23andme: Don’t panic

Mar28

Filing for bankruptcy does not change the day to day operations at a company nor put your data at more risk than before. Plus, as I have said previously, your DNA is not your social security number nor your bank account; it is more like a giant fingerprint that identifies you. Thus I do not recommend deleting your data at 23andme. Many journalists these days try to increase clicks by fear mongering.

My take on these latest developments is that by declaring bankruptcy and stepping down as CEO, Anne E. Wojcicki gives herself one more chance to buy the company she founded with two others and take it private. Her previous two proposals were turned down by each board of directors.

I have listed some more balanced news sources and blog posts at the end of this article.

A short history of 23andme seems in order. Founded by Wojcicki and two others in 2006 [source: wikipedia article], it was the first place to test your personal genome. Their focus was, and always has been, discovering the medical issues in your own DNA, inspired by the search for the cause of Parkinson’s which Anne’s mother-in-law was diagnosed with. Some discoveries have been made and are discussed here.

However, the desire to understand one’s personal health risks was never as strong as the desire to uncover one’s roots, particularly for Americans. Plus the business model of selling DNA kits was never as successful as the model at genealogy-focused companies which include family trees and records once you have a paid subscription. Access to DNA health data for pharmaceutical companies was not lucrative enough to make up the difference.

The lack of financial success was compounded by a data breach that ensued from users who reuse passwords. This allowed bad actors to gain access and create lists of users with Jewish or Chinese ancestry. Although those are reputedly for sale on the dark web, I have not yet heard of any dire outcomes. The result is that all the DNA companies now use two-factor authentication.

Not surprisingly, 23andme stock plummeted. User lawsuits resulted in a settlement. Anne E. Wojcicki, who owns a 49% share, made an offer to buy the company and take it private but the board turned her down and resigned. The next board also turned down the offer she made a few months later. By declaring bankruptcy and resigning as CEO, perhaps she can finally buy it.

Various news and blog sources:

By the way, the California Attorney General did NOT recommend that you delete your 23andme data, he just explained how and reminded us of the strong California privacy and data laws. Click here for what he actually sent.

Where personal DNA testing is today

Feb11

All the DNA testing companies are still refining and improving their bio-ancestry estimates (which they call ethnicity). They are getting closer to agreeing with each other now, but that aspect of DNA testing is not yet a firm science. A number of companies have recently updated their estimates. Ancestry did a major update in October 2024 (click here for that white paper) and MyHeritage just did an update as well. The main effect on my family’s results is a far more accurate prediction of our Norwegian percentage. In the past, all the companies, except Ancestry, called our Norwegian Scandinavian and English. MyHeritage even gets the locations in Norway correct, since we have ancestors from 3 different areas. This is due to my grandad, born in Kristiansand, marrying the daughter of Norwegian immigrants (from Vestland and Hordaland) who met in Brooklyn.

Above are my brother’s current estimates with the new MyHeritage update. Since we have one German Jewish grandfather, I love to see how much each company assigns to Ashkenazi (northern European Jewish) for me and my brother. They all agree that I got about 8% more from our grandad than he did, but the exact amounts are different. Plus MyHeritage now breaks the Ashkenazi into Western and Eastern Europe. My brother got those refinements (added in to Jewish below) but I did not.

Our various bio-ancestries, note Family Tree DNA is actually called Scandinavian not Norwegian. Also the extra jewish regions for MyHeritage have been added back in.

In the past MyHeritage showed only 44% Scandinavian and 27% English/Irish/Scottish which did not fit with the fact that my Dad is Norwegian going back to the 1500s. Now they show me with 53% Norwegian and no British. Ancestry has long since gotten rid of the erroneous British etc. prediction (it’s now 1%) while Family Tree DNA still has that. Yes my ancestors visited the British Isles and undoubtedly left some genetic material … While he was still alive my Dad did a 23andme test and they predict 97.3 Scandinavian for him with the rest Finnish. Unlike MyHeritage and Ancestry, 23andme does not break down Scandinavian by country.

I have a previous blog post (click here) about our ethnicity percentages where I remind my readers that “Although you inherit half of your DNA from each parent, they do not have to pass you an equal amount from each of their parents.” As you can see above, my brother and I got different amounts from our Jewish grandfather.

As the experienced tester knows, it’s the relative matching where the companies excel, although the exact relationships of more distant relatives cannot be accurately predicted. Even close family relationships, like uncle versus half brother versus grandad, are not always clear. (Click here for my post on that). Looking at that person’s relationships to other family members plus age and location can often get you to an answer.

Continue reading →

New Sort Option for the Ancestry Pro Tools DNA Match List!

Nov1

Many of us got the Ancestry Pro Tools to see how our matches were related to each other; then we got frustrated when there were many pages of matches that could not be sorted by the closest matches to that match. Look at the image below. The sort feature we wanted is here!

On the far right above your match list it now says Group Search Sort. If you click the sort button, it pops up a little box which gives you the option to sort by your closest matches, your match’s closest matches, or by the date.

The advantage of sorting by your match’s matches is that you can now quickly see if you have already solved the relationship to one of their close family members. The first few words of whatever you put in the notes for that match are listed. Plus if Ancestry has found a relationship there is a little three person icon. More on the basics of the pro tools are in my June blog post (click here). Meanwhile, if this has not rolled out to your pro tools account yet, there is a workaround mentioned by Leah Larkin in her facebook group – The DNA Roundtable – just add
?sort=MATCHING_RELATIONSHIP
to the end of the URL on the page with your match

Remember, this new feature only works if you have the Ancestry Pro Tools which I have heard are on sale for the Holidays at a bargain price

Genetic Genealogy in Literature

Oct29

Mystery and crime are among my favorite leisure reading genres; you might well call that a busman’s holiday. I have watched the evolution of DNA mentions in that literature with great interest. From simple “does the DNA match” to more advanced concepts like contact DNA in the gun residue test (from Michael Connelly‘s most recent Lincoln Lawyer book).

