Genomic ancestry tests are not cons, part 1
As someone who is part of the personal genomics sector, I keep track of media representations of the industry very closely. There is the good and the bad, some justified and some not. But there is one aspect which I need to weigh in on because it is close to my interests and professional focus, […]
Genomic ancestry tests are not cons, part 1
As someone who is part of the personal genomics sector, I keep track of media representations of the industry very closely. There is the good and the bad, some justified and some not. But there is one aspect which I need to weigh in on because it is close to my interests and professional focus, […]
South Asian Genotype Project
It’s been a few years since I’ve done any serious “Genome Blogging.” Mostly I’ve been very busy and there isn’t much low-hanging fruit left as it is. But today I want to announce that I’ll be running the generically titled “South Asian Genotype Project.” The way it works is simple: send me a 23andMe, Ancestry, […]
South Asian Genotype Project
It’s been a few years since I’ve done any serious “Genome Blogging.” Mostly I’ve been very busy and there isn’t much low-hanging fruit left as it is. But today I want to announce that I’ll be running the generically titled “South Asian Genotype Project.” The way it works is simple: send me a 23andMe, Ancestry, […]
Razib Khan’s raw genotype data on 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, Geno 2.0 and Ancestry
It has been a while since I posted an update on my genotype. Since then I’ve been tested on most of the major platforms. I don’t see any harm in releasing this to the public or researchers who want to look at it (though I don’t know why anyone would). You can download all the files here. […]
Bank your exome with Helix for free ($0.00)
I wasn’t going to do this again, but I’ve decided to promote Helix’s special discount. It ends at 2:59 AM EDT November 10th. Eight hours from when I push this post. Obviously, there is a conflict of interest as I work for one of Helix’s partners. What does that mean? Helix does an exome+ sequence […]
Introducing DNAGeeks.com
Four years ago my friend David Mittleman and I wrote Rumors of the death of consumer genomics are greatly exaggerated. The context was the FDA crackdown on 23andMe. Was the industry moribund before it began? The title gives away our opinion. We were personally invested. David and I were both working for Family Tree DNA, […]
The issue is with the model, not precision!
The Wirecutter has a thorough review of direct-to-consumer ancestry testing services. Since I now work at a human personal genomics company I’m not going to comment on the merits of any given service. But, I do want to clarify something in regards to the precision of these tests. Before the author quotes Jonathan Marks, he […]
When journalists get out of their depth on genetic genealogy
For some reason The New York Times tasked Gina Kolata to cover genetic genealogy and its societal ramifications, With a Simple DNA Test, Family Histories Are Rewritten. The problem here is that to my knowledge Kolata doesn’t cover this as part of her beat, and so isn’t well equipped to write an accurate and in […]
23andMe ancestry only is $49.99 for Prime Day
23andMe has gone below $50 for “Prime Day”! For those of us who bought kits (albeit more fully featured) at $399 or even more this is pretty incredible. But from what I’m to understand these sorts of SNP-chips are now possible to purchase from Illumina for well less than $50 so this isn’t charitable. At […]
Genome sequencing for the people is near
When I first began writing on the internet genomics was an exciting field of science. Somewhat abstruse, but newly relevant and well known due to the completion of the draft of the human genome. Today it’s totally different. Genomics is ubiquitous. Instead of a novel field of science, it is transitioning into a personal technology. […]
10 million DTC dense marker genotypes by end of 2017?
Today I got an email from 23andMe that they’d hit the 2 million customer mark. Since they reached their goal of 1 million kits purchased the company seems to have taken its foot off the pedal of customer base growth to focus on other things (in particular, how to get phenotypic data from those who […]
Direct-to-consumer genomics, it’s back on!
The past three and a half years, and arguably longer, there has been something of a dark night passing over direct to consumer (DTC) personal genomics. The regulatory issues have been unclear to unfavorable. If you have read this blog you know 23andMe‘s saga with the Food and Drug Administration. It looks like 2017 DTC is […]
Ancestry inference won’t tell you things you don’t care about (but could)
The figure above is from Noah Rosenberg’s relatively famous paper, Clines, Clusters, and the Effect of Study Design on the Inference of Human Population Structure. The context of the publication is that it was one of the first prominent attempts to use genome-wide data on a various of human populations (specifically, from the HGDP data set) […]
The total information world
Happy Thanksgiving (if you are an American)! It’s been a busy few days in the world of personal genomics. By coincidence I have a coauthored comment in Genome Biology out, Rumors of the death of consumer genomics are greatly exaggerated (it was written and submitted a while back). If you haven’t, please read the FDA’s […]
The post The total information world appeared first on Gene Expression.
The FDA and 23andMe
First, download your 23andMe raw results now if you have them. If you don’t know what’s going on, the FDA has finally started to move aggressively against the firm. Unfortunately this is not surprising, as this was foreshadowed years ago. And, 23andMe has been moving aggressively to emphasize its medical, as opposed to genealogical, services […]
The post The FDA and 23andMe appeared first on Gene Expression.
The future always advances
The last week has seen a lot of chatter about the slapping down of the diagnostic patent by Sequenom, Judge Invalidates Patent for a Down Syndrome Test: A federal judge has invalidated the central patent underlying a noninvasive method of detecting Down syndrome in fetuses without the risk of inducing a miscarriage. The ruling is […]
The post The future always advances appeared first on Gene Expression.
Buddy, can you spare some ascertainment?
The above map shows the population coverage for the Geno 2.0 SNP-chip, put out by the Genographic Project. Their paper outlining the utility and rationale by the chip is now out on arXiv. I saw this map last summer, when Spencer Wells hosted a webinar on the launch of Geno 2.0, and it was the […]
Buyer beware in ancestry testing!
Over at Genomes Unzipped Vincent Plagnol has put up a post, Exaggerations and errors in the promotion of genetic ancestry testing, which to my mind is an understated and soft-touch old-fashioned “fisking” of the pronouncements of a spokesperson for an outfit termed Britain’s DNA. The whole post is worth reading, but this is a very […]