Category Archives: Tibor’s Blog

In my last blog I was discussing the situation of 23andMe, the direct-to-consumer genetic testing company in California. 23andMe has a miscommunication with the FDA. As I said, 23andMe is a leading first class company of its kind, based on the futuristic advancement of genetic science. They are absolutely science based and they pursue a very important task: to deliver genetics to the people. They had some overstatement in their advertising campaign and now they are dealing with the FDA.

Health is the greatest trend now (besides that genius smart phone you are all hunched over and the weird sunglass that looks like a video recording camera). One company called Fruit Street, based in San Francisco, is undertaking the enormous task of delivering health to the people.

I am a next generation sequencing scientist who believes in personal genomics because my genome is my life and your genome is your life and we all want to learn about our genome. We all want to take the driver’ seat in our life, we want to make our destiny. Fruit Street goes all the way to that end. The company guides you through this process of managing your life, from genetics to the every day tasks of your healthy lifestyle. From how much and what you want to eat, to your overall fitness level. All of this is achieved through comprehensive health advice based on important advances in the medical sciences. Fruit Street is the most futuristic science-based healthcare company around. I say “health”-care on purpose, and not “sick”-care because they deliver health information that intends to preempt getting sick.

Let me give you some perspective on how we go from genes to health. I am working right now on a project to find out how the proteins around the DNA act. We reached the point of the post genomic era in research that allows us to start to understand that DNA sequence is not everything. Yes, it has the codes of our lives, but there is a diverse array of proteins around the DNA that proteins manage to decode the DNA sequence. First, these proteins help to maintain the structure of DNA. You might have heard that your DNA in one of your cells, if you pull it out, it is 2 meters (6 feet) long. So how does it fit in one single tiny cell? The answer is that 2 meter long DNA molecule is folded into chromosomes, very dense structures of DNA, and the working horse histone proteins of your cell do this job. Second, this dense chromosome is only for storage of your DNA, if you want to know how your DNA sequence is read, you need to open this DNA chromosome. But again, remember, if you open all of the chromosome DNA , it will not fit in the cell, not to say into the tiny nucleus, so you need to open it only at the location where you want to read it. There are lots of proteins like transcription factors, enhancers and inhibitors to do this job in a very complex way.

You need to know your DNA, sequence it if you have more money, or just do the 23andMe test for your statistical odds for certain traits or maybe disease susceptibility. However, what is written in your DNA sequence and what is realized in your life is more complicated than just a simple code deciphering. Geneticists, doctors and all health professionals know that whatever you do, whatever you eat, even whatever you feel has effect on those proteins that manipulate your DNA. You are right, it is the environment, that has the effect on your gene expression, and who is the most important in your environment? That is you.

Our First Lady Michelle performed a rap song that holds relevance here. She sang about “Fruit Street” and preventing all of us from suffering all those systemic chronic diseases by eating healthy. Free celebrity endorsement? Thank you First Lady Michelle! What you are saying is absolutely true (maybe some singing lessons from Eminem would help, ha-ha) but we got your message and we are supporting it with all the achievements of science and technology, genetics and advanced wearable electronic health tracking devices, doctors, nurses and dietitians behind the telephone if you want to call. Fruit Street is the scientific support behind your preventive health and the coolest thing is that you can download this information to your phone. If you really want more, then you got it, this is also the forum to talk about your health. Open your chat window, generate groups of you fitness bodies, share your fitness results and if you really feel good, post your statement and a photo of you so we all can watch your progress. Or if you don’t feel well, and just need a support group, your circle of friend are here to help you. Stay healthy and stay connected.

Tibor Gyuris

Personal Genomics Blogger

2014. April 18

“Knowledge is always good and certainly always better than ignorance”–Sergey Brin

“Possideo genes ergo sum”—Anonymous Roman Philosopher

….more to come….

23andMe is a personal genomics company in California that provides rapid genetic testing based on DNA microarray hybridization.  You just spit into the collection tube, they extract DNA from your saliva and analyze more than a million genetic variants. 23andMe DNA microarray technology is based on the most advance science in genomics today and they are real pioneers to bring genomics to the people. I am one of the more than half a million people so far who had the advantage to be tested and has the privilege to look into the secret of my own personal genome.

23andMe received a warning letter from the FDA because they made some marketing mistakes. They have been marketing their products as “for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or is intended to affect the structure or function of the body”, the FDA warning letter says.

This is a false promise from 23andMe because their tests are based on association studies.  Association studies determine if a certain trait or disease is associated with specific genetic variant. Association studies do not claim that certain genetic variant causes a trait or a disease. 23andMe tests more than one million genetic variants, single nucleotid polimorphism (SNP’s), but today there is no information available as what most of those SNP’s mean. Results for association studies are available only for 254 conditions as 23andMe claims.  We know something about those 254 conditions, some statistical information about some possibilities. Association studies do not give direct genetic evidence about a genetic cause for a specific disease.

