Conspiracy theories have always been bad, but are they getting worse—more pervasive, more outlandish, more polarizing? I recently heard the authors of the new book “A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy” interviewed on John Lovett’s podcast. One enabler of the “new conspiracism,” according to the authors, is Read More…
Category: Consumer Genetics
Year in review for third-party interpretation tools
As 2019 comes to a close and I reach the year anniversary of completing my dissertation research on the topic, it felt appropriate to do a mini year in review for third-party genetic interpretation tools. There’s been a whirlwind of activity in this area, perhaps no surprise due to the of entanglement of third-party tools Read More…
Genetic “Mesearch”
Personal genomics Personal, consumer genomics has exploded in the past decade, and shows no signs of slowing. Yet there is an inherent tension in attempts to translate the findings of genetic research, which is done in large groups of people, into insights for individuals. I.e., the research question, “Does this genetic variant, or set of Read More…
Do third-party genetic analysis tools interpret data, or simply “bridge to the literature”?
A variety of third-party genetic interpretation tools are available online that enable users to pursue self-directed analysis of their personal genetic data. Tools can return information about health/wellness, family relatedness, or genetic ancestry. While users may seek out these tools for help interpreting their data, some developers describe tools as providing a “bridge to the Read More…
Opening the Tomb
Terra cotta warriors During the last week in August, I attended a special exhibit of the Terra Cotta warriors at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center. The warriors are a touring collection of a tiny subset of the vast clay “army” buried over 2,000 years ago, encircling the tomb of China’s first emperor. While the clay soldiers Read More…
Who cares if your genome is ready for prime-time, when it’s available on demand?
On Monday the consumer genomics company Helix launched a “DNA App Store:” a one-stop interpretation shop for your personal genomic information. Commercialization of personal genetic information has been gaining momentum for over a decade, mostly through direct-to-consumer testing companies such as 23andMe and AncestryDNA, but this announcement from Helix seems to represent a phase change. Read More…
Why your PC may mistake your genome for a mail contact
There is a file type used to store large-scale genetic data called a “vcf” file, short for “variant call format.” To a PC, however, a “.vcf” file extension means something completely different: it’s the “vCard” format used to send Microsoft Outlook contact information. Therefore, if you click on a genetic “.vcf” file with a PC, Read More…
Regulation
Poor Little Bill Regulation is getting a pretty bad rap these days. At the end of January, the Trump Administration announced that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations should be eliminated (see here and here). Putting aside the immediate questions of logic and logistics of this order, the implication is that regulations are to Read More…
Getting paid for your DNA
There’s a new genetic sequencing company that wants you to get paid for donating your DNA data to science. Launched in December, Genos’s service costs around $500 and gives customers the ~3% of their genome sequence that codes for proteins, the “exome.” Additionally, Genos’s platform allows users to share their exome data with (academic and Read More…
“If I build it, I will come”
For my dissertation, I have been interviewing developers of third-party interpretation tools for consumer genomic data. These are tools such as Promethease, openSNP, and DNA.land, among many others, where people who have their genetic data file from consumer testing can seek further analysis and/or contribute their genome to research. Even though I’m only a few interviews Read More…