good luck getting dna samples out of israel. How much would you pay to live longer? What if Google were making the pill to do it?
On Tuesday, Calico, the medical research company Google incubated in 2013, announced it had cut a deal for access to genetic information from Ancestry, the largest family tree website. It’s among the first public moves from Calico, the secretive division born to (*gasp!*) extend human life. With its new DNA data — properly anonymized — Calico will look for genetic patterns in people who have lived exceptionally long lives, then make drugs to help more of us do that. The deal also marks another step in the next chapter of tech’s ambitious experiments with biology: After collating medical data, it’s marching the research to market. In January, 23andMe — the Ancestry.com competitor run by Anne Wojcicki, now ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin — inked a similar deal with Genentech to parse the genomes of Parkinson’s disease patients <http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/06/us-23andme-roche-genome-idUSKBN0KF1L120150106>. Genentech is the former company of Arthur Levinson, the CEO of Calico. (It’s a small world.) These companies are good at grabby headlines, but the commercial model for such ambitious research is unproven, and will likely remain so for several years. Tim Sullivan, Ancestry’s CEO, said his privately held company has fielded requests from multiple medical research firms. It has spent over 20 years amassing its databank. He told*Re/code*: “We have been looking at, and frankly responding to, inquiries from a number of parties about ways that we can collaborate to take the data that we’ve aggregated historically, and that we’re starting to aggregate now, and get some real scale.” Sullivan’s company had some scale from the get-go. Its subsidiary that partnered with Calico, AncestryDNA, has genotyped the DNA sequence of over one million customers. Two weeks ago, the company launched AncestryHealth, a portal for its customers to track personal health and wellness, and marry that with their genetic data. But its treasure trove — and what Calico really wants — is the extensive, detailed genealogical data. Ancestry.com claims to have more than two million paying subscribers, who have created some seven million historical family trees. It’s a rich well for tracking longevity trends. Neither company shared financial terms of the deal. Sullivan also dodged a question on any future deals between the two. “We have a lot of business relationships with Google, but nothing else that I can speak to,” he said. RELATED <http://recode.net/2014/07/27/why-i-would-participate-in-googles-baseline-study/> SCIENCE <http://recode.net/category/science/> Google Wants Guinea Pigs for a New Medical Study. Here’s Why I’d Volunteer. <http://recode.net/2014/07/27/why-i-would-participate-in-googles-baseline-study/> By James Temple <http://recode.net/author/james-temple/>, Jul 27, 2014, 5:43 PM PDT Reports from May claimed Ancestry was exploring a sale <http://recode.net/2015/05/20/genealogy-website-ancestry-com-explores-sale/>; Sullivan declined to comment. Calico didn’t comment at all, beyond its thin press release <http://www.calicolabs.com/news/2015/07/21/>. The company works similar to Google X’s Life Sciences unit, which is embarking on its own genomic research with its Baseline Study <http://recode.net/2014/07/27/why-i-would-participate-in-googles-baseline-study/>. Life Sciences is operating as a tacit testimony to Google’s strengths and weakness: Google does pipe-dream research well but not distribution, so Life Sciences works as a pharmaceutical R&D lab, building out medical tech then licensing it to partners. That’s an expensive business. “Drug development is extraordinarily high risk. Most things don’t work out well,” said Malay Gandhi, managing director of Rock Health, a digital health fund that has sold one company, Lift Labs, to Google <http://recode.net/2014/09/10/google-x-acquires-startup-developing-tremor-canceling-devices-for-parkinsons-patients/>. Many biotech startups, he said, hit a brick wall in the later stages of development — after upward of $2 billion is dumped in. Google has reportedly poured up to $730 million into Calico thus far ($240 million for convertible shares, $490 for keeps). Advances in genetic research, however, are accelerating to as-yet-unseen levels. Wired’s latest cover story <http://www.wired.com/2015/07/crispr-dna-editing-2/> is on the explosive potential of easy, readily available DNA editing. Anti-aging research, in particular, is an open field. “It’s been a heavily underinvested area relative to its market value,” Gandhi said. Calico is not alone. Several large hospitals are active in the field, as well as private players like the aptly named Human Longevity Inc, which also uses genomic sequencing. Few, however, have the audacity — and deep pockets — of Google to keep going at it. On Monday, February 22, 2016 at 12:37:52 PM UTC-6, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://fusion.net/story/215204/law-enforcement-agencies-are-asking-ancestry-com-and-23andme-for-their-customers-dna/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialshare&utm_content=theme_top > > > > Saw that coming > Cops are asking Ancestry.com and 23andMe for their customers’ DNA > > by Kashmir Hill <http://fusion.net/author/kashmir-hill/> | October > <http://fusion.net/2015/10/> 16 <http://fusion.net/2015/10/16/>, 2015 > <http://fusion.net/2015/> 7:00 a.m. > > > > When companies like Ancestry.com and 23andMe first invited people to send > in their DNA for genealogy tracing and medical diagnostic tests, privacy > advocates warned > <http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlangreth/2011/01/04/why-you-should-fear-giant-databases-with-your-dna/> > > about the creation of giant genetic databases that might one day be used > against participants by law enforcement. DNA, after all, can be a key to > solving crimes. It “has serious information about you and your family,” > genetic privacy advocate Jeremy Gruber told me back in 2010 > <http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0117/features-dna-databases-gene-scans-genome-hackers.html> > > when such