chip (version 5).
Do you have an older version of our chip? Fear not—23andMe is actively working on supporting this update for customers genotyped on older chips. Existing customers will receive notifications on their reports when their results have been recalculated.
<h5>Ongoing Research 
</h5>
These new breakdowns were made possible by our customers&#8217; participation in research. In late 2016, 23andMe launched the African Genetics Project to improve diversity in research and provide better ancestry composition results for customers. More than 1,000 individuals participated in the initiative, leading to an influx of new reference data that helped to diversify our research database and has enabled 23andMe to improve results for customers with African ancestry.
23andMe is now undertaking the Global Genetics Project. As part of this effort, 23andMe is reaching out to thousands of individuals with recent heritage from over 60 countries in Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas. Check out the landing page <a href="https://www.23andme.com/global-genetics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.23andme.com/global-genetics/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1535037961314000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHEKE-k-xKQzlnPEpTtjXvcQwWQwg">here</a> to learn more.
Our reference panels include data from more than 10,000 people around the world, both from publicly available datasets (the Human Genome Diversity Project and the 1000 Genomes Project) and from many 23andMe customers who have consented to participate in research.
<h2>Updated List of Populations in Africa &amp; East Asia</h2>
Sub-Saharan Africa
Congolese
Southern East African
<ul>
<li>Kenya</li>
<li>Rwanda</li>
</ul>
Broadly Congolese &amp; Southern East African
Ethiopian &amp; Eritrean
<ul>
<li>Ethiopia</li>
<li>Eritrea</li>
</ul>
Somali
Sudanese
Broadly Northern East African
Senegambian &amp; Guinean
<ul>
<li>Guinea</li>
</ul>
Coastal West African
Nigerian
Broadly West African
<ul>
<li>Cabo Verde</li>
<li>Cameroon</li>
</ul>
African Hunter-Gatherer
Broadly Sub-Saharan African
East Asia &amp; the Americas 
Chinese
<ul>
<li>Mainland China</li>
<li>Taiwan</li>
</ul>
Chinese Dai
Vietnamese
Indonesian, Thai, Khmer &amp; Myanma
<ul>
<li>Indonesia</li>
<li>Thailand</li>
<li>Cambodia</li>
<li>Myanmar</li>
<li>Malaysia</li>
</ul>
Filipino &amp; Austronesian
<ul>
<li>Philippines</li>
<li>Guam</li>
<li>Northern Mariana Islands</li>
<li>Tonga</li>
<li>American Samoa</li>
<li>Samoa</li>
</ul>
Broadly, Chinese &amp; Southeast Asian
Korean
<ul>
<li>North Korea</li>
<li>South Korea</li>
</ul>
Japanese
Broadly Korean &amp; Japanese
Native American
<ul>
<li>Argentina</li>
<li>Aruba</li>
<li>Belize</li>
<li>Bolivia</li>
<li>Brazil</li>
<li>Chile</li>
<li>Colombia</li>
<li>Costa Rica</li>
<li>Cuba</li>
<li>Dominican Republic</li>
<li>Ecuador</li>
<li>El Salvador</li>
<li>Guatemala</li>
<li>Honduras</li>
<li>Mexico</li>
<li>Nicaragua</li>
<li>Panama</li>
<li>Paraguay</li>
<li>Peru</li>
<li>Puerto Rico</li>
<li>Uruguay</li>
<li>Venezuela</li>
</ul>
Siberian
Manchurian &amp; Mongolian
<ul>
<li>Kazakhstan</li>
<li>Kyrgyzstan</li>
<li>Mongolia</li>
</ul>
Broadly, North Asian &amp; Native American
Broadly, East Asian &amp; Native American
Endnote: All 23andMe customers will soon receive 23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition update, which will include additional regions in Africa and East Asia.

