The deCODEme team has been busy working to update and improve your deCODEme experience. Additions include ABO blood types, Kidney stones, Eye color and Statin-induced myopathy. We have also added a section for feedback and research and a more detailed Male line analysis.
Here is a summary of the additions and changes:
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Tags: ABO blood types, Ancestry, Eye Color, Kidney Stones, Statin-Induced Myopathy. 
Click on the image to watch the 60 Minutes Australia segment on genetic testing
60 Minutes Australia recently visited the deCODE genetics labs in Iceland and interviewed deCODE’s CEO Dr. Kari Stefansson. Among the people who did the deCODEme genetic test were journalist Liz Hayes, world surfing champion Layne Beachley and Australian television’s favorite builder, Scott Cam. To watch the 60 Minutes Australia segment click on the image above. To read the transcript of the webchat with Professor Bob Williamson click here. To learn more about deCODEme genetic tests and order your personal genome scan visit www.decodeme.com.
deCODE genetics and Celera Corporation have announced the signing of agreements under which deCODE has granted Celera non-exclusive worldwide licenses to deCODE’s genetic markers for increased risk of major cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, including heart attack, stroke, atrial fibrillation (AF) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). These markers can be incorporated into laboratory tests for assessing and managing individual risk of these diseases.
“This is an excellent opportunity to broaden the clinical application and commercialization of our discoveries of high-impact genetic risk factors for major diseases. The markers included in these agreements are among the most widely replicated genetic risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic disease, and they provide a natural complement to the biomarker services already offered by Berkeley HeartLab, Celera’s subsidiary. In Celera we have a partner with a global reputation in human genetics and a large and effective outreach and sales force. We are pleased to have the chance to work with them to build upon our discovery and testing platforms and to accelerate the adoption of personalized medicine,” said Kari Stefansson CEO of deCODE.
deCODEme calculates your genetic risk for Multiple Sclerosis
The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) encourages Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness during March 2009.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common neurological disorder diagnosed in young adults. It is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system; the brain, nerves and spinal cord, that damages the protective insulation (known as “myelin”) surrounding the nerves. As a result, nerve impulses carrying messages from the brain and spinal cord are disturbed, causing a variety of symptoms such as visual disorders, weakness, dizziness, and various movement disorders, to name but a few.
The causes of MS are not fully understood. With better understanding of the disease, more effective ways will be found to treat it in the future, and hopefully prevent it from occurring in the first place. Significant steps towards better understanding of MS have however been made.
Californians can now enjoy the benefits of deCODE’s market-leading DNA-based disease risk assessment tests and pioneering deCODEme™ genome scans
deCODE genetics today announced that it has received a clinical laboratory license from the State of California. The quality and scale of deCODE’s in-house, CLIA-registered genotyping laboratory underpins deCODE’s global leadership in the discovery of variations in the sequence of the human genome conferring risk of common diseases. The same staff and facility also process deCODE’s DNA-based reference laboratory tests for gauging individual risk of major public health challenges ranging from heart attack to breast cancer, as well as the company’s pioneering deCODEme™ scans, the world’s first personal genome analysis and focused disease area scans. With this license, California residents can now benefit from the unrivaled quality of deCODE products for understanding risk and, working with their physicians, empowering the prevention of common diseases.
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deCODEme takes on Heart Disease in February
February is American Heart Month. With heart disease being the leading cause of death in the United States it is important to assess your genetic risk of developing Cardiovascular conditions. To mark this we have decided that during the month of February our deCODEme Cardio Scan™ will be offered for a promotional price of $100.
deCODEme Cardio Scan enables individuals to better understand their inherited risk of heart attack, stroke and atrial fibrillation, intracranial and abdominal aortic aneurysm, and venous thromboembolism.
Coronary heart disease is a progressive disease that begins early in life but symptoms generally do not appear until middle age or later. Coronary heart disease is the main cause of death in the developed countries and it is estimated that over 1.35 million North Americans will as a result of coronary heart disease, have a heart attack in the year 2008.
