Not satisfied by having our emails, chats, status updates, search histories, clicking behaviors, and shopping preferences, some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful tech titans are in an arms race to get access to your most personal information: your DNA. Last week, for instance, the M… [More]

  President Obama proposes to plunk down $215 million on “precision medicine,” and the National Institutes of Health and its National Cancer Institute will spend it by sequencing the whole genome of a million or more Americans. Is whole-genome testing the path to health? The short answer … [More]

  Your employer may one day help determine if your genes are why your jeans have become too snug. Big companies are considering blending genetic testing with coaching on nutrition and exercise to help workers lose weight and improve their health before serious conditions like diabetes or … [More]

  When Amy Seitz got pregnant with her second child last year, she knew that being 35 years old meant there was an increased chance of chromosomal disorders like Down syndrome. She wanted to be screened, and she knew just what kind of screening she wanted — a test that’s so new, some w… [More]

  Imagine a world where mosquito-sized robots fly around stealing samples of your DNA. Or where a department store knows from your buying habits that you’re pregnant even before your family does. That is the terrifying dystopian world portrayed by a group of Harvard professors at the World … [More]

  Stacie Chapman’s heart skipped when she answered the phone at home and her doctor — rather than a nurse — was on the line. More worrisome was the doctor’s gentle tone as she asked, “Where are you?” On that spring day in 2013, Dr. Jayme Sloan h… [More]

  Experts are warning Australians to be extremely careful when ordering genetic tests online, saying the tests may not meet Australian quality and reliability standards. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has released new advice for consumers, after genetic tests have … [More]

  Many American doctors may not support genetic testing in patients without a major family history of certain illnesses, suggests a new survey of physicians. When presented with the hypothetical case of a middle-aged man with a family history of cancer in an aunt and uncle, more than a thir… [More]

  So, you’re thinking you might like to check out one of those inexpensive new tests that would give you some insight into, say, the health implications of your ethnic heritage. It may, incidentally, turn up findings you may or may not want — say, on your Alzheimer’s disease risk, or … [More]

  There are precious few tests in medicine, save pregnancy perhaps, where a positive test result is good news. Particularly in the realm of genetics, testing positive for a mutation is often devastating, portending gloomy days of sickness ahead. But there is help out there for people with a… [More]