23andMe Wants FDA Approval for Personal DNA Testing. What Can It Reveal?
        
            By Bonnie Rochman, 
                TIME Healthland
             | 08. 02. 2012
        
                    
                                    
                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                            
                              
    
  
  
    
  
          
  
      
    
            Earlier this week, the personal gene-testing company 23andMe announced that
 it’s seeking the blessing of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for
 its DNA tests that allow people to peer into their genetic makeup.
 
  If the FDA grants approval, it would be a major step forward for the 
growing industry springing up around genetic testing. Every day, it 
seems, scientists are reporting new gene-based discoveries that allow 
them to better pinpoint the causes of disease. As technology becomes 
increasingly sophisticated, single-gene tests are being joined by the 
sort of genotyping technology used by 23andMe, which scans about 1 
million points on the genome that are known to vary among humans. An 
even more complex technique, genomic sequencing, looks at about 3 
billion points that cover a person’s entire genetic code. 23andMe — the 
name is a reference to the 23 pairs of chromosomes that comprise a 
person’s genome — intends to eventually offer sequencing, but the cost 
starts at around $4,000, which is considerably more expensive than the 
$299 the company charges for its testing.
 
  Not only is sequencing more...
 
       
 
  
 
    
    
  
   
                        
                                                                                
                 
                                                    
                            
                                  
    
  
  
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