Here is the assessment for breast cancer BRCA-related genetic risk. Think of Angelina Jolie. I thought a half a year ago she was making me a favor and as a matter of fact for everyone in the genetic business. She was providing the entire industry with free good publicity. In my early phase of preparing for my blog I was enthusiastically talking about the famous Hollywood actress, who was making a serious health related decision based on genetic testing. Her test was based on sequencing both the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes and the testing company was searching for every possible known variation. They determined that she had an 87% chance for developing breast cancer by the age of 70, plus she had a strong family history of breast cancer, which made her odds worse. Angelina Jolie is one of the most known celebrities in the world. Her decision was based on medical information. Her medical doctor prescribed the genetic test, her medical doctor received the test result, her medical doctor analyzed the data, and the medical doctor presented to Angeline what the genetic test meant. The cost of testing herself for two breast cancer genes was $7,000.

The quality of Angelina Jolie as a person is as good as the quality of a Ferrari in the automotive industry. The quality of the breast cancer genetic testing is a Porsche. The cost of a 23andMe test is only $99 which is much less than the $7,000 that Angelina paid. Think with a simple, pure, logical competitive sense of capitalism. The quality of the company 23andMe is like a Lamborghini Diablo with world class scientists and first in its class upper management, but in medical terms 23andMe genetic test is a toy for children, a nice present to give to family members for Christmas.

Also, it was a very good summer present for me. I loved reading the results and their specific health recommendations. I created a full blog analyzing my own personal genomics and real life experiences. I am no longer drinking on long international flights even if the boose is for free because I have an elevated risk for thromboembolism, blood clot formation in my lower legs if I just sleep 7-8 hours sitting, and the clot might get loose in my bloodstream. I eat healthier food, because I have an increased risk for getting fat or gaining weight based on my pleasure eating FTO gene, that is responsible for the regulation of my appetite and satiety. They have other recommendations that I love to read.

Ok, let’s say I don’t have that much of a risk for thromboembolism or the whole FTO theory for obesity and eating desire is questionable. Am I making a mistake to drink less alcohol or eat healthy food? No, it is for my benefit. I feel good about it. I feel good about myself, maybe because I am a genetic determinist, and also there are half a million other people out there who enjoy this information, for 99 dollars. Good for them. Good for us. And please, share with me all this information on my EpiGeneBook. It is unbelievable what people share on Facebook. Personal genomics information is at least based on cool science and it is fun to share. But all in all, would I make a serious life changing medical decision based on 23andMe genetic testing? No. Should anybody do that? Hell no. 23andMe is responsible for this kind of statement. They know exactly how much they can say about your genetic test results. 23andMe should say that their genetic testing is not for medical diagnostic purpose. 23andMe genetic tests are for research only, for pleasure only.

In my opening blog I said if you are sick, go to a doctor. You might have a genetic condition which has a diagnostic test approved for it by the FDA, do it. Make the health insurance provider pay for it and make your doctor decide what your treatment would be. Make health-life decisions based on direct medical, genetic facts, taking the advice of your doctor. If you are sick, you might not want to take the 23andMe genetic tests.

My recommendation to Mr. Alberto Gutierrez FDA Director: Follow the law and regulate 23andMe for making false statements, but please don’t take away my toy. Toys’R’Us would be liable to promise that children playing with their toys will acquire a PhD in science but they can claim, that some of their smart toys can sharpen children’s mind.

Tibor Gyuris

Personal Genomics Blogger

2013. November 26

“Knowledge is always good and certainly always better than ignorance.”–Sergey Brin

“Possideo genes ergo sum”—Anonymous Roman Philosopher

….can fruit fly choose sexual orientation….

Theo at work, he reads law documents

“Free will, determinism, quantum theory and statistical fluctuation: a physicist take” says Carlo Rovelli, an Italian theoretical physicist. “Any attempt to link this discussion to moral, ethical or legal issues, as is often been done, is pure nonsense” he adds to it. But that is what we are doing. We are fascinated with the question if we have free choice in our life or forget the whole thing, our dinner was decided at the moment of Big Bang.

The philosophers pick up the question, stepping over the physicists. Very much so regular people in every day life are also interested in their destiny, of course they want to know what their chances are. Free will means in philosophical terms that you can make choices not limited by any factors of any kind. My opinion is that this is almost impossible, certainly for me, most of my choices in my life were limited by certain factors of different kind. I am more on the other side being close to be a determinist. Well, absolute free will and total determinism are the wide extreme ends of the same issue. Extreme views never attracted me, so even being more like a determinists I would rather not go back to the Big Bang, I still can say pasta over chicken on my long intercontinental flight.