Several studies have found evidence of a genetic contribution to CHD and heart attacks. Two common genetic variants have been discovered that are associated with an increased risk of heart attack; one variant near the CDKN2A/2B genes on chromosome 9 and another in the CELSR2/PSRC1 genes on chromosome 1. The variant near the CDKN2A/2B genes is a particularly strong risk factor for early-onset heart attacks (occurring earlier than 50 years of age in men and 60 years of age in women).
Even though age, gender, and family history are unmodifiable risk factors for coronary heart disease and heart attacks, the risk of developing CHD and eventually a heart attack can be reduced with a lifestyle that includes physical activity, a heart-healthy diet, and no smoking.
Martha Stewart at the deCODE laboratories
On Thursday, February 5th, just ahead of Friday’s annual focus on women’s heart health awareness, deCODE CEO Kari Stefansson is scheduled to appear live on The Martha Stewart Show, the nationally syndicated lifestyle series hosted by Martha Stewart. The discussion will focus on how understanding the inherited risk factors measured by the deCODEme™ full genome scan and the new Cardio and Cancer Scans may empower people to better protect their health. Those unable to watch Thursday’s show live can find a replay of the segment on www.marthastewart.com or on www.decodeme.com.
“As the people who discovered the highest impact genetic risk factors for heart attack and stroke, this is our way of encouraging people to gain a better understanding of their cardiovascular risk. Because these diseases occur at the interface between genes and the environment, this is empowering information that may help people to take action to effectively reduce the likelihood of developing these diseases. We are also pleased to have the opportunity to talk about our scans with Martha Stewart in this month devoted to increasing the awareness of heart disease. Heart disease remains the leading killer of women as well as men, but there is a lot we can all do, working on our own and with our doctors, to reduce our risk and to stay healthier longer,” said Kari Stefansson, CEO of deCODE.
You can watch deCODEme genetic tests on The Martha Stewart Show by clicking on this link.
deCODE Complete Scan, Cardio Scan and Cancer Scan.
Through deCODEme™, the world’s first retail genome analysis service, deCODE genetics today announced the launch of the first focused genetic scans for assessing personal risk of several major cardiovascular diseases and common cancers. deCODEme Cardio™, which detects genetic risk factors for Heart Attack, Atrial Fibrillation, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), and several other conditions, is offered at an introductory price of $195. deCODEme Cancer measures genetic risk factors for Prostate Cancer, Lung Cancer, Bladder Cancer, Skin Cancer and Colorectal Cancers, as well as the common form of Breast Cancer, at an introductory price of $225. Both can be ordered as a bundle for $350.
deCODEme customer Anna Peterson on top of Acropolis on a camping trip in Athens.
By: Anna Peterson
I am a fit, healthy, 27 year old Canadian graduate student looking forward to the future. So why, you might wonder, did I decide to take the deCODEme genetic test? It’s simple really. Information is the key to prevention. By learning about my genetic predisposition for different illnesses, I will be better prepared to take an active role in my future health care decisions.
Many of my friends were surprised that I decided to take this comprehensive genetic test. Some were curious about the story my genes would tell, while others wondered whether or not I really wanted to know. When I put my genetic sample in the mail, I felt a little nervous about the chain of events I had set in motion, but curiosity overcame fear. In my opinion, knowledge is power and I’d rather make lifestyle changes in my 20s than in my 60s.
deCODE scientists have discovered new genetic variants influencing BMI, weight and risk of obesity
As we all know to well, for decades the scales have been tipping in favor of obesity. The epidemic of obesity in many industrialized countries has been driven by many factors, including easy access to fast food, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, insufficient daily physical activity. All of this while our genomes have evolved on a background of scarcity, often putting a premium on the ability of the body to turn food into fat and store energy for leaner times. A paper published today by deCODE scientists and academic colleagues from the US and Europe provide a significant advance in our knowledge of the underlying genetics and biology of obesity, providing new information for understanding and addressing obesity and perhaps nudging the scales the other way.
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Tags: BMI, Body Mass Index, deCODE genetics, deCODEme, Genetic Research, obesity. 
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Marie of Denmark along with deCODE scientist Unnur Thorsteinsdottir during an official visit to deCODE laboratories earlier this year.
