Well sort of. Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, is going-live with her own start-up, 23andme. The idea of 23andme is that a customer sends swab samples and then for USD999 receives a complete DNA scan that reveals their ancestry and what their risk factor for developing certain diseases is.

Born in the US, home of preventative intervention, it’s probably going to do well. I notice it’s advisors and board seem to be in the know, lots of MDs and PhDs in there (and to her credit, Anne makes no mention of the Google tie up as far as I can see).

I myself won’t be partaking, and only partly due to the cost. I know my genetics predispose me to cardiac issues and rather than have a gene map to confirm that, I’m swimming and running, eating well and not smoking to avoid any further risks.

It will be interesting to watch the development of 23andme – I wonder what Sergey’s gene map told him?

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

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