Zsolt Boldogkői leading Hungarian geneticist and popular writer asks the question: How can we act free when physical and biological laws control our mind? He and others suggest to adopt compatibilism. Compatibilism means that free will and determinism are not antagonistic, you can believe in both, they could be consistent with each other.  Modern compatibilists believe that free will is more like that we follow our dreams, we follow our motivations. I like what Arthur Schopenhauer famously said: “Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills”. In other words, although a person may often be free to act according to a motive, the nature of that motive is determined.

Personally, I would define myself as a genetic determinist, using the scientific definition. Based on genetic determinism theory, genes together with environmental factors determine morphological and behavioral phenotypes. So isn’t this true, genes, our genotype, our pre-determined susceptibility factors act together with the environment? Yes, and the environment includes us, our experience, our will, desire and motivation.

After all, I do have a little compatible free will, I have desire and motivation to follow. Let see how much of my desire and motivation that is limited by time and space would help me to conduct my daily life. First, I get up in the morning and if I slept well for at least eight hours I feel good enough to follow my morning routine, here I do not have too much free will, desire and motivation, I follow the rule of nature. The next 8-10 hours I work. Professionally, I am very lucky, because here at least I have some free will, lots of desire and motivation, but only because I can work with my lovely genome, otherwise, I would not have any choice regarding the necessity of work, I need to earn money, pay the rent and get the food because I need to survive every day for my pure existence. By the evening I am hungry again, need to prepare food, follow my evening routine, similar to the morning routine, the day is almost gone and if I do well, I might have done something else than just satisfy half of my physical-chemical-biological obligations, to maintain my pure existence. Well, I still need to maintain my species, to satisfy the other half of my physical-chemical-biological obligations, my desire and motivation is still there, with less free choice on my side, depending on my wife.

And why is Theo the bra master? What kind of free will does he have? Theodore is a Pug. Dogs are generally lovely creatures, they share not just happiness but also their microbiota world with us, making the whole family healthier. Dogs were bred to accompany us humans, they became so dependent on us, they need our food and care, so they can not even live on their own any more. Pug is a small dog, he was bred to live in the house, play with us and sit in our lap, never got bored of it. Pug is very needy,  all the time he wants to spend with us. Pug farts and snores. We need to clean his ass and eyes. Pug always wants to eat, Pug is fat. Pug will not accompany me on my evening run, Pug does not even like the evening stroll for some educated pooping. Pug enjoys chewing on toys so much that he becomes very excited and sometimes I believe he is in some passionate fight. Pug likes to lick, pug loves children. Pug is smart and difficult to train. Pug loves us and Pug owns us. Pug chooses the boss, the head of the family. Pug chooses my wife. Well, he loves me and he plays with me, as a matter of fact I am happy that at least he accepts me as equal.

Our Pug has a strange habit, he likes to dig into the laundry, in the mess we have sometimes he can get access to the dirty laundry. He repeatedly picks up bras of different shapes, colors and variations but always my wife’s bras. Not other clothing and not any other family member’s clothing. No socks, no panties of any origin. Our Theo the Pug is four months young, he is a baby, not toilet trained yet. His behavior is nothing to do with free choice, nothing to do with Theo’s desire and motivation. It is his genetically determined instinct to ask for care from the person he loves and trusts most. Or looking at Theo’s strange obsession with my wife’s bras, I start wondering if an inbred dog with all the genetic restrictions and predisposed diseases, he can not help, not even aware of, makes a choice who he loves and trusts the most.

Boldogkői writes: “ Today, what we can do for our well being is to eat all variety of healthy food in total balance, we try to avoid stress, sleep enough, exercise our body and challenge our mind.” I am asking, is it possible, when we obey to all laws of nature, when we successfully maintain our existence and extend our species, we might sit back for a moment in peace and harmony and take that moment to make some educated free choices, once in a while?

Theodore at serious ownership

Tibor Gyuris

Personal Genomics Blogger

2013. October 31

“Knowledge is always good and certainly always better than ignorance.”–Sergey Brin

“Possideo genes ergo sum”—Anonymous Roman Philosopher

….can fruit fly choose sexual orientation….

Meta-genomics is when you want to discover the genetic background of a complex living system. Not just one individual genome, but many individual’s genome analyzed together. This poses a difficult bioinformatics challenge, like you want to sequence a small sample from the ocean, millions of microorganisms living in that tiny sip of water and you want to know which is which DNA. Meta-genomics DNA sequencing is gaining extra momentum these days because we want to understand the microbiota world around us and as a matter of fact the microbiota world inside us.