New African & East Asian Details in 23andMe’s Latest Ancestry Composition Update

Editor&#8217;s note: We&#8217;ve included a full list of regions and countries that have been added to the Ancestry Composition report at the end of this post. 
DNA is both a blueprint for life and a record of it, allowing us to learn more about what is written in each of us as our understanding of genetics progresses.
23andMe is improving its interactive <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry">Ancestry Composition report</a>, vastly increasing a person’s power to peer deeper into their genetic origins, connect them to different populations around the world, and to learn more about themselves.
<h6>Geographic Origins of Your DNA</h6>
This new update &nbsp;— which customers will begin seeing in the coming months — will compare you to more than 150 populations and regions across the globe to create a visualization of the geographic origins of your DNA.*
We all have a DNA story, and that story is part of the broader human story. It’s a history of people migrating out of Africa and venturing out to populate the globe and build new cultures. The footsteps of those ancestors can be seen in your DNA. Over millennia, as different groups of people separated from each other to move into new frontiers, small genetic changes occurred leaving us tiny clues about our history.
&nbsp;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-894x1024.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-26042 size-large" title="Ancestry Composition" width="894" height="1024" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-894x1024.png 894w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-262x300.png 262w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-768x879.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-769x880.png 769w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-1031x1180.png 1031w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report.png 1464w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 894px) 100vw, 894px" />
We can find these clues by looking at segments of DNA in your genome, comparing those segments to reference populations from Europe, Asia, the Americas, Oceania, the Middle East and Africa.
Traditionally, our Ancestry Composition report compared customers’ data to 31 different populations, allowing 23andMe to report the percentage of DNA that came from those regions. This helped connect individuals to their ancestry back 500 years before the advent of modern migration.
With this new update, we still make those estimates but add another layer of insights with clues to the location of much more recent ancestors. We can do this by looking for exact DNA matches between a customer and over 130,000 individuals of known ancestry from 120 regions across the globe. 
<h6>Recent Ancestors</h6>
If a person exactly matches with five or more individuals from one of those specific regions, that region is assigned as a &#8220;recent ancestor location.&#8221; We also report the “strength&#8221; of the match. This is determined by how much DNA a customer shares with people from that region, adjusted by how many people are in the reference population.

		<style type="text/css">
			#gallery-1 {
				margin: auto;
			}
			#gallery-1 .gallery-item {
				float: left;
				margin-top: 10px;
				text-align: center;
				width: 50%;
			}
			#gallery-1 img {
				border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
			}
			#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {
				margin-left: 0;
			}
			/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
		</style>
		<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-26021 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-large'><dl class='gallery-item'>
			<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>
				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="886" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Chromosome-Painting-1024x886.png" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Chromosome-Painting-1024x886.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Chromosome-Painting-300x260.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Chromosome-Painting-768x665.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Chromosome-Painting-880x762.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Chromosome-Painting-1180x1021.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Chromosome-Painting.png 1458w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
			</dt></dl><dl class='gallery-item'>
			<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>
				<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="535" src="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ancestry-Timeline-1024x535.png" class="attachment-large size-large" alt="" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ancestry-Timeline-1024x535.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ancestry-Timeline-300x157.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ancestry-Timeline-768x401.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ancestry-Timeline-880x459.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ancestry-Timeline-1180x616.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ancestry-Timeline.png 1454w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
			</dt></dl> 
		</div>

We’re excited to roll out this update to an already incredibly powerful interactive tool for <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">exploring your ancestry</a>. Beyond dramatically increasing the number of regions, the update also includes improvements to the map. In addition it improve the experience of panning and zooming into the geographic regions you are linked to through your DNA. We’ve also relabeled some of the populations for accuracy and better understanding. For example Yakut has been relabeled as Siberian. Taken together, these changes to 23andMe’s Ancestry Composition report provide a better way to visualize your ancestry. As with all the features and reports we offer customers, this one includes details on the science behind the tool so they know how these estimates are made. 
 

<h6>The Human Story</h6>
Beyond what Ancestry Composition offers, we also have additional ancestry-related tools that are unique to the 23andMe experience. And those tools connect you to the broader human story and its deep history. 
These include the first-ever Neanderthal Ancestry report and 23andMe’s maternal and paternal haplogroup reports. The Neanderthal Ancestry report offers you another way to bring your own connection to the human story. It shows you how your own DNA includes tiny fragments of DNA from Neanderthals, our ancient human cousins. 
23andMe’s haplogroup reports connect you to your haplogroups, different lineages that descended from a common ancient ancestor. As our ancestors ventured out of Africa, they branched off in diverse groups that crossed and recrossed the globe over tens of thousands of years. Your connections to those ancient migrations can be traced by looking at your haplogroups. 23andMe’s haplogroup reports give you insight into these ancient ancestors. Together these two reports connect you to your deep ancestry, showing you how you connect with groups of people who migrated across the globe over millenia.
 

