3 ms·

23andme: Evil Or The Way Of The Future?

8 points by nickb 19y ago

jaed 19y ago
Navigenics (http://www.navigenics.com http://www.navigenics.com) is a KPCB-funded biotech that does something similar.
rms 19y ago
$999 is way cheap for 23andme to be selling this, the microarrays cost $650 each before they are analyzed. As per a Techcrunch comment, I suspect they are subsidizing or selling below cost which will probably work out because of the rapidly falling costs in this area.
- aswanson 19y ago
  What materials are those arrays built out of? Do they require any special (laser trimmed) components? Special lithography? I smell an industry ripe to be commoditized by a startup.
  - rms 19y ago
    I'm not sure what it actually takes to manufacture them -- there's definitely some lithography that goes into it but I don't know much beyond that. You might be able to convert an existing microprocessor plant into a DNA microarray plant but i don't really know. This is the one that I believe 23andme is purchasing in bulk -- or, at least it is the highest end microarray sold by the company 23andme gets their arrays from. http://www.illumina.com/pagesnrn.ilmn?ID=70 http://www.illumina.com/pagesnrn.ilmn?ID=70
zach 19y ago
Here's the NY Times article which is currently a broken link in the post: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/17/us/17dna.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/17/us/17dna.html?pagewanted=a...
timr 19y ago
23andMe must be paying out the nose for PR. There are at least 2 other well-funded companies in this space, and I don't see those folks getting features in the New York Times....
- rms 19y ago
  They have also presented the information in the best way I have ever seen such genetic information presented. This alone makes their product more appealing and more interesting to journalists. Take a look at the copy on this page -- https://www.23andme.com/gen101/variation/speed/ https://www.23andme.com/gen101/variation/speed/ -- it's damn good copy.
  - timr 19y ago
    True. They've got a couple of science writers on staff, and I'm impressed with their sense of style. Still, that kind of stuff just doesn't explain a feature article in the New York Times. DeCODE is the big fish in this area, and I've heard next to nothing in the media about them. This seems like a blatant case of good PR. (with the obvious caveat concerning Google and Sergey and Sergey's wife, of course)

8 points by nickb 19y ago

jaed 19y ago

Navigenics (http://www.navigenics.com http://www.navigenics.com) is a KPCB-funded biotech that does something similar.

rms 19y ago

$999 is way cheap for 23andme to be selling this, the microarrays cost $650 each before they are analyzed. As per a Techcrunch comment, I suspect they are subsidizing or selling below cost which will probably work out because of the rapidly falling costs in this area.

aswanson 19y ago
What materials are those arrays built out of? Do they require any special (laser trimmed) components? Special lithography? I smell an industry ripe to be commoditized by a startup.
- rms 19y ago
  I'm not sure what it actually takes to manufacture them -- there's definitely some lithography that goes into it but I don't know much beyond that. You might be able to convert an existing microprocessor plant into a DNA microarray plant but i don't really know. This is the one that I believe 23andme is purchasing in bulk -- or, at least it is the highest end microarray sold by the company 23andme gets their arrays from. http://www.illumina.com/pagesnrn.ilmn?ID=70 http://www.illumina.com/pagesnrn.ilmn?ID=70

zach 19y ago

Here's the NY Times article which is currently a broken link in the post: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/17/us/17dna.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/17/us/17dna.html?pagewanted=a...

timr 19y ago

23andMe must be paying out the nose for PR. There are at least 2 other well-funded companies in this space, and I don't see those folks getting features in the New York Times....

rms 19y ago
They have also presented the information in the best way I have ever seen such genetic information presented. This alone makes their product more appealing and more interesting to journalists. Take a look at the copy on this page -- https://www.23andme.com/gen101/variation/speed/ https://www.23andme.com/gen101/variation/speed/ -- it's damn good copy.
- timr 19y ago
  True. They've got a couple of science writers on staff, and I'm impressed with their sense of style. Still, that kind of stuff just doesn't explain a feature article in the New York Times. DeCODE is the big fish in this area, and I've heard next to nothing in the media about them. This seems like a blatant case of good PR. (with the obvious caveat concerning Google and Sergey and Sergey's wife, of course)