Today we live in a clean world, modern sanitation, hygiene is good and we live longer as a result of this, of course with considering other beneficial factors of modern human living. However it is suspected by now that super hygiene might cause unexpected problems in our health, for example sudden burst and domination of dangerously pathogenic bacteria and lots of different autoimmune disorders.

Dangerous bacterial hospital strains may become resistant to the best antibiotics and they may become very deadly. Bad Clostridium difficile bacterium might be lurking around your gut but in your healthy, balanced system it is kept under control by normal, good bacteria. After surgery people are treated with antibiotics, to prevent infection, however this might backfire because of harming all bacteria and that could be the opportunity for some smart and strong survival Clostridium difficile individuals taking over the control. And the fatal damage might follow, there might not be any help available at that point. Earlier this year New England Medical Journal reported Els van Nood and colleagues brilliant result of defeating Clostridium difficile by administering fecal microbiota transplant by enema. Microbiota transplantation is not totally new, it has been used sporadically and empirically by limited number of doctors in the last fifty years. Well, before that we did not wash our hands all the time and we were  living in peace and harmony with our bacterial cohabitants, shorter life. Modern molecular based science, namely massive DNA sequencing of complex biological systems, in other words meta-genomics opens a new era of modern personalized medicine when we could understand the molecular mechanism behind bacteriotherapy that could be beneficial for conditions like ulcerative colitis, neurological conditions, Parkinson’s disease, obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and all kind of auto immune disorders, and yet we all still can wash our hands and live long in a clean, healthy environment.

Professionally, I am not just a hard working DNA sequencing scientist but also a lucky individual to be involved in many fascinating sequencing projects. This year in our laboratory we started a meta-genomics DNA sequencing project to discover microbial strains in complex biological samples, so I am totally involved in this matter, inside-outside. I am so obsessed with next generation sequencing, this is my profession and passion, so much that I choose to live separately from my wife because of this lovely sequencing machine. Well, as much as I got excited all day long, every day just by thinking about sequencing, that much I was dry and depressed every night, eating, flossing my teeth and watching political circus. That was all.

Personally, I have been conscientiously clean all in my life, you know the type of person who washes hands 15-20 times a day. Unfortunetally,  I have several autoimmune conditions, including dark red spots on the light strawberry top. It is not that dangerous, it is not painful, no bumpy, no itchy, no smell, remember we have high hygiene, so I only have embarrassing red dots. This condition has been accompanying me for about ten years, mostly asymptomatic. But in the last two years it came back as my stubborn reminder of my sterile TV bound lifestyle. Well, my recent lovely development in my personal life landed me on the southern hemisphere, back to my hot tropical wife. In the tropics everything grows. It is hot and wet. It is the tropical paradise and this paradise is highly populated with good zoo. All kind of zoo including good microbota zoo. Grown in hidden, hot and wet places.  My red spot inflammation could not be treated by private doctor, neither by leading specialists at a world class teaching hospital, they could not help me in the last two years. But now in two weeks I have been cured, no more red spots. What helped me is just a simple microbiota treatment, an ointment, several times a day at the beginning, later to administer it only once a day, every night.

We are not alone, we live in a complex world superimposed into different layer biota’s, macro biota’s and micro biota’s, all forming together Gaia Earth as a super organism. Where the disequilibrium is, there the disease is. So find peace and harmony and your health will follow. Good bacterium beats bad bacterium. And good complex microbiota might treat your autoimmune disease.

I am making my living as a DNA sequencing scientist. Well, I am also an amateur blogger who wants to popularize personal genomics and in order to do that I am exposing some personal, private meta-genomics facts about my life. I am also very shy, I can not talk about the love I feel heating up my heart that I can not explain by the means of genomics. I leave it for the future science of neuro-genomics and I leave it for your imagination.

Tibor Gyuris

Personal Genomics Blogger

2013. October 18

“Knowledge is always good and certainly always better than ignorance.”–Sergey Brin

“Possideo genes ergo sum”—Anonymous Roman Philosopher

….stay tuned for the development of my long term proposal for CR association study, plus I am pondering on some strange behavior of my Theo the Pug….

Hungarian culture has a legendary, a genius, a heroic poet, a true Hungarian cultural treasure. His name is Sándor Pető­fi. He is basic in Hungary, like toddlers learn his poems in nursery schools. He did not become world famous, not because of his legacy, but because of the language he used to write his poems. He used the strange and unique nothing else to compare language, Hungarian. Pető­fi was a real life hero also, he died young in battle defending freedom in 1848.