The update to our Ancestry Composition feature is another example of how much more you can learn by exploring your own DNA. New customers who purchased our Ancestry Service kit as of February 28th will see this new update when they get their results. We’ve been gradually rolling out the update to existing customers. All customers will begin seeing this 23andMe Ancestry Composition update in the coming months.
 

<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Check it out</a>.
 
*<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/#toc-ancestry-composition">23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition</a> update with 120 additional regions will be coming soon to all 23andMe customers.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">List of Regions and Countries Included in this Ancestry Composition Update</h5>
European
British &amp; Irish
<ul>
<li>Ireland</li>
<li>United Kingdom</li>
</ul>
French &amp; German
<ul>
<li>Austria</li>
<li>Belgium</li>
<li>France</li>
<li>Germany</li>
<li>Luxembourg</li>
<li>Netherlands</li>
<li>Switzerland</li>
</ul>
Scandinavian
<ul>
<li>Denmark</li>
<li>Iceland</li>
<li>Norway</li>
<li>Sweden</li>
</ul>
Ashkenazi Jewish
Sardinian
Italian
<ul>
<li>Italy</li>
<li>Malta</li>
</ul>
Iberian
<ul>
<li>Portugal</li>
<li>Spain</li>
</ul>
Balkan
<ul>
<li>Albania</li>
<li>Bosnia and Herzegovina</li>
<li>Bulgaria</li>
<li>Croatia</li>
<li>Greece</li>
<li>Macedonia</li>
<li>Moldova</li>
<li>Montenegro</li>
<li>Romania</li>
<li>Serbia</li>
</ul>
Finnish
Eastern European
<ul>
<li>Belarus</li>
<li>Czech Republic</li>
<li>Estonia</li>
<li>Hungary</li>
<li>Latvia</li>
<li>Lithuania</li>
<li>Poland</li>
<li>Russia</li>
<li>Slovakia</li>
<li>Slovenia</li>
<li>Ukraine</li>
</ul>
Broadly Northwestern European
Broadly Southern European
Broadly European
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
East Asian &amp; Native American
Japanese
Korean
<ul>
<li>North Korea</li>
<li>South Korea</li>
</ul>
Siberian
Manchurian &amp; Mongolian
<ul>
<li>Mongolia</li>
<li>Kazakhstan</li>
<li>Kyrgyzstan</li>
</ul>
Chinese
<ul>
<li>Hong Kong</li>
<li>Mainland China</li>
<li>Taiwan</li>
</ul>
Southeast Asian
<ul>
<li>Cambodia</li>
<li>Guam</li>
<li>Indonesia</li>
<li>Laos</li>
<li>Malaysia</li>
<li>Myanmar</li>
<li>Philippines</li>
<li>Singapore</li>
<li>Thailand</li>
<li>Vietnam</li>
</ul>
Native American
<ul>
<li>Argentina</li>
<li>Aruba</li>
<li>Belize</li>
<li>Bolivia</li>
<li>Brazil</li>
<li>Chile</li>
<li>Colombia</li>
<li>Costa Rica</li>
<li>Cuba</li>
<li>Dominican Republic</li>
<li>Ecuador</li>
<li>El Salvador</li>
<li>Guatemala</li>
<li>Honduras</li>
<li>Mexico</li>
<li>Nicaragua</li>
<li>Panama</li>
<li>Paraguay</li>
<li>Peru</li>
<li>Puerto Rico</li>
<li>Uruguay</li>
<li>Venezuela</li>
</ul>
Broadly East Asian
Broadly East Asian &amp; Native American
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
Western Asian &amp; North African
North African &amp; Arabian
<ul>
<li>Algeria</li>
<li>Bahrain</li>
<li>Egypt</li>
<li>Jordan</li>
<li>Kuwait</li>
<li>Libya</li>
<li>Morocco</li>
<li>Saudi Arabia</li>
<li>Tunisia</li>
<li>United Arab Emirates</li>
<li>Yemen</li>
</ul>
Western Asian
<ul>
<li>Armenia</li>
<li>Azerbaijan</li>
<li>Cyprus</li>
<li>Georgia</li>
<li>Iran</li>
<li>Iraq</li>
<li>Lebanon</li>
<li>Syria</li>
<li>Turkey</li>
<li>Uzbekistan</li>
</ul>
Broadly Western Asian &amp; North African
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
Sub-Saharan African
West African
<ul>
<li>Cabo Verde</li>
<li>Cameroon</li>
<li>Ghana</li>
<li>Liberia</li>
<li>Nigeria</li>
</ul>
East African
<ul>
<li>Eritrea</li>
<li>Ethiopia</li>
<li>Kenya</li>
<li>Somalia</li>
<li>Sudan</li>
</ul>
African Hunter-Gatherer
Broadly Sub-Saharan African
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
South Asian
Broadly South Asian
<ul>
<li>Afghanistan</li>
<li>Bangladesh</li>
<li>India</li>
<li>Mauritius</li>
<li>Nepal</li>
<li>Pakistan</li>
<li>Sri Lanka</li>
</ul>
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
Melanesian
Broadly Melanesian
<ul>
<li>American Samoa</li>
<li>Fiji</li>
<li>Samoa</li>
<li>Tonga</li>
</ul>
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>

