The future of self-knowledge
A health care revolution is on the way, driven by the availability of cheap genetic sequencing, the head of the personal genomics company 23andMe said Tuesday, adding that she’s not sure we’re prepared for it. Anne Wojcicki, chief executive officer and co-founder of 23andMe, appeared before a packed house at Emerson Hall in an event sponsored by the Program on Science, Technology and Society. Wojcicki talked about her company’s personal genomics business, which offers screening of a million possible genetic variations linked to a wide variety of personal traits, disease conditions, and ancestral locations. The company has also developed a more in-depth “exome sequencing,” which instead of screening for known genetic variants provides raw genetic data for the 50 million base pairs that hold the codes for the proteins that do much of the body’s work. The price of such in-depth testing is now so cheap, Wojcicki said, that it rivals the...