Genetic testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S., raising concerns about the fate of genetic data of millions of customers who used its at-home DNA testing kits to learn about their ancestry and health risks.
Yann Joly, Director of the Centre of Genomics and Policy and Associate Professor in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University is available to comment on this topic.
yann.joly [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)
One of the great mysteries in biology is how the many different cell types that make up our bodies are derived from a single cell and from one DNA sequence, or genome. We have learned a lot from studying the human genome, but have only partially unveiled the processes underlying cell determination. The identity of each cell type is largely defined by an instructive layer of molecular annotations on top of the genome – the epigenome – which acts as a blueprint unique to each cell type and developmental stage.