23andMe Expands Ancestry Composition

The annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics kicks off in Orlando this October, <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-25526 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Logo_with_Register_CMYK-1-300x196.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="196" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Logo_with_Register_CMYK-1-300x196.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Logo_with_Register_CMYK-1.jpg 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />packed with five days of seminars, panel discussions, talks, and presentations that are all part of an event that might best be described as the Coachella (or Woodstock if you prefer) of genetics.
This year&#8217;s main event, the “Presidential Symposium,” will be a conversation on global health issues with Microsoft co-founder<a href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Who-We-Are/General-Information/Leadership/Executive-Leadership-Team/Bill-Gates"> Bill Gates</a>, who now co-chairs the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, and<a href="https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/biographical-sketch-francis-s-collins-md-phd"> Francis Collins</a>, the director of the National Institutes of Health.
But highlighting just one of the hundreds of talks during the week risks ignoring dozens of equally arresting subjects that will be part of this yearly event—gene editing, genetic education, and a slew of new genetic research.
Like in past years, 23andMe’s research team and its research will be well represented, but we’ll also be hosting a workshop about our research collaborations and <a href="https://twitter.com/23andmeresearch">live-tweeting from the meeting</a>. We have a few fun surprises while we’re in Orlando.
Here is a list of 23andMe’s involvement at ASHG:
<h5>Educational Event</h5>
GWAS and Beyond: Academic Collaborations with 23andMe
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-25740 size-thumbnail" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/©Piter2016-23andMe-AdamAuton-066-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/©Piter2016-23andMe-AdamAuton-066-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/©Piter2016-23andMe-AdamAuton-066-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/©Piter2016-23andMe-AdamAuton-066-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/©Piter2016-23andMe-AdamAuton-066-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/©Piter2016-23andMe-AdamAuton-066-980x980.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
<ul>
<li>Adam Auton, D.Phil. (23andMe): Introduction to 23andMe research and collaborations</li>
<li><a href="http://www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/people/john-perry/">John Perry</a>, Ph.D. (University of Cambridge): Using population genetics to understand the etiology of reproductive health and biological aging</li>
<li><a href="https://web.stanford.edu/~alicesw/">Alice S. Whittemore</a>, Ph.D. and Nilah Monnier Ioannidis, Ph.D. (Stanford University): Collaborations with 23andMe on the genetic basis of cutaneous squamous cell cancer (cSCC)</li>
<li>Time: Oct. 18, 12:30 pm &#8211; 1:45 pm</li>
<li>Location: Lake Eola &#8211; Lobby Level/Hilton Orlando Hotel</li>
</ul>
<h5>Talks</h5>
Large-scale identity-by-descent mapping discovers rare haplotypes of large effect
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-25741 size-thumbnail" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Suyash-Shringapure-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Suyash-Shringapure-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Suyash-Shringapure-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Suyash-Shringapure-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Suyash-Shringapure-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Suyash-Shringapure-980x980.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
<ul>
<li>Presenter: Suyash Shringarpure, Ph.D., Senior Statistical Geneticist</li>
<li>Author(s): S. Shringarpure; D. Hinds; V. Vacic; 23andMe Research Team</li>
<li>Time: Oct. 19, 10:15 am – 10:30 am</li>
<li>Location: Room 330A &#8211; Level 3/Convention Center</li>
</ul>
GWAS of canker sores implicates Th-1 pathway and shared genetic architecture with immune-mediated disease
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-25500 size-thumbnail" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FahSathirapongsasuti-Preferred-980x980.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
<ul>
<li>Presenter: Fah Sathirapongsasuti, Ph.D., Senior Computational Biologist</li>
<li>Author(s): F. Sathirapongsasuti; S. Pitts; D. Hinds; V. Vacic; R. Gentleman; the 23andMe Research Team</li>
<li>Time: Oct. 19, 11:45 am – 12 pm</li>
<li>Location: Room 220F &#8211; Level2/Convention Center</li>
