Monday, June 08, 2009

Win a Free 23andMe DNA Kit!

Newsflash! An amazing giveaway is at your fingertips. First, a bit of business.

The various online communities that have been growing at the 23andMe website the last few months are anything but dull. I have had the privilege of having my whole family’s genetic information at my fingertips and I cannot believe how it never ceases to amaze me. As a founding blogger hired by 23andMe for their pregnancy community I feel like I fell down the rabbit’s hole of ancestral information and my own personal genetic history. It has made me reflect on my past two pregnancies in-depth and communicate with others. One thing is abundantly clear, no matter how similar we may seem on the outside with our experiences and relations we are all unique due to our environment and genetic make-up. It has truly been a gift working with the whole 23andMe group as well as all the talented bloggers. The information this test provides is priceless.

Now the big news- I am giving away a FREE DNA testing kit from 23andMe to one of my readers. It is a $399 value and it will give you access to detailed information regarding your health and traits complete with clinical research reports as well as your ancestral background. Who doesn’t want to know what haplogroup they come from?

To enter simply leave a comment on this post answering one of the following questions:

“Are there questions you have about your family history that genotyping would help you figure out?”

“Are you like me, someone who wanted to do the test so badly because there is a particular illness, trait or condition that plagues your family? The DNA test could help you find out if you are predisposed or not.” Let me know in the comments!

“Are you adopted and have a desire to know more about your background?”

I will choose one winner at random. All entries must be in by June 13, 12 PM EST. The winner can choose to use the service for them, or pass the kit on to a friend or family member. The contest is open to legal residents of the USA, ages 18 or older and the winner is responsible for any applicable taxes. Here’s a link to the official rules.

Remember: I cannot pick you as a winner if you do not leave a contact email in your comment. Good luck!


*Disclosure: I have been working as a contractor for 23andMe for the last few months. I received my genotyping kit free and have been paid to blog at 23andMe.


CONGRATULATIONS to n2myown02@yahoo.com for winning the 23andMe DNA Test kit!!

31 comments:

  1. Oh yes, this is of great interest to me -- I have Gaucher Disease (which is a recessive disorder, very rare, and no one else I know in the family has it). I would love to know if there is anything else lurking in my medical history. ;-)

    My e-mail addy is mommmaamme at gmail dot com

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  2. As you know, my mom passed away from breast cancer, and I have kind of resigned myself to the "fact" that I will get it. However, I'd love to know whether my fears are unfounded and if it's a genetic trait or a one-off.

    singer.lauren @ gmail.com

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  3. Anonymous1:13 PM

    My maternal grandmother had breast cancer. So far, my mother, aunts, cousins and sister have not had abnormal mammograms...but I'd love to know if I am predisposed to it.

    Also I know autoimmune disorders run in my family.

    Thanks!

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  4. Huge interest as my son has Aspegers and know we are investigating Celiac Disease (which is heriditary)!

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  5. Anonymous9:07 PM

    Both of my grandparents are cancer survivors. Will I need to watch out for that myself? Anything I can do to lower the chances?

    bookhling at gmail dot com

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  6. My dad immigrated from China during the Cultural Revolution and there is little known about the Chinese village that my mom's family came from. The DNA test from 23andMe would help answer many questions about our family's history. Thanks!

    tech savvy mama at g mail dot com

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  7. I had the test done to figure out 1. if I'm predisposed to Alzheimer's disease (both my mom's parents had it) 2. to see if I have the BRCA gene, as my mom was just diagnosed with breast cancer and it would be a clue to her BRCA status (I'm male so it would not affect me much, but I have a sister who would benefit from that information as well).

    The third reason was genetic genealogy--I wanted to know in a broader sense where my family came from. I intend to use a service like Family Tree DNA to have my mitochondrial and Y DNA STRs sequenced for an even more in-depth look.

    I'd like the rest of my family to get sequenced with 23andMe eventually (my mom is getting her BRCA status tested separately, though).

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  8. Oh, and my email is:

    beau@beaugunderson.com

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  9. oh wow, this is very generous of you! :)

    i'm interested in knowing what's in my dna! there's quite an array of diseases that affected both sets of my grandparents, and i don't really know much else beyond that. there isn't a whole lot documented about the family's history.

    email is slightlydelightful at gmail - :)

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  10. What a sweet giveaway. So I don't know much beyond my parents and grandparents and while i have yet to produce offspring, I'd love to have this info for myself and for my sister since she seems to have such different traits than I. (orangenex at gmail dot.com)

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  11. “Are there questions you have about your family history that genotyping would help you figure out?”

    - I recently decided I'd like to apply to donate eggs, and as I was filling out the forms I realised there are a lot of little medical things I don't know about my family. Risks for heart attacks and cancer being at the top of the list.