Pető­fi wrote a satiric poem about Sir Pál Pató, after a long lasting wedding party, I am sure they all had a very good time, including another famous novelist Mór Jókai, where they all learned about the type of person, like Sir Pál Pató, who used to live in that area. Sir Pál Pató is a very unproductive person, he has all the means and talent but he says “Well, we can do this later!” There is something in Sir Pál Pató that prevents him from action. Pető­fi, the young poet, like James Dean type, could not help to make Sir Pál Pató ridiculous. However, Pető­fi partially acquits Sir Pál Pató who can’t help his genes, he was born in Hungary, all Hungarians are like Sir Pál Pató.

I respectfully disagree with Pető­fi. He can not generalize this trait of Sir Pál Pató for the whole nation of Hungary. As a matter of fact, personally I have experienced the opposite. I never encountered the Sir Pál Pató type trait. Not in Hungary, not anywhere else. I lived geographically and culturally in multiple places in the world, always surrounded by quality people of extremely diverse ethnic, cultural and national background.

Well, let me admit, my favorite evening past time is to watch political talk shows and political magazine programs. They really entertain me. I love movies both Hollywood and all kind of art films. I love to watch football. But most of all when politicians are on the show, I love them all, they really entertain me. I watch political circus in all different places in the world of extremely diverse ethnic, cultural and national background.

Recently, as all of us, I have been watching the news of US government shot down. I am reading about continuing resolution (CR). I am reading about stop-gap appropriations measures. Something that fills the place of something else that is lacking, a temporary substitute, a makeshift. No solution, just a substitution. Can you see what I see? “Well, we can do this later!” So there are genes for Sir Pál Pató. We can do it later. Ok, it is more like a complex genetic trait, based on multiple genes interaction embedded in environmental factors. We don’t know what the genotype is, but we certainly see the phenotype. It is a politician phenotype. It is very complex but clearly recognizable. So, disagreeing with the famous poet Sándor Pető­fi, it is not a Hungarian trait. It is the politician trait. I declare it the CR trait. Independent of ethnic, cultural and national background.

Let’s find the genotype behind the CR phenotype, lets find the CR genes. We can do this genomics bottom-up style. Like there is crowdsourcing, crowdknowledge, there is also crowdfunding.  Here, I call for a genetic association study organized and managed by the people. Let’s compare 1000 elected politician DNA to 1000 business leader DNA. The DNA samples should come from diverse ethnic, cultural and national background, from any country on earth. Only criteria is to choose past and present elected politicians versus business leaders. Politicians are good people, they work hard to maintain our global democratic political system all over the world. So don’t bother about Anthony Weiner, he is too busy playing with himself.  And we compare all of the politicians to CEO’s and self made entrepreneurs. The later ones have no time to do it later.

I need your help, we can do this together. Let’s make some popular and quality science here. We can use RocketHub an online crowdfunding platform to raise money for this independent, serious science projects. I need young political activists who would call their representatives very nicely to spit into a collection tube, and by the way if they do spit, why not helping us with 99 dollars (or equivalent currency) that would cover one person’s genotyping. Make one more trip to the CEO business office for another spit and for another 99 dollar check. If some of our subjects would spit but would not contribute, no worry, we will come up with the money, lots of scientist did this with the help of RocketHub. Very importantly, I need an academic lab or an industrial setting to carry out the genotyping experiments. What is the benefit: we would associate some genetic variations with the CR phenotype. We will publish the result and I will be on the author list. My role here is to be an independent scientist who’s ultimate goal is to make important scientific discovery and publish it in a prestigious scientific paper. Ultimately science will be served.

Once I pushed this idea into the public domain EpiGeneBook platform, right now, I start working on the actual scientific-businnes plan how to execute this promising gene-trait association study.  In the mean time I am waiting for your input, remember we are all together: it is crowdknowledge.

By the way there is no English translation of Sir Pál Pató poem. If anybody comes up with the solution, we will publish it here on EpiGeneBook platform.

Tibor Gyuris

Personal Genomics Blogger

2013. October 11

“Knowledge is always good and certainly always better than ignorance.”–Sergey Brin

“Possideo genes ergo sum”—Anonymous Roman Philosopher

….stay tuned for the development of this provocative independent scientific project….

By now, you all might understand my enthusiasm about my own personal genomics and I hope I can drag you with me into the intriguing world of social genomics.  However you are skeptically asking me, how is it possible to talk about personalized genomics when we can only understand a few hundred features -remember, call them phenotypes- associated with readable genotype. How about the other 25 thousand plus genes, their protein products and the even more complex interaction of genes, 100 of thousands of gene functions and millions of individual variations among all of us living here on Gaia earth and ever have lived in our genomic history all embedded in the simple 3 billion letters.

