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23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

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Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#221

Post by obilecantrem »

jsgo wrote: post #79

> Wojcicki has theories Think the obvious one is that the results are shared and whether someone is a criminal or not (or will be one in the future), people are not particularly comfortable with sharing to parties they didn't initially trust it to for the purposes they trusted it for. Anecdotally, I bought a 23andme kit (just the genealogy one) but never submitted it because the labeling was to send it to the lab in…

I also bought a 23 and me test, but I intend on submitting mine with some DNA recovered from a Mummy or something like that.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#223

Post by manigandham »

reaperducer wrote: post #170
Ohn0 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, the lucrative appendix removal industry.

Considering the types of cars that surgeons drive, I'd say yes, quite lucrative.

It's surgery that pays well, it doesn't mean it's all from a single procedure.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#224

Post by dehrmann »

redis_mlc wrote: post #40
dekhn wrote: post #8

I can't believe they've received three quarters of a billion dollars of investment.

"Anne Wojcicki married Google co-founder Sergey Brin in May 2007." There ya go. 23andMe was a vanity project for Sergey's wife (now ex-wife.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Wojcicki Same story for Marissa Mayer.

Importantly, Alphabet is an inventor in 23andme. Her sister is also the head of YouTube.

This still isn’t as bad as Elon Musk using Tesla to bail out his cousin’s failing Solar City.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#225

Post by JohnFen »

zyang wrote: post #110
bobthepanda wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I would also say that a partial reason why these would've dropped is that everyone who can do it has done it. You only need these kinds of results once because your DNA doesn't change. I knew people who were giving or had gotten these as gifts, but those are one-off purchases. And if you've heard of people doing it then you'll do it too but that's also a one-off. I don't think I'd personally benefit because…

I did it 6/7 years ago because the novelty, and enthusiastically recommended it to family and friends. Now I regret doing it considering how Google and Facebook has abused consumer data. I definitely would not submit my kids to the same fate.

I'm similar. My sister pressured me into doing it about 5 years ago. These days, I really regret that I gave in and did it.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#226

Post by JohnFen »

ibeckermayer wrote: post #207
untog wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That page doesn't say they store it? In any case, the government having this data and a private, for profit company having this data feels like two quite different things.

Governments are made up of people capable of good and evil just the same as private companies. If we’re simply going by the historical record, governments have committed some of the world’s greatest atrocities in the name of certain genetic theories.

> governments have committed some of the world’s greatest atrocities in the name of certain genetic theories.

As have private companies.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#227

Post by munk-a »

scarmig wrote: post #213
johntiger1 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not exactly how DNA works. Their kids should be mostly fine (99.99% similar is still night and day)

If the government encounters one of their kid's DNA, that's enough to identify them as a son/daughter of the person with that DNA profile. If a medical insurance company purchases their DNA, analyzes it, and anticipates that a child of theirs is likely to have medical costs 5x the average, those costs will be passed on to those kids, absent legislation to the contrary. This applies to everyone you're related to, as w…

> If the government encounters one of their kid's DNA, that's enough to identify them as a son/daughter of the person with that DNA profile.

I don't believe that's ever been tested in court (so there isn't precedence) and the ways in which DNA are complex enough - and the mutation rate is high enough - that it might be like fingerprints... if you're the only person with DNA that might be like the kind found and you've got some serious suspicion around you for other reasons... then they might be able to use it as supporting evidence or to compel you to submit to DNA testing to confirm the match (which apparently does have precedence in the US... wow America)

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#228

Post by JohnFen »

brigandish wrote: post #208
thatfrenchguy wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I trust the government more than a for profit corp for this.

Which form of abstract grouping of people is the most trustworthy?

The group that you have some sort of actual say in how they operate. That usually means the government, not a private business.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#229

Post by joshspankit »

I know this has been essentially stated already, but: DUH.

The moment they let anyone have access to that information, they soured the market.

The “least morally questionable” risk is accidentally handing distant cousins over to police, and most people aren’t even comfortable with that.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#230

Post by jghn »

calf wrote: post #220
inetknght wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your exome changes all the time. I work in DNA analysis (not for 23andme). Citation needed. > Your gut biome changes all the time. Your gut biome isn't being tested by a genetics company collecting your saliva or epithelial cells.

How complete are theses tests? If I wait another 10, 15 years to get sequenced, would I get more accurate, reliable information? Can advances in sequencing technology make it worth people to get resampled? Or is it just an issue of better analysis?

The technology itself is constantly improving, for instance the push towards long read technologies. Beyond the underlying sequencing, the computational pipelines run on the output from the sequencers is also constantly improving. A huge issue at the moment is in that space, as key portions of the alignment and calling pieces of those pipelines are not optimized for a global population.
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