The other day I was enjoying a play at TheaterWorks in Hartford when a discovery made at 23andme was mentioned. Sorry if that is a bit of a spoiler. It is a superb three person play called Fever Dreams, by Jeffrey Lieber, co-creator of the television series LOST. I recommend it highly.

But the most amazing reference to DNA came when one of my favorite writers, J.A.Jance, mentioned a site I use regularly, GEDmatch.com, in a recent novel. That is a site used primarily by serious genetic genealogists, thus not one I would expect an author to know about.

Now I am on the lookout for more of these advanced DNA mentions in literature. Feel free to add yours to the comments below. Here is the J.A.Jance quote from Den of Iniquity page 200 (Note, the names are all made up so there are no privacy violations when quoting fiction!):

“The DNA profile obtained from Caroline Richards led to a woman who was born in Princeton, New Jersey, on April 12, 1977. Her birth name was Patricia Ann Bledsoe. She was the daughter of a Princeton philosophy professor named Arnold Bledsoe and a stay-at-home mom named Lila Anderson Bledsoe. Her sister, Marisa Bledsoe Young, who was three years younger than Patricia, aka Phyllis Baylor, entered her own DNA into NamUs and also in GEDmatch two years ago in an effort to locate her long-lost sister as well as Patricia’s daughter, Serena, aka Lindsey Baylor, both of whom disappeared without a trace in 2002.”

In case you have not heard of NamUs here how that book describes it:

“… a national database of missing persons. Individuals as well as law enforcement are able to post entries including names, dental records, and DNA profiles. They’re also able to do their own online searches. A similar organization in the private sector is the nonprofit DNA Doe Project, which focuses on human remains that may have gone unidentified for decades.”

Wow, a mention of the DNA Doe Project as well!

Here is another J.A. Jance quote from Blessing of the Lost Girls, Pp 98-99:

‘When cops find DNA at a crime scene, once they have a profile, they run it through CODIS—the Combined DNA Index System—a national database that includes DNA of all kinds of people, including ones arrested for and convicted of violent crimes. The Golden State Killer was a rapist and murderer who operated in California for decades. Cops had his DNA but his profile wasn’t in CODIS. Then they asked for help from a genealogist who went to the public databases . . .” “Like Ancestry.com?” Deb asked. “Yes, sites similar to that one,” Jenny agreed. “She located a familial match, a partial match, to a distant relative who had submitted his DNA just to trace his own roots. Once she found that first relative, she was able to go back and create a family tree that finally, generations later, led to the killer. Some jurisdictions call it genetic genealogy while others call it forensic genealogy. Both work.” “Wait,” Deb said. “Are you saying, if the cops have the DNA of the guy who attacked me, they might be able to do that kind of family search to locate him?” “I am,” Jenny said. “And he might be the same guy who killed that other girl?”

Jance explains the use of forensic genealogy extremely well. For more about DNA and law enforcement plus more about Barbara Rae-Venter, the genealogist who uncovered the identity of the Golden State Killer, click here for my post titled DNA and Law Enforcement

Disclaimer: All book references use my affiliate links to Amazon

23andme: Now and Then

Sep23

23andme started out by being a leader in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomic testing business. Time Magazine named it the 2008 Invention of the Year![1] It was the first place I tested my own autosomal DNA and that of many family members back in 2011-2012. Originally it had the best cousin matching tools, best ethnicity estimates, and had a well designed interface to examine the health implications in your own genome. Now I recommend to most that they start with Ancestry DNA and then upload that data to several other sites, including Promethease for the medical analysis, although 23andme still tests a wider range of health related genes.

23andme has been in the news this week because its entire board, except its founder, Anne Wojcicki, resigned over her plan to take it private again. It went public in 2021 but has yet to turn a profit and the WSJ reports that it will run out of cash next year [ref WSJ]. However there is at least one company interested in buying it according to a post on the DNA-Newbie list.

How should those of us who have tests there react to this news? Personally I am not worried, mainly because I hardly ever use the site anymore. I have long since downloaded my data and have contacted most of my closer matches. Roberta Estes has done a thorough blog post (click here) explaining how to save your data from 23andme.

The reason I rarely use 23andme is because it no longer allows you to compare your DNA to a relative in a chromosome browser; the feature I liked the best. I now do that at GEDmatch, Family Tree DNA, and MyHeritage. That tool was removed because of a data breach over a year ago where a hacker got lists of Jewish and Chinese testers and posted them for sale on the dark web. The break-in took advantage of users who had the same email and password on multiple sites, some of which had been exposed elsewhere.

Perhaps it is the resulting class action suit that caused part of 23andme’s financial woes. Click here for an article about how that is being settled with users.

My understanding was that the inspiration for the founding of 23andme was that Genia Brin, the mother of the then husband of founder Anne Wojcicki, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1998 [ref michaelfox org]. The focus of 23andme has always been on discovering the genetic basis of various medical issues, not genealogy. However they have been quite supportive of adoptees (click here), since it is helpful to know what issues may lie in your DNA when you have no known family health history.

One way to look at the genetic basis of various diseases is to crowd-source lots of genomes.