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For a Good Cause

Mar 13, 2009

23andme is expanding its 23andWe initiative, which aims to acquire detailed health and trait data from existing customers, by recruiting 10,000 Parkinson's disease patients for a targeted analysis of the genetic and environmental causes of this disease. The program, backed in part by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, was announced on the 23andMe blog. Parkinson's patients get access to the full features of a 23andMe genome scan for $25 in return for participation in online surveys. "I think the model of participant-driven research is a novel and powerful one, that will increasingly come to dominate the genomic research landscape," according to blogger Daniel MacArthur.

Breaking News
The Scan

Pig Organ Transplants Considered

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration may soon allow clinical trials that involve transplanting pig organs into humans.

'Poo-Bank' Proposal

Harvard Medical School researchers suggest people should bank stool samples when they are young to transplant when they later develop age-related diseases.

Spurred to Develop Again

New Scientist reports that researchers may have uncovered why about 60 percent of in vitro fertilization embryos stop developing.

Science Papers Examine Breast Milk Cell Populations, Cerebral Cortex Cellular Diversity, Micronesia Population History

In Science this week: unique cell populations found within breast milk, 100 transcriptionally distinct cell populations uncovered in the cerebral cortex, and more.