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23andMe's Fall

wsj.com

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Re: 23andMe's Fall

#111

Post by genomer »

progbits wrote: post #103

What would be the rough cost of equipment and consumables required to do DNA sequencing for say 10 people? Assuming similar genome coverage as 23andme gets. Last time I researched it the estimate was 5-6 digits, but I'm sure technology advancements have made it cheaper. What happened to that $1000 nanopore? I have some acquaintances with lab experience who could run this, and could split the costs between friends and…

The Nanopore Minion is still a thing, but it's sequencing and has higher error rates than competing short-read methods like Illumina's sequence by synthesis.

https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/minion

Sequencing DNA with nanopores: Troubles and biases https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8486125/

Based on what I'm seeing from 23andMe's website they only do genotyping, not sequencing.

https://customercare.23andme.com/hc/en-us/articles/227968028...

"23andMe uses genotyping, not sequencing, to analyze your DNA. Sequencing technology has not yet progressed to the point where it is feasible to sequence an entire person’s genome quickly and cheaply enough to keep costs down for consumers. It took the Human Genome Project, a consortium of multiple research labs, over 10 years to sequence the whole genomes of just a few individuals."

Edit: https://www.23andme.com/total-health

I guess they started providing whole exome sequencing, but I can't find information about what depth they're doing it at.

Re: 23andMe's Fall

#112

Post by oldgradstudent »

How could a company, that provided me the amazing insight that I have 71% likelihood of having little or no back hair, fail?

BTW, I have quite a lot of back hair. Most of the other physical features are wrong.

Re: 23andMe's Fall

#113

Post by epmatsw »

BasilPH wrote: post #92

> As an added security measure, we have temporarily disabled the ability to download your raw genetic data. We hope to re-enable this ability soon, and we appreciate your patience. After reading this article I decided to download my data in case they go under. Was greeted with this message on the relevant page. Does anybody have some insight if this is related to the data breach or something else?

They've been doing that for months. Scummy behavior tbh. It happened right after the hack, but there's also a new crop of competitors that let you upload your raw 23andMe data, so there's speculation that it's trying to stop the outflow.

If you email them about it, you just basically get a copy-pasta reply restating the message on the site, and if you keep emailing them 3+ times asking for a refund (ask me how I know), they'll tell you you can manually upload identity verification and they'll get back to you in 6-8 weeks with the data.

Re: 23andMe's Fall

#114

Post by ibern »

nirvael wrote: post #7

Seems like 23andMe is two businesses: consumer and a B2B data business. The consumer side is clearly struggling because of the problems mentioned in the article (they only need one test in their life, public perception is bad because their security has had breaches). So this needs a pivot where you can change the public's perception from a one-time test to continuous health monitoring through blood markers or somethi…

The real value they tried to build was in pharma, which is much more lucrative than either of those. Their data is somewhat interesting but limited by the lack of rich phenotypic/clincial information paired with the genetics.

Re: 23andMe's Fall

#115

Post by BasilPH »

Shank wrote: post #33

> To create a recurring revenue stream from the tests, Wojcicki has pivoted to subscriptions. As media companies launched streaming “+” channels, Wojcicki rolled out 23andMe+, offering personalized health reports, lifestyle advice and unspecified “new reports and features as discoveries are made” for an initial $229, with annual renewals of $69. I was a heavy believer of 23andMe until this point. I answered all of th…

> As an added security measure, we have temporarily disabled the ability to download your raw genetic data. We hope to re-enable this ability soon, and we appreciate your patience.

Apparently 23andMe doesn't let you download the data anymore, I just tried. I wanted to give Promethease a go, seems interesting.

Re: 23andMe's Fall

#116

Post by progbits »

kleton wrote: post #107
progbits wrote: post #103

What would be the rough cost of equipment and consumables required to do DNA sequencing for say 10 people? Assuming similar genome coverage as 23andme gets. Last time I researched it the estimate was 5-6 digits, but I'm sure technology advancements have made it cheaper. What happened to that $1000 nanopore? I have some acquaintances with lab experience who could run this, and could split the costs between friends and…

BGI (formerly Beijing Genomics) would be the one for you. https://www.bgi.com/us/sequencing-services/dna-sequencing/wh...

That seems like a service you send samples to.

I want to buy a machine, observe the whole process myself and then destroy/scrub the machine.

Re: 23andMe's Fall

#117

Post by htrp »

romanzubenko wrote: post #106
htrp wrote: post #3

> Roelof Botha, a 23andMe board member and partner at Sequoia Capital, said the company’s big-spending strategy made sense when money was cheap. Now that it isn’t, “we’ve had to trim and focus on a smaller number of projects.” > Sequoia, which invested $145 million in 23andMe, still holds all its shares, he said. Today they are worth $18 million. Interesting that they weren't forced to liquidate/distribute the shares…

in 2021 Sequoia switched their strategy to hold on to stock of their portfolio companies for few more years after IPO. "Sequoia is abandoning the 10-year venture fund, in which limited partners, the outside investors that contribute to the fund, expect to get paid back over a decade. The firm said it’s establishing a single fund, the Sequoia Fund, that will raise money from LPs and then funnel that capital down to a…

Ah permanent capital vehicles... forgot Sequoia did this too

Re: 23andMe's Fall

#118

Post by progbits »

genomer wrote: post #111
progbits wrote: post #103

What would be the rough cost of equipment and consumables required to do DNA sequencing for say 10 people? Assuming similar genome coverage as 23andme gets. Last time I researched it the estimate was 5-6 digits, but I'm sure technology advancements have made it cheaper. What happened to that $1000 nanopore? I have some acquaintances with lab experience who could run this, and could split the costs between friends and…

The Nanopore Minion is still a thing, but it's sequencing and has higher error rates than competing short-read methods like Illumina's sequence by synthesis. https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/minion Sequencing DNA with nanopores: Troubles and biases https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8486125/ Based on what I'm seeing from 23andMe's website they only do genotyping, not sequencing. https://customerca…

Sure I don't need a full sequence, just the bits used for health features on 23andme.

Of course the closer to a full sequence the better as any future research could be used by just reading existing data. But realistically just having data on few hundred most useful markers is enough.

Re: 23andMe's Fall

#119

Post by htrp »

hyperorca wrote: post #43

Their kit is 99 dollars, but how expensive is the actual DNA testing nowadays ? It's my understanding from this [0] video that it is approximately 1000 dollars for the whole genome, but 23&Me sequence only a tiny portion of the genome (above video mentions 500 000 bases out of 6 billion total bases of human genome), and that sequencer processes thousands of samples in parallel, so there is some economy of scale facto…

The problem might be that those other 6 billion bases have all of the signal that you need for drug discovery and rare disease research.

Re: 23andMe's Fall

#120

Post by babypuncher »

hasoleju wrote: post #54
Shank wrote: post #33

> To create a recurring revenue stream from the tests, Wojcicki has pivoted to subscriptions. As media companies launched streaming “+” channels, Wojcicki rolled out 23andMe+, offering personalized health reports, lifestyle advice and unspecified “new reports and features as discoveries are made” for an initial $229, with annual renewals of $69. I was a heavy believer of 23andMe until this point. I answered all of th…

> think the stored data they have is their only advantage, but they don't seem to know how to leverage it. I really wonder what happens to that data if they get acquired or shut down. The possible new owner of the data might have a completely different business case in mind. This scenario is something you usually don't consider when you give your data to a company that you trust at the moment.

Like selling it to insurance companies who can use the data to deny coverage.
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