Researchers analysed thousands of laboratory-made plasmids and discovered that nearly half of them had defects, raising questions of experimental reproducibility.
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DNA-testing company 23andMe Inc. has launched a new tool that aims to predict an infected person’s risk of developing a severe case of Covid-19, expanding the company’s bid to deliver actionable insight on health.
The company’s new COVID-19 Severity Calculator was launched on Wednesday. It pulls data from a Covid-19 study begun in April that queried more than a million participants on their ethnicity, lifestyle, height, weight, health conditions, genetics and experience with the disease, among other things. The calculator is based on data from about 10,000 study participants who tested positive for the virus, and more than 750 who were hospitalized.
An algorithm was created from the data that the company says can predict the likelihood of hospitalization for those infected. The ability of companies such as 23andMe to show that DNA tests can do more than help people explore their heritage is key to the growth of the consumer genomics industry.
“We quickly published the results and sought ways to help people benefit more directly from the research,” said Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “We’ve...