San Diego Blood Donors Get Free Genome Sequencing
By David Wagner,
KPBS
| 11. 24. 2015
Untitled Document
A select group of blood donors at this year's Chargers Blood Drive gave one extra tube of blood. That's because they're not just donating blood — they're also getting their genome sequenced.
San Diego-based Illumina is providing free sequencing to 70 San Diego Blood Bank donors. The Blood Bank's goal is to compile a DNA database for researchers to comb through in hopes of pinpointing genes linked with health outcomes.
La Mesa resident Penelope Navarro was one of the pre-selected participants. She signed up to learn about the diseases her family may need to look out for.
"I'm a breast cancer survivor," Navarro said. "And I have children and grandchildren. So I thought an experience like this would help in perhaps finding out whether or not that's something they might need to be looking into as they grow older."
By participating, Navarro agreed to provide her DNA for research purposes, letting scientists search her genes for correlations with diseases like breast cancer. She'll also be able to access her genome online and learn more about it at an...
Related Articles
By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience | 01.15.2026
Genetic variants believed to cause blindness in nearly everyone who carries them actually lead to vision loss less than 30% of the time, new research finds.
The study challenges the concept of Mendelian diseases, or diseases and disorders attributed to...
By David Cox, Wired | 01.05.2026
As he addressed an audience of virologists from China, Australia, and Singapore at October’s Pandemic Research Alliance Symposium, Wei Zhao introduced an eye-catching idea.
The gene-editing technology Crispr is best known for delivering groundbreaking new therapies for rare diseases, tweaking...
By Josie Ensor, The Times | 12.09.2025
A fertility start-up that promises to screen embryos to give would-be parents their “best baby” has come under fire for a “misuse of science”.
Nucleus Genomics describes its mission as “IVF for genetic optimisation”, offering advanced embryo testing that allows...
By Hannah Devlin, The Guardian | 12.06.2025
Couples undergoing IVF in the UK are exploiting an apparent legal loophole to rank their embryos based on genetic predictions of IQ, height and health, the Guardian has learned.
The controversial screening technique, which scores embryos based on their DNA...