Reykjavik, ICELAND, December 8, 2008 – deCODE genetics (Nasdaq:DCGN) today announced the discovery by an international consortium of scientists from deCODE and major European and US academic institutions of a single letter variation in the human genome (SNP) that is associated with increased fasting glucose levels and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). deCODE will employ its CLIA-registered genotyping laboratory and existing testing platform to swiftly integrate the finding into its deCODEme™ personal genome scan, and to assess the addition of this new variant to the company’s deCODE T2™ reference laboratory test for assessing individual risk of type 2 diabetes.
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Pam Bale is going to get her three grown-up children a deCODEme genetic test for Christmas
Pam Bale knows what she wants to get her three children for Christmas. Two of Pam’s children are in their 20s and the other is 30. In other words, a little too old for video games. So they’re not getting a Wii or Guitar Hero. Instead, Pam wants to surprise her kids on December 25th with a genetic test.
“I think the kit would open up all sorts of doors to their future,” says Pam. “They are young adults, and at their ages the test can show them what medical concerns they might face down the road. They are young enough so they can take the steps to avoid those concerns. It would make their whole future happier and healthier and extend their lives. I think it’s a great gift to give to my kids. So don’t tell them. I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”
For the whole interview with Pam Bale go to deCODEme Customer Stories.
Genetic test customer Pamela Ayers and her grand-children, Spokane, WA
After watching her parents and brother suffer with diseases that might have been prevented with the right care, Pam Ayers has become vehemently proactive. She now believes that genetic health scans are the way of the future and early testing could help parents change their own and their children’s life-style for the better. This proud grandmother is taking care of her family.
Read the whole interview with Pamela Ayers in the Customer Stories section of deCODEme.
Time magazine's Best Inventions of 2008: The Retail DNA Test
deCODE staffers were buzzing about Time magazine’s announcement this week of its best invention of 2008: the retail DNA test. As the creators of deCODEme, the first personal genome scan on the market, deCODE staff members were not about to quibble about the date (deCODEme was actually launched on November 16, 2007).
Indeed, the value of deCODE’s capabilities and service is perhaps best demonstrated by the launch of web portals offering similar services based largely upon deCODE’s discoveries, and Time’s article underscored the potential of this new field by devoting considerable attention to the high-powered tech luminaries who have come chasing deCODEme’s tail.
But what sets deCODE apart from the pack is not that it was the first personal genome analysis service to hit the market, but that it grew out of the biggest and to date most successful effort to discover the genetic factors that increase individual risk of public health challenges like from heart attack and breast cancer. More than a dozen years of large-scale research in human genetics, with the experience of having analyzed the genomes of hundreds of thousands of people, really does count.
The competition clearly feels the weight of deCODE’s advantage, which Time highlighted last year when it named CEO Kari Stefansson to the Time 100 list for the company’s pioneering work in genetics. As Time quotes the founder of a deCODEme competitor: “We could make great discoveries if we just had more information.” Perhaps, but fortunately with deCODEme the public doesn’t have to wait for the dot-commers to bone up on their genetics.
Congratulations again to the deCODEme team!
deCODE customer rep Larus Jon Gudmundsson and genetic counselor Kris Kristjansson MD
Tapping the vast resources of deCODEme scientists
The users of deCODEme show great interest in their results and are not afraid to ask questions. deCODEme customer support welcomes all questions and inquiries and taps the vast knowledge base and resources of its research teams to respond to all emails as comprehensively and quickly as possible. Among the more general questions we receive is the following.
Question
“I’m seriously thinking about doing the DNA test. Now I only have to decide from which company. How does your test compare with tests from other companies?”
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Tags: customer support, deCODE genetics, deCODEme, genome browser, health, health care. 
A new genetic test assessing a woman's risk of developing the most common forms of breast cancer has arrived. Can the test, developed by the biopharmaceutical company deCODE, improve the way doctors screen for breast cancer?
Breast cancer kills 40,000 people a year in the U.S. This is about the population of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Imagine, each year an entire city wiped out by breast cancer.