services were just getting popular. > > > > Now, five years later, when 23andMe > <http://blog.23andme.com/news/one-in-a-million/> and Ancestry > <http://corporate.ancestry.com/press/press-releases/2015/07/ancestry-launches-ancestryhealth/> > > both have over a million customers, those warnings are looking prescient. > “Your relative’s DNA could turn you into a suspect,” warns *Wired > <http://www.wired.com/2015/10/familial-dna-evidence-turns-innocent-people-into-crime-suspects/>*, > > writing about a case from earlier this year, in which New Orleans filmmaker > Michael Usry became a suspect in an unsolved murder case > <http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/11707192-123/new-orleans-filmmaker-cleared-in> > > after cops did a familial genetic search using semen collected in 1996. The > cops searched an Ancestry.com database and got a familial match to a saliva > sample Usry’s father had given years earlier. Usry was ultimately > determined to be innocent and the Electronic Frontier Foundation called it > a “wild goose chase > <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/05/how-private-dna-data-led-idaho-cops-wild-goose-chase-and-linked-innocent-man-20>” > > that demonstrated “the very real threats to privacy and civil liberties > posed by law enforcement access to private genetic databases.” > > The FBI maintains a national genetic database > <https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/biometric-analysis/codis/codis-and-ndis-fact-sheet> > > with samples from convicts and arrestees, but this was the most public > example of cops turning to private genetic databases to find a suspect. But > it’s not the only time it’s happened, and it means that people who > submitted genetic samples for reasons of health, curiosity, or to advance > science could now end up in a genetic line-up of criminal suspects. > > [image: Description: > http://5c94f.v.fwmrm.net/ad/g/1?nw=379215&asid=g2706378&cana=13141794&canr=4342611&resp=ad&et=i&cn=defaultImpression&pvrn=RANDOM_NUMBER&cr=;;ptgt=p] > > <http://2912a.v.fwmrm.net/ad/l/1?s=f037&n=379215%3B379215&t=1456164012308930003&f=&r=379215&adid=13138274&reid=4342632&arid=0&auid=&cn=defaultClick&et=c&_cc=&tpos=&sr=0&cr=> > > Both Ancestry.com and 23andMe stipulate in their privacy policies that > they will turn information over to law enforcement if served with a court > order. 23andMe says it’s received a couple of requests from both state law > enforcement and the FBI, but that it has “successfully resisted them.” > > > > 23andMe’s first > <http://mediacenter.23andme.com/blog/2015/02/26/kate-black-appointment/> > privacy officer Kate Black, who joined the company in February, says > 23andMe plans to launch a transparency report, like those published by > Google, Facebook and Twitter, within the next month or so. The report, she > says, will reveal how many government requests for information the company > has received, and presumably, how many it complies with. (*Update:* The > company released the report > <http://fusion.net/story/218726/23andme-transparency-report/> a week > later.) > > > > “In the event we are required by law to make a disclosure, we will notify > the affected customer through the contact information provided to us, > unless doing so would violate the law or a court order,” said Black by > email. > > > > Ancestry.com would not say specifically how many requests it’s gotten from > law enforcement. It wanted to clarify that in the Usry case, the particular > database searched was a publicly available one > <http://www.smgf.org/pages/ydatabase.jspx> that Ancestry has since taken > offline > <https://www.genomeweb.com/applied-markets/ancestrycom-shutters-smgf-database-amid-murder-case-controversy> > > with a message about the site being “used for purposes other than that > which it was intended.” Police came to Ancestry.com with a warrant to get > the name that matched the DNA. > > [image: Description: > http://5c94f.v.fwmrm.net/ad/g/1?nw=379215&asid=g2706378&cana=13141794&canr=4342611&resp=ad&et=i&cn=defaultImpression&pvrn=RANDOM_NUMBER&cr=;;ptgt=p] > > <http://2912a.v.fwmrm.net/ad/l/1?s=f037&n=379215%3B379215&t=1456164012434008009&f=&r=379215&adid=13138265&reid=4342632&arid=0&auid=&cn=defaultClick&et=c&_cc=&tpos=&sr=0&cr=> > > “On occasion when required by law to do so, and in this instance we were, > we have cooperated with law enforcement and the courts to provide only the > specific information requested but we don’t comment on the specifics of > cases,” said a spokesperson. > > > > As NYU law professor Erin Murphy told the New Orleans Advocate > <http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/11707192-123/new-orleans-filmmaker-cleared-in> > > regarding the Usry case, gathering DNA information is “a series of totally > reasonable steps by law enforcement.” If you’re a cop trying to solve a > crime, and you have DNA at your disposal, you’re going to want to use it to > further your investigation. But the fact that your signing up for 23andMe > or Ancestry.com means that you and all of your current and future family > members could become genetic criminal suspects is not something most users > probably have in mind when trying to find out where their ancestors came > from. > > > > > > “It has this really Orwellian state feeling to it,” Murphy said to the > Advocate. > > > > If the idea of investigators poking through your DNA freaks you out, both > Ancestry.com <https://dna.ancestry.com/legal/privacyStatement#4> and > 23andMe have options to delete your information with the sites. 23andMe > says it will delete information within 30 days upon request. > > > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected] <javascript:>> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmNzNycXE2BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NTYxNjQxNTg-> > > > > [image: Yahoo! Groups] > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlbGpkaTQ1BF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQ1NjE2NDE1OQ--> > > • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • > Unsubscribe <javascript:> • Terms of Use > <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> > > __,_._,___ > > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
