I know we don't usually re-post blogs, but this one struck me as funny. Perhaps if I don't get tenure at the same time an older thermalcycler is being disposed of, I could have a new career forming the third "DNA dating" company. Here is a blog discussing the latest and cheapest company that will use your DNA to help you find your perfect match. The service is available to both singles, who can use their database of other people who have also submitted their DNA samples to find a match, and couples where both members submit samples to find out if their genes spell fairy tale ending or divorce court (won't the lawyers have fun with this??). From the GenePartner website it appears that they base compatibility on HLA or immune loci but this sounds more like testing for can we go on a trip to Cabo together and come back speaking to each other. Maybe my new company will use microarrays to screen for "remote hogging" and "Gray's Anatomy tolerance" genes...that might be more effective.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
New Uses for Old Thermalcyclers (and Scientists?)
I know we don't usually re-post blogs, but this one struck me as funny. Perhaps if I don't get tenure at the same time an older thermalcycler is being disposed of, I could have a new career forming the third "DNA dating" company. Here is a blog discussing the latest and cheapest company that will use your DNA to help you find your perfect match. The service is available to both singles, who can use their database of other people who have also submitted their DNA samples to find a match, and couples where both members submit samples to find out if their genes spell fairy tale ending or divorce court (won't the lawyers have fun with this??). From the GenePartner website it appears that they base compatibility on HLA or immune loci but this sounds more like testing for can we go on a trip to Cabo together and come back speaking to each other. Maybe my new company will use microarrays to screen for "remote hogging" and "Gray's Anatomy tolerance" genes...that might be more effective.
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6 comments:
I'm very lucky in that I met a woman who shares the "buying any shiny piece of technology" gene with me. Otherwise I'd be a lonely man in a tiny house that was filled to the brim with shining metal and flashing blue LED lights.
I would not be at all surprised if that is, in fact, a gene. Perhaps convergent evolution with bowerbirds?
The aforementioned spouse is a Patricelli student, so the bowerbird connection is particularly apropos.
As much as I want to laugh at this page, it just seems horribly wrong that these hacks are exploiting people's trust of science and scientists like this. Everyone knows that relationships are outside the realm of science and should only be entered into after consulting a palm reader. Seriously though, I bet the advice of a palm reader would be better than the genetic method: you could probably tell more about who someone should marry based on how sweaty their palm is than some fraudulent genetic assay.
I think you're saying the same thing as the Gene Partner folks - smelling a sweaty palm could tell you about someone's MHC- you just rely on your nose's ability to say "hey, I like that smell - they must be different genetically" as opposed to shelling out $199 to have some sequencing hacks say that yes, you have different genotypes.
Dan, you remind me how old I am...Gail interviewed to be a Borgia *student* when I was at Maryland myself in Wilkinson's lab.
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