Friday, September 14, 2007
Posted by Roberto
10:25 AM
0 comments
CONSUMER GENOTYPING
23andMe's Web site says the company is "developing new ways to help you make sense of your own genetic information." It also promises "broad, secure and private access to trustworthy and accurate individual genetic information." The name comes from the fact that every person has 23 pairs of chromosomes, tangles of DNA that contain our genes. We each get one set of 23 from Mom, the other from Dad.
Customers would give 23andMe a sample (it might be some spit or a Q-tip rubbed on the inside of the cheek). This would be sent to Illumina ( nasdaq: ILMN ) to be genotyped. Illumina and its main competitor, Affymetrix ( nasdaq: AFFX ), make what are known as DNA chips, devices that can sample the genome in hundreds of places. These chips have been leading to a revolution in genetics, with dozens of DNA variations being potentially linked to diseases so far this year.
Illumina would then be able to tell 23andMe about hundreds of DNA variations, called single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, that each customer has. 23andME would make that information available through a password-protected Web site. And people would be able to log on and get information about what SNPs (pronounced "snips") they have.
Illumina estimates that in several years the market in consumer genotyping will hit $1.5 billion. It's not clear, but it seems likely 23andMe might use the data it has collected to make new discoveries itself.
23andMe
Illumina Incorporated
Affymetrix
Source: Google's Genetic Start-Up, by Matthew Herper, Forbes.com
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