No worry you are not alone as a skeptical amateur personal geneticist. Leading genetic professionals all over the world express their official public opinion against personal genetic testing. Against DTC, Direct to Consumer genetic testing. Well, they have all points of skepticism. In my opening blog I clearly quoted CDC warning that irresponsible genetic testing and false interpretation of our personal genome is very dangerous. It is very important however the communication, the most important as a matter of fact. If you join me, we are going to make this place a forum to talk about it. If you feel comfortable, share your genetic traits with us. If you don’t understand something, we will throw the question to the platform of powerful crowd knowledge. If it turns out that you might have some kind of genetic disease, than this forum will tell you immediately to turn to a doctor, to a specialist. In my personal opinion, it is always better to know it before than after. And remember the genetic test does not make you sick.

Ok, hope you are still with me. I hope, I would not scare you away from genetic testing. Lets try something for the light hearted amateur personal geneticist, for my beloved fellow EpiGeneBook readers. Nutrigenomics. Did you hear about this? Well, I am almost sure you care about what you eat and you care about your beloved style of exercise. For nutrition, I give you a free advise. Don’t eat too much fast food, no industrially ground meat at all, processed food is not healthy.  If you are very hungry and if you have no time to prepare food or no money to take food from a decent restaurant, eat unsalted butter lightly spread on whole grain bread, eat nuts and honey. I am sure you have never heard this before. It is a quick fix fast food. Well don’t eat too much, because here we are talking about not just good calories, we are talking about lots of good calories. So, this first part of advise of EpiGeneBook is for the hungry. If you are not that hungry eat freshly cut vegetables with some cheese and yoghurt. Lots of green leaf vegetables, as a matter of fact all color type of fresh vegetables. Do you know that virtually all type of vegetables can be eaten as raw food. Lets call it fast food, sounds better?  If you have a little more time, put some vegetable oil in a pot, braise anion and garlic for 3 minutes and put all kind of fresh cut vegetables in the pot, little salt and some black pepper on it, well, ok, choose your favorite spicing to add than cover it and cook for another 5-10 minutes. And this is gourmet food, I guarantee it. Don’t eat a lot of meat, always freshly cut meat, newer ground meat, unless you grind it at home. I have been eating like this for about 7 years, I started it when I turned 50. Plus I eat a lot of beans and beetroot. Beetroot so much that my skin turned purple-pink, just kidding, but sure, I love beetroot, it certainly gives me a complex nutritional experience.

If you are a truly good business person and you believe that every product worth as much as it costs, than you will not take my free advice.  Sure, you are part of a multi-billion dollar nutrition-fitness industry. You are willingly and happily pay the gym, pool, fitness club fees and you might even do a weight watcher program. Hey, me too, I pay for an expensive bike, I pay for the climbing gym, I pay for the swimming pool and the spinning classes in the winter time, for the last one California does not apply. Well, I am not “watching” weight. When I eat the chocolate part of my otherwise healthy diet, or drink the beer –we are taking about empty calories here- that also should not belong to my healthy diet, or oh boy I like the baked ham with the crispy-red-hardened cover of it or the properly cooked duck which is uniquely tasty and nutritious, the next day I see the extra layer of swimming belt on my tummy. Really, no kidding, oh my genes, oh my FTO, my appetite gene. Yes, my own free nutrition-fitness advice was not good enough even for me.  I wanted to know more. I did the nutrigenomics-fitness test.

They tested the total of 78 SNP’s of 53 genes. They tested my genes associated with metabolism and accumulation of lipids in my body. There are 13 lipid genes on my list, 15 SNP’s tested.  My central PPARG gene SNP shows that I can get excessively higher BMI (Body Mass Index) when I consume higher amount of saturated fats. You know I am the type of person who gets obese from just breathing clean air.  My BMI is 26.1 even though I eat relatively healthy and actively exercise. Maybe my occasional indulgence for baked ham and duck is the reason for the higher than normal BMI. PPARG gene is a central regulator for many cellular actions and it is included in several diseases like obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and cancer. So, I stop here before any conclusion, I don’t really understand what my PPARG SNP means, but hey, if they say that I must decrease my saturated fat intake in order to be more healthy, I will do it. I paid for this information. I became part of the multi-billion dollar weight watching industry. I am a brand new customer. I joined the best program, the nutrigenomics program, for sure.

Most of my other SNP’s for fat metabolism are average or favorable, but I want to explore with you 3 of my SNP’s which represent higher risk factors for me. I have an SNP in CETP gene, coding for cholesteryl ester transfer protein that is participating in good cholesterol (HDL) and bad cholesterol (LDL) transfer metabolism in an unfavorable way for me. Also, I have an SNP in PCSK1 gene, pro-protein convertase-1 that is the first enzyme in the insulin processing pathway and in my case my particular genotype is associated with increased risk of obesity. One more gene in my lipid panel I am in trouble with is GNB3, the gene coding for the guanine nucleotide-binding protein which is associated with hypertension and obesity. This is too much for me to listen.

