7 ms·
23andMe UK
- huhtenberg 12y agoA functional way to show middle finger to FDA.
- thebiglebrewski 12y agoIf I'm in the US, is there any way to proxy into my full health results?
- jebus989 12y agoOf course, they're just calling SNPs and using published GWAS studies to estimate disease risk. You can get your "raw genome" text file from 23andMe and convert to e.g. VCF format for use in a bioinformatics tool like the variant effect predictor. Besides, really the most interesting health-related alleles are the simplest: ApoE, BRCA1 — no complicated algo is needed to interpret those associations.
- nutmeg 12y agoIs there an easy way (or introductory guide) for someone not familiar with bioinformatics tools?
- citricsquid 12y agohttp://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Promethease http://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Promethease
- heuermh 12y agoI've written a free/libre open source java client for the 23andMe API here https://github.com/heuermh/personal-genome-client https://github.com/heuermh/personal-genome-client Let me know if you would like any help with the analysis.
- bentcorner 12y agoThanks for the comment - my wife and I submitted 23andme kits for fun and learned some of our history, but I was disappointed we weren't able to get any health information from it. I didn't know you could get your genome info from 23andme and get it interpreted by someone else!
- jessriedel 12y ago> You can get your "raw genome" text file from 23andMe Well, not your full genome. You can get the raw SNPs that 23andMe test for, and if you're in their pilot program that sequences the exome (which is a superset of the SNPs but a subset of the full genome) then you can presumably get the raw data on that.
- jebus989 12y agoThat's their terminology I believe (hence quotes). However, for fun you can have a go at imputing a full genome from these SNPs (e.g. http://genomesunzipped.org/2013/03/learning-more-from-your-23andme-results-with-imputation.php http://genomesunzipped.org/2013/03/learning-more-from-your-2...). SNPs aren't necessarily exonic either so exome-seq isn't a superset of SNPs (I am a bioinformatics PhD student so while this isn't precisely my day job I'm not speaking from a position of ignorance).
- jessriedel 12y agoThanks for the correction.
- grandalf 12y agoThis ought to turn up more relatives in relative finder!
- iamben 12y agoI absolutely love the idea of this. I just think that I'll end up in a database that, despite any promise to the contrary now, will probably end up being used against me at some point in the future (targeted marking / denying of health insurance / whatever else). Which I really don't love. And I hate to be cynical, but it strikes me that becoming the Google of genomes is ultimately going to make far, far more cash than selling a kit that tests for genetic problems. Don't be evil, and all that.
- spacefight 12y ago>> Which I really don't love. Me neither. Easy solution (at least for now): don't use it.
- ctz 12y ago> denying of health insurance All the health insurance I've ever had has had cover for pre-existing conditions, required no medical details or medical examination. As far as I can tell, insurance companies have surprisingly little interest in my health, past my age and sex. I can't see that changing so far that they pay third parties for a genetic screen in the near future.
- iamben 12y agoJust from (UK) insurer Aviva's health insurance policy: "We don’t cover treatment of pre-existing conditions or related conditions if you had symptoms of, medication for, treatment for or advice about that condition in the five years before your joining date." It wouldn't take much for companies to start requiring that you disclose the knowledge you're at (high?) risk of something and adjusting their prices accordingly - particularly in long term policies. Edit: I probably should have said life insurance. Health insurance isn't (entirely) necessary in the UK thanks to the NHS. But imagine the premiums on a life insurance policy if they knew you had a high certainty of something difficult or incurable?
- aroch 12y ago23andME technically offer no medical advice, but I wouldn't be surprised if insurers don't care about that technicality
- icehawk219 12y agoI've had one of these 23andMe kits sitting at home for a while now. I find the information they can give you very interesting and I'm curious to do it. But part of me can't overcome the fear of this data sitting around on a companies servers forever. With me having no way of knowing what they're doing with it. Maybe I'm just too paranoid.
- mwg66 12y agoYou can opt-out of the long-term storage.
- kybernetyk 12y agoJust as you can delete emails in Gmail or delete your Facebook account ...
- comrade1 12y agoI'm curious, have companies like this ever been subpoenaed for their data as part of a fishing expedition to catch a criminal or find the father of a child for child support, etc? To example, there's been a few examples where they found someone through relative('s) DNA for murders in the past, but DNA was voluntarily given.
- vijayr 12y agoIf one gives their DNA voluntarily (for a particular case) and they are cleared of any wrong doing, is their DNA information still kept on file by law enforcement?
- gwern 12y agoVoluntarily or not, the answer is usually yes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/us/19DNA.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/us/19DNA.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_DNA_database https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_DNA_database
- DanBC 12y agoEngland has an extensive DNA database (largest in the world) and it's hard to get taken off it, even if you voluntarily give your DNA. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7532856.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7532856.stm > Innocent people who volunteer to give a DNA sample during a police inquiry, for instance to help narrow a police search in a major murder investigation, also have their details kept on record. Most people don't volunteer their DNA; it's taken off them when they're arrested, and it's kept even if they're not convicted. It's even kept if they're released without charge, although there are time limits for that after a 2008 case. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/7764069.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/7764069.stm
- post_break 12y agoHas anyone submitted something other than a human sample? I have to wonder if anyone has submitted a bovine or dog sample as a joke.
- fomb 12y agoExpensive joke
- panopticon 12y agoI've seen more expensive devices smashed on YouTube as a joke.
