Personal Genetics Startup 23andMe Raises $22 Million | Hacker News Reader

Personal Genetics Startup 23andMe Raises $22 Million

techcrunch.com

23andMe is definitely looking for top-notch engineers. They're still running small (5 engineers 3 years in), so if you want to have a big impact on a potentially world-changing product, get in touch with them.

Sell it to me. What do you have to offer that say, Counsyl doesn't?

Direct to consumer sales are dead/dying at the hands of the FDA. Gene patents look like they're getting legally thornier. So, what's your angle?

How do you avoid a war to the realm of being a commodity?

> Direct to consumer sales are dead/dying at the hands of the FDA.

Not true - such rumors have been greatly exaggerated.

>What do you have to offer that say, Counsyl doesn't?

At the moment: Access to your whole genotype and a curated set of the published literature, rather than a narrow carrier screening. Deep ancestry analysis & finding long-lost cousins. A commitment to advancing the science of genetics. As the database grows, the insights we generate create more value for the end-user. http://tinyurl.com/246mw46

In the future: There's lots of opportunity - come talk to us about it.

>How do you avoid a war to the realm of being a commodity?

genotyping is becoming commoditized, the interpretation of the A's, C's, G's and T's is not. We're in a sweet spot where rapidly falling costs: - let us offer our service at a lower cost to a broader market - improve the rates of discovery & create a more valuable interpretation We have an economy of scale which will allow us to: - negotiate lower costs - have a bigger database of potential relatives to meet - better interpret the meaning individual's genetics

I tried applying to them a while back with no dice. They seem like a really cool company to work for and I really like their product. It's disheartening to see their ads for engineers everywhere I go, but maybe I dont qualify as top-notch at this point.

You may have applied just as they had a round of layoffs. Don't take it personally.

http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/29/layoffs-confirmed-at-23andm...

Yeah, I think I applied a bit after that, maybe sometime in April of this year. Not taking it too personally, I'm only a few years out of school so I imagine there are some more experienced applicants.

Yes - we'd love to hear from interested engineers. If you have any questions, drop me a line

mikep at 23andme

Thanks for sharing. I will apply. I already sent in my DNA a few months ago so they can already do the first prescrening on their site without both of us wasting time! ;)

Does anyone here try it?

I sat over the shoulder of a co-worker who tried it out when they ran their $100 deal a while back. From what I saw, which was probably close to 9 months ago, it's a pretty impressive tool. Lists off drug reactions, probable diseases, where you father's family was from etc, and provides references to studies that support those characteristics.

Yes, when they ran the $100 offer a while ago, both myself and my better half signed up.

It's fantastic, we've both been in contact with 3rd and 4th cousins, for me they are from the US, South africa and Australia.

I now know I'm prone to type II diabetes, so have cut down sugar intake and had reports on dozens of other health issues.

I think the current prices are a bit steep, but if they do another offer @ $100 I'll be recomending to everyone I know!

Your genetics are your own business, but since you mentioned it: what T2D mutation do you carry? One or two copies? How did they quantify and qualify your risk?

I haven't spat in a tube for them, so I don't know what their reports look like.

Yes. Signed up myself and my daughter on DNA-day (the $100 special price). I have only logged in a couple of times though. Our results were great in that there was nothing special about them, so I haven't been compelled to learn more about some exotic mutation.

I also did it on DNA-day for my wife and I.

Again, nothing special.

However, I thought there were a few really interesting things such as highlighting particular drugs I might find less effective.

While this technology (and the statistical base that is used for correlations) is in its infancy there are some really interesting possibilities with extremely real world applications above and beyond early warning systems for genetic vulnerabilities to certain diseases.

I've tried it as well. Signed up for the same $100 special. I would really like to see integration in to my primary doctor and medical record holder so as new information comes out on drugs and therapy, I can benefit from them knowing what I could respond best to.

It's far off in my opinion, and the site doesn't offer me much of a value add, but I signed up to reap benefits of future findings as well as hopefully integration into Google Health or equivalent.

Still trying to convince Fedex to pick the damned thing up from me :P

I'm in Australia and the FedEx drop-off point in my city is at the airport. And I'm lazy and busy enough to not get around to doing things like that.

So after a few months of putting it off, it turned out that I would be in the US (honeymoon) and I decided to just deliver the tubes back by hand for a bit of a laugh. Drove out to their processing facility in LA, wandered around the corridors for 30 minutes completely lost until a woman seemed to know what I was talking about, and handed it over. Told her that I didn't trust FedEx and liked to deliver my international mail by hand.

Couple of weeks later the results were online.

To those considering it: as with those reporting above, it's a little interesting but not all that exciting - I guess that could be a good thing though. For $400, skip it, but if they run another $100 special price it's probably worth it if you're curious.

I tried it and learned (something I already believed) that I do not metabolize caffeine normally. I take longer to metabolize.

That and I found some cousins on there.

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