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$4 Million and Years of Hype

According to SEC filings, 23andMe gave $4 million to one executive officer, blogs BNET's Rachel Lehmann-Haupt. That money was payment to a company officer for a loan, but Lehmann-Haupt notes that "given the fact that it’s a rocky time financially for 23andMe, it also seems like a bad time to lay out so much cash to one person." Indeed, in the past year, Linda Avey left, the company had a round of layoffs, and increased the price of their products. Razib at Gene Expression adds that some 23andMe employees are not happy, according to postings at Glassdoor. There, one employee wrote that "all decisions came down to one person, and it was NOT the ceo. Senior managers made some grave mistakes and many employees suffered." Daniel MacArthur at Genetic Future says that "personal genomics is transparently going through the Gartner hype cycle … and right now we're firmly wedged in the trough of disillusionment, following a peak of inflated expectations for which personal genomics companies themselves must take the bulk of the blame."

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.