23andMe
For those of you that have never heard of the company 23andMe, a little background from Wikipedia:
23andMe is a privately held personal genomics and biotechnology company based in Mountain View, California that is developing new methods and technologies that will enable consumers to understand their own genetic information. The company is named for the 23 pairs of chromosomes in a normal human cell.
The 23andMe website is currently split into four categories: Health and Traits, Ancestry, Sharing and Community, and Research. They currently test or are researching over 100 diseases, conditions, and traits.
Essentially for $200, you get a kit, spit in a tube, send it back and they analyze the sample provide you a breakdown of health predispositions, traits and ancestry. The first time I’d heard about 23andMe was when it was mentioned in a segment on how evil Google is on a show called Hungry Beast.
They mention 23andMe at the minute and a half mark. A couple episodes later, they dedicated an entire segment to 23andMe.
This got me curious. Despite the ‘What if you find out something bad?’ thoughts, I decided to go ahead and order a kit (oh and one for my wife, cause nothing is more fun than doing it with your partner). What if I find out I have an 80% chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease? Well, it’s going to happen anyway. I WANT TO KNOW!
Right now, my profile reads “Your sample was received on December 30, 2011. Allow 6-8 weeks for processing.”. This will be perfect timing as my wife and I are heading travelling for the month of January. Check back soon for a chat of the results!