- DangerousPie 12y agoThey aren't actually sequencing the whole DNA, they are just searching it for SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) that have previously been discovered in the human genome. For example if they know there is sequence such as AAAC[CG]CTTA in the genome ([CG] being either C or G) they will check which of AAACCCTTA and AAACGCTTA they can find. So as much as i hate to give such a boring answer, this would probably just result in them not being able to use the sample.
- evo_9 12y agoHas there been any update on their Health Reports being supported again? That's the killer feature that I'm waiting for them to turn back on.
- k-mcgrady 12y agoPersonally I'd be much more comfortable taking the results and doing my own research or getting a Doctor's advice. I don't see how they can ever turn that feature back on when the risk of people blindly following the advice (and the chances of it being incorrect) are high enough.
- evo_9 12y agoThe power to do data analysis and then inform their users of potential trouble is, in my mind, the entire point of their service. It doesn't have to be provided as 'advice' but rather a general statement such as '...other members have genetic markers that indicate a propensity toward heard disease; you share these same genetic markers and should be aware of potential issues in this regard.
- k-mcgrady 12y agoThat sounds fine with me actually.
- bhc 12y agoFull health reports have been made available again in Canada for a month now. http://www.23andme.ca/ http://www.23andme.ca/
- alan82 12y agoWhen this will be available in the rest of EU countries? Do they have to register the service in each country separately?
- k-mcgrady 12y agoI'm interested in doing this. Can someone who has already done it give me an idea of the kind of things I might discover which I can actually act upon? Although it would be interesting paying £125 for a list of things that might happen isn't very appealing unless I can work to mitigate them or use the advice to improve my life in some way. Considering the privacy implications the benefit needs to be pretty big.
- stevep98 12y agohttps://www.23andme.com/en-gb/health/reports/ https://www.23andme.com/en-gb/health/reports/ For each disease, they will tell you what the average risk of developing it is, and then they will tell you what they think YOUR risk, based on your DNA. For example, average woman will develop breast cancer, say 3%, but you might be at elevated risk, say 8% because you have the BRCA1 mutation. As far as changed behavior, for most cases you're unlikely to do much, except perhaps go to the doctor a bit earlier to get a mammogram. [Apologies for using female examples, if that's not your gender.]
- k-mcgrady 12y agoDefinitely interesting. I just need to figure out whether the benefits of knowing those things and paying attention to catch them early is worth the cost of potentially constantly stressing out and over reacting.
- DanBC 12y agoWhat lifestyle changes would you make, and why can't you make those without a genetic test?
- nly 12y agoA cautionary tale... I bought an Ancestry(.com) DNA test a number of years ago. The product had the advantage that it was integrated in to their genealogical research platform (a subscription service). When you found a match in the database you could click straight through to that members family tree .... then they shut down the "old" platform entirely, gave me X days to download my data, and told me to get lost. Visiting the site today we see "The AncestryDNA product is not currently available for purchase outside of the United States" Furthermore, their "all new" tests are focused, like 23andMe, on telling you about more gimmicky crap like your health, ethnicity, and ancient migratory ancestry, and not helping you find distant cousins you can work with. Really sad. I cancelled my ~$160 annual subscription on principle after that
- Ntrails 12y agoI know this is a little off topic, but did you really spent $160 a year to find strangers with whom you share lineage? What was the draw?
- nly 12y agoIt's not about DNA. DNA was just a means of finding people who know may know more about your family history, perhaps stories or artefacts passed down. Genealogy is more a study of history and how you came to be than anything else. It's a unique puzzle that only you have, and only you will ever have any interest to solve.
- ripb 12y agoOff topic but have you found any services that are good for tracing one's lineage? I would pay a considerable amount, probably capped at 10k, for a service that was able to provide me with an accurate, detailed and thorough description of my personal lineage...but I can't seem to find any services that offer it.
- tobylane 12y agoI ordered from BritainsDNA for the lineage. I'm expecting the results this month. It was 50% off in a Vouchercloud deal, £74.
- shaurz 12y agoI really would like to get my DNA anaylsed out of pure curiosity, but I'm also afraid I might discover something I would have been better not knowing.
- mindcruzer 12y agoSuch as?
- mcculley 12y agoI did 23andme myself before the FDA came down on them and I'm happy for the things it tells me. What would you be better off not knowing?
- pkrumins 12y agoThe pricing doesn't make much sense. It's $99 in the US, and $195 in the UK (125 pounds). It's cheaper to order the US version to the UK.
- danpalmer 12y agoThe shipping used to be $90 I think (because it's tracked there and back international delivery). I suspect if they want to develop the UK sales at all, they will need to adhere to certain regulations regarding what information they give out, rather like what the FDA does. This means treating UK customers slightly differently, which incurs additional expense. I'm not hugely surprised.
- Jonovono 12y agoYa, it's $199 here in Canada. It looks like the one in Canada offers health and ancestry. Does the US one still only do ancestry?
- mwg66 12y agoI am in the UK and had previously purchased from the US. This morning I got an e-mail offering me health reports (based on my previous test results). Very nice.
- kybernetyk 12y agoSadly not an alternative if you weren't too comfortable with your genetic data being stored in the US. From the .uk privacy policy: >By agreeing to our Privacy Statement and Terms of Service, you consent to the storing and processing of your personal information, including sensitive information, in the USA and countries outside of the country you live in.