Personal DNA Analysis: 23AndMe

Sergey Brin's Blog talks about 23andme - a startup in Personal DNA Analysis. The first time I realized that such a thing was possible was in a movie .. can't remember the name. But a girl takes his and a potential suitors saliva samples (or was it hair) and gets to %compatibility. That was an AHA moment for me. But this is even better, IT's REALLY HAPPENING .. I thought we were a few decades away.

While 23andme doesn't offer any such service so far, they come pretty close.

Makes me wonder again about the power of technology. By identifying one's probability of getting a particular decease, even imprecisely, you can give that person a chance for an early intervention / prevention so as to reduce the odds. A huge value addition that enables us to preserve and make better use the most critical resource at hand - human capital.

I used to be a Software Engineer .. and one of the first lessons I learnt a Cisco was that a 'bug' discovered later (let's say close to release) costs 10x more to fix than the one discovered early (let's say close to unit testing).

This is the same thing applied to human beings .. and I am guessing the magnitude of saving is much higher - taking into account that humans feel and software doesn't.

So rock on 23andMe. May you (and your competitors) succeed in your goals in making this world a better place.