Four of my genes associated with the metabolism of glucose and regulation of insulin were also tested, one of them is not favorable. They found an SNP in my CDKN2A gene. I am carrying the TT genotype of the SNP called rs10811661 that exhibit an increased risk for impaired glucose tolerance. Again, this information is good enough for me to feel comfortable reducing my chocolate intake without suffering from the withdrawal effect. Three other variations are very favorable for my health, the good news is that based on my TCF7L2 and PLIN genotype I can actually increase complex carbohydrate intake and still beneficial on my BMI plus improves my overall health. Thank you my genes, at least something is good, I don’t like fatty food anyway, but I love pasta, rice and most of all the favorite every day food for me is bread.

Analyzing three of my genes ACE, ACTN3 and AMPD1 they declare that sport activities which include a combination of both aerobic and anaerobic muscle function are most probable suitable for me with my genetic profile. My potential for both muscle strength and endurance is high. I love my genes. I love my good sport potential. I love doing all kind of sport all in my life, since I was 3 years young all the way through to my more advanced age when I am still participating in age group triathlon. I never became a first class athlete, even though I had a high potential, I never trained for that, I never wanted to be a first class athlete, you can call it an environmental factor. So, genotype is only a potential that is given to you, you make it better or worse through all in your life, the way you live, the path you choose.

And oh my FTO! My appetite gene. FTO is strongly associated with the accumulation of fat mass and with obesity. FTO gene is expressed in my brain where my hunger and satiation feeling is located. Appetite and desire, well let’s just talk about the food for now. FTO mechanism of action is believed to be associated with the feeling of appetite. People with A variant thought to have more trouble controlling themselves for the amount of food they eat. Thank god I am AT and not AA. I am already having trouble controlling myself. When I was very young, I mean really, like 5 years young, I was able to eat 7 chicken drumsticks. I was eating every time, every meal, as a little boy, my mother told me, as I was starving from ultimate hunger and as I would never be eating again. This was my personality, they told me, I know now it is the A variant in my FTO gene. And in this particular case, there was no environmental factor, only pure genes. I grew up in my father’s rural veterinarian household where my mother had a full time job to feed me. No shortage of food, we ate every day as other people on a wedding party. I was a very active child, as I am today, playing and working hard all the time and doing the daily exercise for sure. If I am on vacation without much physical activity, lots of all-you-can-eat food, in three weeks I can gain 6-8 pounds, no kidding, and I am only AT by my FTO. Thank good vacation is over and thank god I love biking.

All in all, I learned about my potential of fat metabolism, glucose metabolism and general fitness. The best part is that I received a full cook book. They recommend me what to eat, what supplements I should take, what my ultimate goal for calorie intake is. And they have a good taste, man, yummy, I love nutrigenomics diet.

Tibor Gyuris

Personal Genomics Blogger

2013. October 8

“Knowledge is always good and certainly always better than ignorance.”–Sergey Brin

“Possideo genes ergo sum”—Anonymous Roman Philosopher

….stay tuned for a provocative proposal, I need your help….

Two weeks ago when I launched my EpiGeneBook, I promised to disclose my personal genomics real life experience to my readers with whom I share more than 99% of my genome. The fascinating fact is that how much identical humans we all are — my purpose is to keep emphasize this fact – well very much we are also different from each other. Those differences come from the variations in our beloved genome. Some variations are single points (SNP), just a single letter written differently, some variations are little additions, some variations are little deletions, some variations are gross re-arrangements, a larger segment of the genome flipping to the other direction or into a totally different location or multiplied into several copies. You have to imagine this that our genome is in constant motion, stretches out to work hard or shrink to a hermit position to sleep. The genome can be exposed to errors when it is copied. Most of the mistakes in our genome get corrected on the spot, but many changes remain undetected. So now, you have to imagine, that this motion is not just in the trillions of cells in your own body, but in all bodies in every single organism in Gaia Earth for more than 3 billion years in our present timeline. What a possibility for variations! Cheers to genetic diversity!

DNA sequencing is one of the direct methods to learn about genetic diversity. DNA sequencing is trivial today. But historically it took 15 years to sequence one (1) human genome, today we can do it in a few days in my lab. So at the dawn of genome sequencing there was one human genome, The Human Genome DNA sequence, an abstract scientific information. With the recent advances of DNA sequencing technologies, today 1000s of individual genomes are sequenced in large genome centers. What more, the people who are sequenced are not random individuals picked up on the street, but grouped in as sick versus healthy for many diseases, or tall versus short and even like for the level of bitter taste perception and earwax type.  So, it was discovered that the different letter variations in the genome between individuals, (these differences are called SNP’s) are associated with certain type of diseases or associated with certain traits that are investigated. These variations are in the range of 10 millions or more, still making only a few percentage of the total genome, remember the other 99.5% or so we are identical. The fascinating fact is that some groups of these DNA letter variations are connected together, so if we study let say one million of these variations that would represent all 10 million variations. Once these different DNA letter variations are identified and associated with certain meaning, finally we got to the point when we don’t just sequence DNA but start to understand the meaning of those letters coming out of our genome.  From here it is just engineering technology to fabricate those chips, with a million representative variant SNP’s, put my DNA in there to test against those selected variations and ask what my genotype is.