</ul>
<h5>Posters</h5>
All posters can be found in the Exhibit Hall on Level 1 of the Convention Center
Tipping the scales: Participants make healthy dietary changes in response to direct-to-consumer genetic test results
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-25742 size-thumbnail" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/sarah-photo-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/sarah-photo-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/sarah-photo-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/sarah-photo-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/sarah-photo-574x574.jpg 574w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
<ul>
<li>Presenter: Sarah Laskey, Ph.D., Health R&amp;D Scientist</li>
<li>Author(s): S.B. Laskey; J.F. Shelton; M. Johnson; C. Wilson; R. Smith; B.L. Koelsch; The 23andMe Research Team</li>
<li>Time: Oct. 18, 3pm &#8211; 4 pm</li>
</ul>
Clonal Hematopoiesis: genetic and phenotypic associations in the general population
<div id="attachment_20934" style="width: 160px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-20934" class="wp-image-20934 size-thumbnail" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-150x150.jpeg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-150x150.jpeg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-300x300.jpeg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-768x769.jpeg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-880x880.jpeg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-1180x1180.jpeg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-271x271.jpeg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-372x372.jpeg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-574x574.jpeg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Chao-Square-Photo-980x980.jpeg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Chao Tian</div>
<ul>
<li>Presenter: Chao Tian, Ph.D., Senior Statistical Geneticist</li>
<li>Author(s): C. Tian; P. Fontanillas; J. Tung; D. Hinds; the 23andMe Research Team</li>
<li>Time: Oct. 18, 3 pm – 4 pm</li>
</ul>
Minds, genes, and machines: Performance on online cognitive assessments is correlated with individual characteristics in 23andMe customers
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-25743 size-thumbnail alignright" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OlgaSazonova-preferred-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OlgaSazonova-preferred-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OlgaSazonova-preferred-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OlgaSazonova-preferred-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OlgaSazonova-preferred-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OlgaSazonova-preferred-980x980.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
<ul>
<li>Presenter: Olga Sazonova, Ph.D., Senior Computational Biologist</li>
<li>Author(s): O.V. Sazonova; L. Germine; C. Wilson; P. Fontanillas; C.E. Carey; 23andMe Research Team</li>
<li>Time: Oct. 19, 2 pm – 3 pm</li>
</ul>
A web-based initiative to accelerate research on African ancestry in the Americas
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-25744 size-thumbnail" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/@PITER-23andMe-MeganMullins-39-copy-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/@PITER-23andMe-MeganMullins-39-copy-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/@PITER-23andMe-MeganMullins-39-copy-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/@PITER-23andMe-MeganMullins-39-copy-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/@PITER-23andMe-MeganMullins-39-copy-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/@PITER-23andMe-MeganMullins-39-copy-980x980.jpg 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
<ul>
<li>Presenter: Meghan Moreno, Project Manager</li>
<li>Author(s): M.E. Moreno; K. Bryc; P.K. Penton; R. Rubenstein; L. Vermillion; J.L. Mountain; the 23andMe Research Team</li>
<li>Time: Oct. 20, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm</li>
</ul>
Human knockouts in the Ashkenazi Jewish population
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-25749 size-thumbnail" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/aaron-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/aaron-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/aaron-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/aaron-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/aaron-574x574.jpg 574w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
<ul>
<li>Presenter: Aaron Kleinman, Ph.D., Senior Computational Biologist</li>
<li>Author(s): A. Kleinman; O. Sazonova; S. Pitts; V. Vacic; R. Gentleman; the 23andMe Research Team</li>
<li>Time: Oct. 20, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm</li>
</ul>

