Mining 23andMe Database for Neuroscience

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had submitted a saliva sample to 23andMe for genetic analysis.

I was happy to see last week some neuroscience application of this consumer database.

A article in STAT summarized a study of a 23andMe gene search for depression.

Nearly 500,000 23andMe subjects were used in the analysis and 130,000 of these subjects reported a clinical diagnosis and or treatment for depression.

The study was able to identify 17 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS) from 15 regions that were linked to increased depression risk.

This study underscores the potential for a consumer gene database to be used in neuroscience and other areas of research.

23andMe participants can elect to allow or not allow there genetic data to be used for research purposes. I elected to allow research study on my sample and continue to reply to ongoing 23andMe health surveys.  I'm not sure if my genetic profile was used in this study but would be happy if it were.

You can read about this 23andMe research project on STAT HERE.

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Photo of blue heron feeding is from my files.