Becoming part of something bigger.

Our genetic research gives everyday people the opportunity to make a difference by participating in a new kind of research —online, from anywhere.

Once participants answer online survey questions, researchers link their genetic data to study topics from ancestry, to traits, to disease. These contributions help drive scientific discoveries.

The choice to opt into or out of research is always up to the participant.

23andMe integrates with Apple's ResearchKit® app.

You can participate in Mount Sinai Asthma Health and Stanford Medicine's MyHeart Counts large-scale medical studies. Right from your iPhone.

Your 23andMe genetic information can be integrated into large-scale medical studies beyond 23andMe for the first time with the ResearchKit app. The studies are poised to transform medical research and empower more people to join more studies through 23andMe's app integration. You can join the studies on asthma and heart disease by going to the iTunes store and downloading the apps on your iPhone.

ResearchKit is a registered trademark of Apple Inc.

Accelerating research. Making an impact.

On average, a customer who chooses to opt into research contributes to over 230 studies on topics that range from Parkinson's disease to lupus to asthma and more.

With the help of our 23andMe community we believe we can accelerate research and make an impact with our genetic data.

"I get inspiration from knowing that my participation could help prevent or cure diseases for future generations. I believe it's important to be part of the solution, and for me that means taking part in research."

Kirsten Kraft
23andMe customer

"I get inspiration from knowing that my participation could help prevent or cure diseases for future generations. I believe it's important to be part of the solution, and for me that means taking part in research."
Kirsten Kraft
23andMe customer

How it works.

When you participate in our research, you can answer survey questions online, day or night. From your phone or laptop, for five minutes or fifty, your contribution is up to you.

By answering online survey questions and allowing researchers to combine your genetic data with millions of other data points, you can help drive scientific and medical discoveries. See our list of publications here.

When you participate in research, you can answer survey questions online, day or night. From your phone or laptop, for five minutes or fifty, your contribution is up to you.

By answering online survey questions and allowing researchers to combine your genetic data with millions of other data points, you can help drive scientific and medical discoveries.

As a customer, you will be asked if you would like to opt into research. More than eighty percent of our customers choose to participate. You can opt into or out of research at any time.

Our research activities are reviewed by an independent ethics committee, also known as an Institutional Review Board (IRB).

More on: how it works.

When you participate in research, you can answer survey questions online, day or night. From your phone or laptop, for five minutes or fifty, your contribution is up to you.

By answering online survey questions and allowing researchers to combine your genetic data with millions of other data points, you can help drive scientific and medical discoveries.

As a customer, you will be asked if you would like to opt into research. More than eighty percent of our customers choose to participate. You can opt into or out of research at any time.

Our research activities are reviewed by an independent ethics committee, also known as an Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Bringing experts together.

We have received four grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to fund our research and have identified hundreds of new genetic associations. We regularly publish our research in leading, peer-reviewed scientific journals.

We collaborate with some of the best and brightest talent in the world of genetics research.

Here are some of our collaborators:

ACADEMIC:


University of Chicago

MRC Epidemiology Unit at Cambridge University

Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Stanford University

INDUSTRY:


GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Biogen

Genentech

Pfizer

P&G Beauty

NON-PROFITS:


Lupus Research Institute

The Michael J. Fox Foundation

National Parkinson Foundation

Parkinson's Institute and Clinical Center

    ACADEMIC

  • University of Chicago
  • MRC Epidemiology Unit at Cambridge University
  • Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
  • Stanford University

    INDUSTRY

  • GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
  • Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Biogen
  • Genentech
  • Pfizer
  • P&G Beauty

    NON-PROFITS

  • Lupus Research Institute
  • The Michael J. Fox Foundation
  • National Parkinson Foundation
  • Parkinson's Institute and Clinical Center

When you participate in our research program, your data is de-identified. That means your registration information is stripped from your genetic data so you cannot reasonably be identified. We do not include any of your registration information (like your name, email, etc.) in our research database. We store personal information that researchers do need for analysis (like date of birth) in a separate database from the genetic data, and they are only linked by a randomly assigned research ID.

Most of our research is performed using aggregate-level data. That means researchers link your de-identified data with millions of other data points and look at the data set as a whole. We may also ask you for your explicit consent to share your individual-level information with approved third-party researchers.

All research activities conducted by 23andMe Research are reviewed by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and participation is completely voluntary. The IRB is an independent ethics panel that ensures all research is conducted in accordance with government and ethical guidelines.

For more information, see our research consent.

If you are a 23andMe customer and have registered your kit, you will have the option to consent to our research. You can opt into and out of our research at any time by updating your consent status in your account settings. If you opt out, we will stop using your information for research going forward (we cannot affect studies that have already been completed) and will discontinue use of your data within 30 days.

We believe DNA can provide insight into why some people are more likely to get a disease than others. We want to understand, through genetics, why people respond differently to disease treatment options and drugs.

We develop research communities in collaboration with other organizations (academic, pharmaceutical and non-profit). These research communities are large cohorts of people who share a common disease or condition, such as Parkinson's disease or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). With this large set of data, we are able to analyze similarities and differences and study the potential impact of environment and lifestyle on disease development. Today, two of our largest study cohorts are Parkinson's disease and depression and bipolar.

In addition to working with partners that focus on drug development, 23andMe also conducts its own research to try to identify new therapies for both common and rare diseases. To further this effort, 23andMe created a therapeutics group in 2015 that focuses on the discovery of novel treatments through human genetics.

shop