23andMe At ASHG 2017

Like moving to the top of a ridge to suddenly see the landscape anew, Bob Hutchinson’s 23andMe gave him a new view of himself, of his family history and even of the world around him.
<div id="attachment_25693" style="width: 243px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25693" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dd64ff48-353c-45ec-9144-586d6b79c45f-11-233x300.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-25693" width="233" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dd64ff48-353c-45ec-9144-586d6b79c45f-11-233x300.jpg 233w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dd64ff48-353c-45ec-9144-586d6b79c45f-11.jpg 359w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 233px) 100vw, 233px" />Bob Hutchinson&#8217;s parents.</div>
“It was a surprise,” Bob told the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/science/dna-tests-ancestry.html?_r=0"> New York Times</a> recently.
His story was featured both in the paper and online in a weekly<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/nytimes/videos/?ref=page_internal"> Facebook Live</a> episode called “Conversations on Race.”
Bob grew up in northern New Jersey, thinking his family was white with Swedish and Italian ancestry. But using 23andMe told him something else. His <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Ancestry Composition</a> showed that he is in fact more than an eighth sub-Saharan African.
“I think it’s great, it’s who I am,” Bob said during his live conversation with Times reporter Rachel Swarms. “It’s great to be so mixed.”
The surprised revealed as secret about his family, helping him connect with cousins he didn’t know he had, but who knew who he was, about his family and about the family secret.
Check out his story in the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/science/dna-tests-ancestry.html?_r=0"> New York Times</a>, or watch the<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/nytimes/videos/?ref=page_internal"> recorded conversation</a>.

DNA Testing Helps Reveal Hidden Family History

To enhance its research and enrich its customer experience, 23andMe is launching the African Genetics Project, <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24241" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Africa_icon-300x244.jpg" alt="Africa_icon" width="300" height="244" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Africa_icon-300x244.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Africa_icon-768x625.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Africa_icon-1024x834.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Africa_icon-880x717.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Africa_icon-1180x961.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Africa_icon.jpg 2014w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />recruiting people who emigrated from, or whose parents emigrated from several specific countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Africa is the birthplace of all humanity, and its people are the most genetically diverse in all the world, yet our knowledge of that diversity is limited. This newest project follows continuing efforts by 23andMe to enrich our understanding of the human story and increase diversity in genetic research, while also providing more detailed ancestry results for 23andMe customers with recent African ancestry.
23andMe’s African Genetics Project is offering kits at no cost to people with all four of their grandparents born in the same African country or from the same ethnic or tribal group within one of the following countries – Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Ivory coast, Liberia, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and Togo.
The west African countries in that list are a priority for 23andMe because the majority of slaves brought from Africa to the Americas were brought from these African locations. We are also gathering data from individuals with all four grandparents from Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia to aid in identifying ancestry for more recent immigrants and to improve our reference populations for Africa.
This effort is unique in many respects, but primarily because it allows people of African ancestry who know where in Africa their family came from, to help others with African ancestry discover more about their own African roots. The effort may also yield insights into the TransAtlantic slave trade, and migrations within Africa over the last few hundred years.
While the goals of this project are focused primarily on improving ancestry insights, the African Genetics Project is part of a long list of efforts undertaken by 23andMe to improve diversity in research. Some estimates show that<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 disease is on individuals of European descent alone, but for many conditions an individual’s ethnicity plays an important role and the insights from those studies fall short of helping people of other backgrounds.
There are a number of reasons for the lack of diversity  – historical, cultural, economic and social – but by reaching out and recruiting people from all backgrounds it will also ensure that everyone benefits from advances in genetic science.
Over the last five years, 23andMe has undertaken several initiatives on that front including its <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/roots-into-the-future/">Roots Into the Future</a> project to study the genetics of disease impacting African Americans, the first-ever <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/a-webinar-on-the-genetic-landscape-of-the-usa/">genetic portrait of the United States</a> that mapped the country’s Native American, African and European ancestry, and more recently a NIH-funded project to develop a new way to detect disease causing genetic variants among ethnically mixed populations.
Taken together, these initiatives have helped 23andMe improve diversity in its research. The African Genetics Project is part of that same effort and it will allow 23andMe to identify genetic similarities of people from specific locations in Africa. This in turn will not only improve what we can tell our customers with African ancestry, but will also aid our research into how people migrated within and from Africa over the last 5,000 years.
Learn more <a href="https://www.23andme.com/africa-project/">here</a> and enroll today.