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  12. I’m a “mutt” with many different ethnic backgrounds, and I’d love to understand more about my genealogical background -- basically i'm just a nerd that wants to research everything about my code :)

    willis.tyler@gmail.com

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  13. Anonymous1:37 PM

    I want to know if I'm more Ukranian or
    russian.
    My email is andrei at gravitonic dot com.

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  14. I've been wanting to try this service out so much!

    Half of my family has heart disease, and I'd like to know if I have a risk for it too. I also had a great aunt with breast cancer, and I'm curious if I'm at risk for the genetic type of breast cancer. I've also wondered more than once if I'm destined to be overweight because of my genetics.

    Thanks for the contest!

    cmcmenemy at gmail dot com

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  15. I, and my circle of friends, are the first generation in the United States. My own family is pretty well documented, but some of my friends come from places where the paperwork is entirely there--so to speak.

    If I won, I'd give it to one of them.

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  16. I am adopted and although I was provided with a very flimsy history of my family (i know my grandmother was italian and had diabetes) I am very interested in knowing what sort of wonderful things to expect in my future, as well as what I can see for my future children. I've also struggled a lot with fatigue and chronic pain and I've always wondered if it was something more than what the prescribed Naproxen can take care of.
    purduekate at gmail dot com

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  17. I'd love to know what I'm genetically disposed to and see if there's anything I should be looking out for.

    My email is rfan at rantingfan dot com.

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  18. Fantastic giveaway. Between Heart Disease, Diabetes and Cancer being very prevalent in my family I am beyond curious to see my genetic makeup as my with and I near starting a family...

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  19. Very cool! Thanks for posting this!

    Definitely interested in finding out more about my DNA. Grandma died of cancer but my family has been very hush hush about what was going on exactly...would be good to find out if there's anything I need to be concerned about.

    Email is writingtoreachyou at gmail dot com

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  20. I'm a computational biologist myself and I'm working in the field of cancer genomics, working a lot with sequencing data and SNP microarrays (the underlying technologies of 23andMe). For these reasons I'm particularly interested in discovering some insights about my own genome, understanding them and finding as much information as I can about these traits. But of course I'm also interested in my family history, since my ancestors are from all across Europe, from Poland to Czech republic and France... Part of the family has some history of colon cancer which is also one of the reasons why I really want to take the 23andMe DNA test!
    (nico23 at stransky dot cx)

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  21. Bobnamy2:19 AM

    I am from a mixed ethnicity genetic background and I also have rheumatoid arthritis. I wonder if any of the traits from the cultural and medical interests I have in my family's background can be uncovered by personal genetics testing.


    bobnamy @ yahoo . com

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  22. My sister has been a diabetic since she was 9. I'd love to find out more.

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  23. I'd like to know more about my genetic background since I don't know my father's side of the family.

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  24. “Are there questions you have about your family history that genotyping would help you figure out?”

    Yes. I'd like for my dad to get tested so I can find out about where his father was from. It's a bit of a family mystery.

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  25. I'd like to find out if there is any predisposition to Crohn's.

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  26. Anonymous6:05 PM

    I have already genotyped myself and my future wife and I have agreed to do her as soon as practicable. She and I have questions about her family history, given that not much is available for citizens of the former Soviet Union. We are relying on family recollection to glean what we can for genealogical purposes.

    But, as important as looking past is looking forward to see what we may pass on to our future children.

    lpshenton@gmail.com

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  27. Anonymous7:18 PM

    “Are you like me, someone who wanted to do the test so badly because there is a particular illness, trait or condition that plagues your family?"

    My family experiences tremors and I would like to know why, what causes it. But also, my son was conceived through donor sperm and I would like to be able to see if he is predisposed to anything.

    Thanks

    n2myown02@yahoo.com

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  28. there is a history of cancer and alzheimer's disease in my family, so i'd be interested to see if i'm carrying those traits.

    andrewDOTellis AT gmailDOTcom

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  29. Jessica Flemming2:44 PM

    My mother was born in North Korea during the Korean Conflict to a Korean mother and an American G.I. She was adopted from an orphanage in Seoul at the age of three. When I was born I was the first person my mother ever held that shared her genetic material. We're both in the dark when it comes to our heritage. I wanted to use the 23andme program to help better understand my ethnic background, but I'd also like my mother to do it so we could have a more complete picture. Thank you!

    email: upherelove@gmail.com

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  30. I would love to be able to have my Dad's genome to help my brother's research, but we're both kind of tapped out at the moment. I'm more interested in family health history, but my brother is really involved with ancestry, Y Haplogroups, etc. In any case, there are so many additional projects that my brother is involved in and if we could get this for my dad, it would be so informative and answer a lot of his questions. Awesome contest!

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  31. Anonymous1:43 PM

    Thank you so much! I cannot believe it. I have e-mailed you my information to have the kit mailed to me! Thanks again!

    Penny
    n2myown02@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting! It's always good to hear from a reader and not say, a robot.