Google Calico used genetic data from Ancestry to study aging

Hollis
Johnson

• Genetics testing company 23andMe made headlines last
  week when it announced it would
  share consumers’ anonymized genetic data with
  pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
• Companies like 23andMe frequently share customer DNA
  data with other institutions, also known as “third
  parties.”
• Ancestry, another popular company like 23andMe, had a
  partnership with Google’s stealthy life extension spinoff
  Calico to study the genetics of longevity. That partnership has
  now ended.

As is often the case in the world of scientific research
partnerships, almost as quickly as a new deal begins, another
ends.

Popular spit-in-a-tube genetics-testing company 23andMe made a
splash last week when it announced a plan to share the
anonymized genetic
data of millions of consumers with pharmaceutical giant
GlaxoSmithKline to help the company develop new drugs. 

Ancestry, which maintains a database of genetic information
built on the spit samples of
more than 5 million consumers, had been partnering with
Google’s stealthy life extension spinoff Calico to study aging
and longevity. The agreement, which was finalized
almost exactly three years ago, recently ended, an
Ancestry spokesperson told Business Insider.

Apart from a 2015 press release announcing the agreement, neither
company has said much about what the research partnership did.

Genetic testing companies frequently share customer DNA data with
other institutions. These can include public research groups like
state universities or private drug makers like GSK.

Looking at genetic data for clues to a long life

Calico was ostensibly interested in sorting through Ancestry’s
treasure trove of genetic data to identify commonalities among
people who live a long time. Data on individuals who live
longer-than-expected lives compared to their shorter-lived family
members might be especially useful. This could reveal common
genetic traits among those longer-lived folks that might play a
role in helping them outlast their peers.

“The Calico science team decided, what if we used a data set like
what Ancestry.com has to identify people who have a
longer-than-expected lifespan in their family?” Ken Chahine, the
senior vice president and general manager of Ancestry, told
Business Insider
back in 2015.

Since then, neither company has published any research from the
collaboration, but that doesn’t mean none was produced, someone
familiar with Calico’s work told Business Insider. 

“Ancestry previously had a relationship with Calico which
focused on understanding human longevity and developing ways that
all of us can lead longer and healthier lives,” an Ancestry
spokesperson told Business Insider, adding, “This relationship
has now ended.”

According to Calico, some of the results of its research
with Ancestry will be published in a peer-reviewed journal
soon. 

Ancestry can share your anonymized genetic data with third
parties like Calico if you opt-in to what the company calls an
“informed
consent to research.” This option comes up after you
submit your spit sample during the online registration process.
(If you decline the opt-in, your data will not be shared with
third parties, the company says.)

Those third party groups can include for-profit private companies
like Calico as well as nonprofit research groups like the
University of Utah and the American Society of Human
Genetics — both of which still have active partnerships with
Ancestry.

How to delete your DNA data

If you choose to share your genetic data with a company like
Ancestry or 23andMe, it can be a difficult
decision to undo. Once you opt-in, the company will not
wipe your genetic information from any “active or completed
research projects,” according to its latest privacy
statement. 

However, if you’d like to stop your DNA data from being used for
new research, you can.

Use the navigation bar at the top of the homepage to select
“DNA.” On the page with your name at the top, scroll to the upper
right corner, select “settings,” then go to “delete test results”
on the column on the right side. Doing this will result in
Ancestry deleting the following within 30 days: “All genetic
information, including any derivative genetic information
(ethnicity estimates, genetic relative matches, etc.) from our
production, development, analytics, and research systems.”

If you want to take the additional step of having the company
discard your physical spit sample, you must call member
services.

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