23andMe is used to lots of eye-rolling from scientists. One geneticist, quoted a year ago in the New York Times, ridiculed the Mountain View, CA-based maker of consumer genetic tests for providing little more than “a really wonderful form of recreation.”
One year later, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki stood in front of a room of genomic scientists at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and boldly declared that 23andMe is turning into “a research company.” Sure, the business still relies heavily on persuading consumers to buy a test to look at certain regions of their DNA, partly out of curiosity and potential health benefits. But now 23andMe is building up a second revenue stream, using its database of 75,000 customers and counting, to help drug companies and scientists engage with the public, with an eye toward advancing research.
