It was late Friday night – the email arrived to let me know that my Navigenics genetic test results were ready. 

I thought for a second – am I ready?  But without another thought I logged in and there they were.

As I scanned the private report, I realized that there was a lot of information. I went from top to bottom, focusing on the conditions that were important to me – heart attack, Alzheimer’s, diabetes.

My quick read was “relief” – no surprises – the conditions that I was at higher than normal risk for were ones that occurred in my family.  My dad lived to age 87 and my mom to age 84; the conditions that I think I need to pay attention to were the same ones that they were afflicted with.

But I have the chance to do something about it.

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Of course we know that all human beings are related, but sometimes genetic analysis drives this point home even more strongly.  If you carry a rare variant in the Factor V Leiden gene – which has just been added to the Navigenics genetic testing service – you share a common ancestor with every single person who carries that variant.

Factor V (pronounced “factor five”) is a “founder mutation,” a genetic change that originated in one individual long ago and can now be found in that person’s descendants around the world.  This mutation is present in two to 15 percent of Caucasians, but is rare in genetically distinct non-Caucasian populations. 

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Navigenics has joined healthcare leaders across the country to support a new Declaration of Health Data Rights.

The statement aims to ensure patients’ ability to access and share their own personal health information.

The declaration, which appears on the website HealthDataRights.org, was drafted in response to the difficulties many patients have reported experiencing while attempting to obtain their personal medical records from hospitals, health plans and doctors.

It stipulates that we should have the right to access our own health information so that we can make the best medical decisions for ourselves.

The tenets are simple. The document declares that we the people:

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Navigenics has made some significant additions to our genetic testing services.

Five new health conditions have been included in our test panel, and we have added 53 SNPs for a dozen existing conditions, which enhances the predictive ability of our genetic tests. We have also made improvements to our Alzheimer’s disease test. 

With these changes, our Health Compass customers will receive the most up-to-date results.

Read on to learn more about the new conditions.

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The first consumer genetics conference gets underway in Boston today, bringing together leaders in the fields of genetic testing, health, genetics and law.

The Consumer Genetics Show was born out of the growing interest in personal genetic testing, and will address key issues in the field, including scientific advances, best practices, and how to navigate the healthcare system. Doctors will learn more about the genetic testing field and how they can help their patients decide which genetic test is best for them.

The Consumer Genetics Show has attracted a veritable who’s who of the personal genomics industry.

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To a lot of people, genetic testing still sounds like futuristic fiction. And that means people come to us with different misconceptions of what genetic testing is all about.

To help address some of those perceptions, we’ll start blogging from time to time about common myths that surround genetic testing and try to set the record straight.

Here’s one misconception our genetic counselors often hear:

Myth:  My DNA is my destiny, and I don’t want to know.

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