To help fight breast cancer, a new test assessing individual risk has just become available. For women without a clear family history of the disease, the deCODE BreastCancerTM test assesses their personal risk of developing the most common forms of breast cancer. The DNA test, launched by the biopharmaceutical company deCODE, makes it possible to identify those women at significantly higher than average risk, helping doctors use new screening technologies and treatments in a more targeted, personalized and effective manner.
Amy Doneen, Director of the Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Center, Spokane, WA.
Amy Doneen at the Heart Attack and Stroke Prevention Clinic in Spokane, Washington, talks about an “exciting new time” for preventive health care. Amy, a nurse practitioner, has been using nutrigenomics (the response of genes to nutrition) as part of the program for more than a decade and with outstanding results. “The goal,” says Amy “is to find out what path a patient is on to developing certain diseases and kick them off that path.” Scanning for risk factor for common conditions (such as diabetes, heart attack, several types of cancer etc.) She emphasizes the importance of gauging lifetime risk as against clinical tests that usually concentrate on immediate high risk. According to Amy, some people walk away from the second kind with a negative result and think things are always going to be fine. Genetic testing is just arriving to the market place, but Americans currently spending nearly $50 billion on stroke care alone, the time is ripe to back all advances in preventive medicine.
To read more and watch parts of the interview with Amy Doneen visit the deCODEme Customer Stories.
deCODEme genetic test includes an identification of the male pattern baldness trait.
A team of scientists, led by Professor Tim Spector of King’s College, London, have been taking a closer look at the genetic coordinates for male pattern baldness or androgenic alopecia. Male pattern baldness is the most common form of hair loss in men and one that increases steadily with age. While it has been known for some time that men inherit a tendency for baldness via their x chromosomes from their maternal grandfather, this new research has identified a region on chromosome 20 (20p11) that suggests that a susceptibility for baldness is also inherited directly from one’s father. Read More
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Tags: baldness, deCODE genetics, deCODEme, Frank Geller, genetic test, Tim Spector. 
On October 8th MSNBC published an article by Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. on genetic tests for breast cancer.
The following is a response by Jeff Gulcher, M.D., Ph.D, Chief Scientific Officer at deCODE Genetics.
Arthur Caplan stresses caution in the application of the new genetic risk tests for common diseases and I certainly agree that genetic testing should be applied with care. However, he goes too far when he says that the new deCODE BreastCancer genetic risk test is only useful for women who have two or more close relatives with breast cancer, is not based on large enough studies to be accurate, and is not regulated.
There are two major types of breast cancer: the rare, early onset form that occurs in certain families and for the detection (for which the Myriad Genetic test is well suited), and the common form which accounts for 95 percent of breast cancer. The vast majority of women who develop breast cancer do not have the conventional risk factors of family history, pregnancy history or breast density. Unfortunately, many of these women were likely considered to be of average risk before their cancer was found. Therefore, they were not even offered screening with breast MRI which detects two to three times more cancer at an earlier stage than mammography alone, or preventive measures such as tamoxifen treatment which can cut down cancer rates by 40 to 50%.
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Tags: Arthur Caplan, Breast Cancer, CLIA, deCODE genetics, genetic test, Jeff Gulcher, MSNBC. deCODE Breast Cancer enables women to understand whether they may benefit from more intensive screening, monitoring or preventive drug therapy.
Reykjavik, ICELAND, October 8, 2008 – deCODE genetics today announced the launch of deCODE BreastCancer™, a new tool for assessing risk of the common forms of breast cancer. For the first time, a woman concerned about breast cancer can speak with her physician about a genetic test to better understand her lifetime risk of developing the common forms of the disease.
The common forms of breast cancer result from the interplay of genetic as well as environmental and lifestyle factors and represent 95 percent of all breast cancers. These are distinct from the rare and essentially purely inherited forms of the disease due to mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which cause between 1 and 3 percent of breast cancers. deCODE BreastCancer™ is a DNA-based reference laboratory test performed using a simple blood sample or cheek swab, ordered by physicians on behalf of their patients.
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For more information on the deCODEme genetic test visit us at www.deCODEme.com.