The African Genetics Project

A recent article in Quartz with the headline “<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6586" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg" alt="23andMe_Logo_blog" 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" />in genetics research, and biomedical research in general. 
It’s also an opportunity to address mischaracterizations of our science within the article, and motivations ascribed to our research that are just plain wrong.  We’ve raised these issues with Quartz and feel strongly enough to share our thoughts more publicly to hopefully steer the discussion in an informative and worthwhile direction, since it is a conversation that should be had by the broader scientific community. 


Genetics research has a diversity problem. This is widely recognized, but when you see the data it’s staggering. For example, a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708540/#R2">2011 article</a> cited data showing that only 4 percent (!) of all genome-wide association studies had been conducted using samples of non-European descent.
<h6>The Implications</h6>
There are very real repercussions when research is limited to just one group. The seriousness of this situation was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/science/genetic-tests-for-a-heart-disorder-mistakenly-find-blacks-at-risk.html?_r=0">demonstrated in a recent study</a> showing that due to biased research, African Americans are more likely than whites to mistakenly be told that they carry a mutation putting them at risk for the heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, when in fact they do not.
This type of mistake has serious emotional and medical implications.
The lack of diversity in genetics research is reflective of the general lack of diversity in all aspects of health research. There are lots of reasons – historical, cultural, political. For good overviews we suggest reading this piece from <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2015/10/30/racial-discrimination-modern-medicine-384961.html">Newsweek</a> and this article from <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001918">Oh, et al.</a> These authors eloquently and forcefully explain the situation.


What does this have to do with 23andMe?

<h6>23andMe&#8217;s Reference Data</h6>

Though we do conduct our own research and are increasingly able to provide reports based on our own published studies, for the most part 23andMe is dependent on peer-reviewed scientific research published by others to fuel the reports in our product. Lack of diversity in what is studied by the research community at large therefore impacts the results we are able to provide to customers. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-24211" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Ancestry-Comp-Home-300x190.png" alt="Ancestry Comp Home" width="300" height="190" /> 
When it comes to our Ancestry Composition feature (which tells people the proportion of their DNA that comes from each of 31 populations), the results we provide to customers are derived by comparing their DNA to what are known as “reference datasets”.
We use publicly available data from academic initiatives that have specifically sought to characterize large swaths of the human genetic diversity of our planet: the <a href="http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~bio336/Bio336/readings/Li2008.pdf">Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP)</a>, <a href="http://www.sanger.ac.uk/resources/downloads/human/hapmap3.html">HapMap3</a> and the <a href="http://www.1000genomes.org/">1000 Genomes Project</a>.
We augment this public data with information provided by a small percentage of our customers whose data meet our rigorous standards for being included in a reference dataset.

<h6>Is Bigger Better?</h6>

The author of the Quartz article focused in on the numbers of people in our most granular population references. She specifically questioned how we can claim to provide accurate results about her ancestry (she identifies as Korean, but her 23andMe results indicated Japanese and Chinese ancestry, as well as Korean) when there are data for “only” 76 Koreans in our reference data set. It’s an understandable worry – so much of what we hear about these days in science is the power of “big data”.  
Bigger must be better, right? Not necessarily.
For Ancestry Composition, high accuracy can often be obtained with relatively modest sample sizes. Size matters more when it comes to granularity, not accuracy.
We’ve done a comprehensive evaluation of our algorithm and reference datasets, and are confident in the accuracy of the results we report for customers with Korean or any other ancestry.
If you want to get into the nitty gritty you can check out this <a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry_composition_guide/">white paper</a> (in which we describe the multiple steps that go into producing accurate results and the metrics demonstrating how well our algorithm works), this <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/23andmes-newest-feature-explores-your-ancestry/">blog post</a> or this <a href="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121027_ancestry_painting_methods_poster.pdf">scientific poster</a>.
<h6>Granularity</h6>
The gist is that we only go as granular as we can for a given confidence threshold. Customers can adjust their results from a 90 percent confidence level (“Conservative”) down to 50 percent (“Speculative”). If we say that a section of DNA is most likely Japanese or Chinese or Korean at one of our higher confidence thresholds, we stand behind it.  If we weren’t sure that we could make the distinction, we’d go up a level and say that that DNA reflected “East Asian” ancestry.
The information would not be incorrect, simply less specific.
While the impact of adding more Korean individuals (or individuals of any of the groups we currently have represented in our reference datasets) is likely to be small in terms of improving the accuracy of our Ancestry Composition results, it could help us add more granularity to our results – i.e., groups of people from more specifically defined geographical areas. That way, for example, we might be able to distinguish between Cameroonian and Ghanaian ancestry, instead of lumping ancestry from these different locations under the label “West African.”


