Personalized Genetics to Go

From the article This Time, It’s Personal.

On the lighter side, in 2007, Anne Wojcicki, wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, launched 23andMe, named after the 23 chromosomes in human cells.16 The 23andMe process works like this: The company mails the client a kit with a test tube, and the client deposits his saliva in the test tube and mails it back to the company, which analyzes the saliva with an Illumina microarray system that uses a proprietary set of genes. The company’s lab personnel scan for genetic loci that encode more than 80 traits, from eye and hair color to serious diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. On Sept. 9, 2008, the company announced that it had partnered with Ancestry.com and had lowered its price to $399.