I've just signed up for 23andMe, the personal genomics company; I'm very excited.

Here's how it works:

  1. They mail me a vial for a spit sample and I send it back
  2. Their lab analyzes my DNA across ~100,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)
  3. I receive results in 2-3 weeks

The results include info on my ancestry, potential disease risks as I age, carrier status for inherited diseases, and estimates for how I'll respond to different drugs.

I'm a big fan of the quantified self movement, though I haven't practiced much of it myself. This will be my first serious foray into analyzing myself. I'd love to do a full genome sequence but it's still too expensive. The method 23andMe uses, SNPs, still provides a lot of information and will hopefully lead to some cool insights.

I'll definitely do an update here once I get my results and might share the results themselves - depending on how I feel about privacy.