The author of the Quartz article correctly points out that we do have a lot of data and granularity for Europe (providing, for example, separate French &amp; German and British &amp; Irish groupings), but not for the rest of the world. She implies that this is driven by a lack of effort or concern on our part. The truth is that we have a great deal of customer data to enhance the public data available for Europeans because the vast majority of our customers have European ancestry, and several thousand of them are eligible to contribute to our reference dataset. This is not because of a “commercially driven ethnic bias,” and we have for several years been making in-roads to improve the diversity in our research and reference data.
This is where we come back to where we began – this is not just a 23andMe issue but an issue with diversity in genetics research in general.

<h6>23andMe&#8217;s Diversity Efforts</h6>

There’s only so much we can do as a single company, but we are trying. We funded the genotyping of the HGDP samples, data which are publicly available. <a href="https://www.23andme.com/roots-study/">Our Roots into the Future</a> project enrolled 10,000 African Americans in our research program, and our <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andmes-african-ancestry-project/">African Ancestry Project </a>helped contribute to our West African reference dataset. We recently collaborated to obtain data from for over 400 representatives of populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of our researchers was <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/news/announcements/23andme-scientists-improving-diversity-in-genetic-research/">awarded NIH funding</a> to develop new methods for uncovering genetic variants associated with disease, especially in those with non-European ancestry. There are additional programs in the works, and we look forward to sharing more as we can.


We’re also always looking for more publicly available data that we can use to improve our product and inform our research. But it’s not as simple as just pulling studies for a given group or purchasing reference data.  There are important scientific and ethical considerations that must be attended to when collecting population data and 23andMe is not willing to compromise our standards in the interest of appearing more diverse.


We can always do better. We want people – researchers, customers, journalists – to keep holding us accountable and pushing us to lead the way in consumer genetics and genetics research. But accusing us of racial bias and shoddy science is unfair. It reduces an important conversation to clickbait.


Please share your comments here but don&#8217;t limit it to our blog – discuss your ideas, raise awareness and spread the word that the lack of research diversity is a real problem. We want people to have informed opinions and conversations on this topic since the impact of genetics research will only continue to grow.

The Real Issue: Diversity in Genetics Research

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


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


“I’m very proud of being able to be a part of this and bring it back for a new generation of audiences,” she said. “Because it is ours. It is the story  of America. I’m proud to be able to bring it back and make it relevant again.”
In the spirit of Alex Haley, the search for his own family’s roots that inspired his powerful novel, many of those involved in this series explored their own ancestry including <a href="http://roots.history.com/identity">using 23andMe</a>. Rose was among those who tested with  23andMe, learning about her own roots in West Africa.
Take a look at what Anika Noni Rose says about testing and her role in the series. 
<iframe loading="lazy" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.history.com/embed/695909443688" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Know Your Roots

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


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


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



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


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


Many Americans are interested in their ancestors and their own cultural origins, but for African Americans, that question can be particularly hard to answer. Slavery severed their connections to Africa and the rich diversity of cultures there. Haley’s book offered African Americans a roadmap of sorts for tracing their own family stories and it reminded Americans of their own country’s history.
The advent of genetic testing has offered many African Americans a window into their ancestry that they couldn’t see any other way.
For Burton, who tested with<a href="https://www.23andme.com/roots/"> 23andMe</a>, testing was eye opening, and it’s offered others a goldmine of information that just wasn’t available before.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve always felt there was a piece of me missing,&#8221; <a href="https://www.colorlines.com/articles/see-levar-burton-malachi-kirby-learn-about-their-roots" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Burton said.</a> “I’m sure a lot of black people in this country have that same feeling… that who I am did not just begin here; that I’m part of a lineage that goes back much further than that… and to have the proof in my hand&#8230;it’s powerful.”
See Burton and the actor Malachi Kirby, who plays Kunta Kinte in the new version of Roots, talk about using 23andMe to explore their ancestry.
 
<iframe loading="lazy" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y_gJ9inlFG0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

African ancestry — Page 2