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Thread: DNA Tests

  1. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by scylla View Post
    I just read a very interesting book by Duke professor Misha Angrist called Here is a Human Being. Prof. Angrist was the fourth person in the world to have his entire genome sequenced through the Personal Genome Project at Harvard (started by Duke graduate George Church). The idea of the PGP is to compile a database of the entire genomes of thousands of people and hopefully extract meaningful data from very minute differences that we each have in our DNA. They are hoping to find the genetic basis for physical traits and medical conditions that haven't yet been found.

    All of that sounds promising, and I am by no means a geneticist, but I am skeptical. The reason I would never submit my DNA is the issue of privacy. I had the opportunity to talk to Prof. Angrist about why he participated in the PGP, and he cited altruist motives that I confess I do not share. I am also skeptical of the promise of "the gene" for obesity, depression, and many other conditions the PGP is hoping to find. We are more than the sum of our genes. So far, the promise of personalized medicine has not materialized on a large scale, either.

    Unfortunately, both of my parents have given their DNA to one of the genealogy companies. I tried, unsuccessfully, to talk them out of it.
    “Be The Match” already has my DNA. They have had it for awhile and I was more than happy to give it up in order to potentially save live(s). I actually already donated bone marrow a few years ago to a little girl. A year after the surgery she was cancer free they told me. I urge everyone I meet to join the registry.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC
    I have done both Ancestry and 23andme. No surprises, I am very British white, with a chunk of Ashkenazi mixed in. I have been able to find cousins on my dad's side that I am hoping can help me with his branch. I have only done the testing for ancestry, not health info.

    On a different note, DNA sequencing is being done in many areas of medicine. I work in oncology research, and almost every clinical trial out there includes at the very least an option to donate blood or other DNA samples for biobanking and future research. Treatments may be determined by one's biomarkers. So, people donating their DNA in this way today may save your life in the future.

  3. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by LasVegas View Post
    “Be The Match” already has my DNA. They have had it for awhile and I was more than happy to give it up in order to potentially save live(s). I actually already donated bone marrow a few years ago to a little girl. A year after the surgery she was cancer free they told me. I urge everyone I meet to join the registry.
    I’ve had one potential match that I was contacted about but the process did not progress beyond that.

    The first sample of DNA I recall giving was for the Army on the late 90s.
    Last edited by YmoBeThere; 09-14-2019 at 05:51 PM.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Quote Originally Posted by DukieInKansas View Post
    #3 has me curious - can you share more info on this?
    Sure, glad to. Turns out there's a gene mutation which can cause you to react very strongly to some bitter foods when you're young. As you get older that reaction pretty much goes away. I have no problem eating Brussel sprouts now, but when I was young my throat would almost close up if I tried to eat one. Sadly BOTH my parents liked them so they showed up at dinner pretty often.

    I learned that by downloading my raw DNA data, and then uploading it to the Promethease web site. You can search for specific issues on that site based on your genes, or browse around to see if anything important jumps out. It's probably not something that should be done casually or without some forethought. You need to think about what you might want to not know before jumping in. Promethease works kind of in conjunction with the SNPedia web site that provides details on many of the individual SNP's that get tested in the standard DNA tests by Ancestry, 23 and Me, ftDNA, or any of the other companies.

    Oh, and the raw data file is kind of overwhelming when you see it. It's pretty much a 700,000 row spreadsheet that covers the individual SNP's. Of course as large as that number might sound, it's not a big sample since it's "only" 700k out of a few billion.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Quote Originally Posted by DukieInKansas View Post
    #3 has me curious - can you share more info on this?
    Co-sign.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Skinker-DeBaliviere, Saint Louis
    Quote Originally Posted by fuse View Post
    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/s...ogy-study.html

    Relevant quote:

    Already, 60 percent of Americans of Northern European descent — the primary group using these sites — can be identified through such databases whether or not they’ve joined one themselves, according to a study published today in the journal Science.

    Within two or three years, 90 percent of Americans of European descent will be identifiable from their DNA, researchers found. The science-fiction future, in which everyone is known whether or not they want to be, is nigh.


    My mistake. Not 90% of all Americans. The headline states most white Americans.
    Thank you for the link.

    Unfortunately, safe practices on your part do not protect you from the recklessness of others.
    Last edited by throatybeard; 09-16-2019 at 08:30 AM.

    A movie is not about what it's about; it's about how it's about it.
    ---Roger Ebert


    Some questions cannot be answered
    Who’s gonna bury who
    We need a love like Johnny, Johnny and June
    ---Over the Rhine

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Athens, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by throatybeard View Post
    Thank you for the link.

    Unfortunately, safe practices on your part do not protect you from the recklessness of others.
    For health and employment purposes at least, your genetic information has legal protection. The Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (2008) prohibits use of genetic information in health insurance and employment decisions (link), and the ACA has some additional protections, I believe. Laws can change, of course, but GINA passed Congress overwhelmingly. This doesn't protect you from law enforcement tracking you down by your DNA, of course. So I think it's more of a risk/reward calculation, depending on what you think might happen and which possibility is most concerning to you, than it is simply safe/reckless.

    I do wonder what would happen if a hacker made off with the data from one of these companies (that would be an enormous amount of data - multiply the big spreadsheet by the number of people who've been tested) and made it publicly available.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Summerville ,S.C.
    Did one on my wifes purebread Australian sheapard .
    He isnt so purebread come to find out.his granddad is great pyraneese. I got a good chuckle out of it.she did not.she drove quite a few hours to get him.not to mention pay for him.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    New Bern, NC unless it's a home football game then I'm grilling on Devil's Alley
    Tomorrow night we are going to dinner with a second cousin and her husband. She will be the first "blood relative" that I will have ever met. (They are vacationing on the coast this week.)

    Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."

  10. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by wavedukefan70s View Post
    Did one on my wifes purebread Australian sheapard .
    He isnt so purebread come to find out.his granddad is great pyraneese. I got a good chuckle out of it.she did not.she drove quite a few hours to get him.not to mention pay for him.
    Yeah, with pets who knows whether they are purebred or not. The genes express themselves in such different ways particularly with appearance.

  11. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBornAndBred View Post
    Tomorrow night we are going to dinner with a second cousin and her husband. She will be the first "blood relative" that I will have ever met ...
    Just make it awkward as hell and ask them early into the dinner for a big loan on favorable terms ... how it'd really help you out getting a suite in the Blue Devil Tower ...

  12. #32
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    New Bern, NC unless it's a home football game then I'm grilling on Devil's Alley
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBornAndBred View Post
    Tomorrow night we are going to dinner with a second cousin and her husband. She will be the first "blood relative" that I will have ever met. (They are vacationing on the coast this week.)

    It was even more awesome than I imagined. (Of course, I imagined a total boring disaster, but we had a blast.)

    Kate&I-Small.jpg
    Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."

  13. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBornAndBred View Post
    It was even more awesome than I imagined. (Of course, I imagined a total boring disaster, but we had a blast.)

    Kate&I-Small.jpg
    That is awesome!

  14. #34
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Quote Originally Posted by cato View Post
    That is awesome!
    Co-sign, very cool!

  15. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBornAndBred View Post
    It was even more awesome than I imagined. (Of course, I imagined a total boring disaster, but we had a blast.)

    Kate&I-Small.jpg
    Well, that's fantastic.

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