I did ask what my genotype was. Twice. Two different companies delivered my genotype, not by sequencing, that is still kind of expensive but by those genotyping chips. I was absolutely fascinated to see my genes, finally. I love my genes, but now I can touch them, I can hug them. If something is wrong in my genes, I still love them. It is the love that does not need to be explained. I love them because they are mine.  No matter what. Well, I love you all my readers, because we are still 99.5% identical, but I am so excited right now, please, let me concentrate on myself for a second.  Out of my one million tested and identified SNP’ there are 254 of them that are associated with certain known conditions. They studied my health risks, some inherited conditions I have, also my drug response to certain medications and finally some traits I have and fun to know about.

I have 41.8% chance of acquiring Venous Thromboembolism as opposed to the average 12.3% in my ethnic group that means my personal risk factor of Venous Thromboembolism is 3.39 times higher than the average, based on my SNP genotype. I also have 20.8% risk for Age-related Macular Degeneration as opposed to average 6.5%, meaning my risk is 3.18 times higher than the average. I also have some elevated risk for Rheumatoid Arthritis, Restless Legs Syndrome, Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, rare form of Stomach Cancer, Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and Scleroderma. I am also more sensitive to warfarin and I carry two SNP’s for inherited conditions, like Hemochromatosis and Connexin 26-Related Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

Well, I have known for long time, that on my long flights my legs are swollen. They say it is normal. Not for me, because I have elevated risk of Venous Thromboembolism. I have to be very careful. When I fly on long intercontinental trips I manage to drink 5-6 drinks, double whisky and a beer for start, two glasses of vine for dinner and a brandy after dinner. After the brandy I am ready to make myself comfortable to sleep for 6-7 hours, sitting in the economy chair, not moving at all. Sure, 6 drinks help. After the 12 hours flight I got out of the airplane on elephant limbs. Now I know my elevated risk for Venous Thromboembolism, what can I do? No drinking on long flight. Probably my beautiful sleep will be disturbed, helped by the alcohol on the uncomfortable narrow seat, I would wake up frequently, step out for some stretching my legs and finish my trip less alcohol happy, but with no swollen legs either, lowering my risk for Venous Thromboembolism, significantly. That is exactly what I did last night on my 12 hours flight to the southern hemisphere. It is very important to acknowledge the fact that knowing my genes, knowing my associated disease risk I made a decision and acted accordingly.

I also did my Amsler Grid test for Age-related Macular Degeneration. True, my right eye gets blurry, so I might have an early stage of AMD. Good news is that in July I passed the DMV test in California, both eyes, I can drive without prescription lenses. I only need my reading glasses. In my more advanced age I might develop AMD in my right eye. Hopefully, I still would be able to see with my left eye, more, the AMD hopefully does not cause total blindness. My health recommendation says: “The good news is that prevention and early detection of AMD can go a long way. Eating lots of dark leafy greens and other brightly colored vegetables will help your eyes get the vitamins they need to stay healthy. Eating fish and nuts, and avoiding red and processed meats, are also associated with lower risk of AMD” Fortunately this is absolutely valid for me, I have been eating this way for more than 7 years by now. I don’t know what will happen to me, but I know my associated disease risk and I am prepared to take it.

I also need to avoid raw oysters and unwashed lettuce because I am highly sensitive for norovirus. Fortunately, I hate raw oysters, I tried once and I don’t need to try it again. I eat a lot of vegetables, all colors, and I always wash them carefully. Also, I am a carrier for two inherited conditions, like Hemochromatosis and Connexin 26-Related Sensorineural Hearing Loss. My two children are free from these conditions and my little grand daughter is as healthy as beautiful she is.

Milk, to my surprise I am supposed to be lactose intolerant, based on my genotype. My lactose intolerance genotype is unexpected because in real life I look like lactose tolerant, I do eat greek yoghurt and cheese every day, sometimes ice cream also, but I never have digestive problems. Well, for sure, I don’t like milk too much, if I drink some milk, I never drink large quantities, maybe a touch for coffee or to accompany bread. Here, we can explain my lactose intolerant genotype and apparently lactose tolerant phenotype dissociation with other unidentified multi-genetic factors or healthy bacterial flora in my gut to digest dairy without a problem.

Coffee. I am a caffeine friend, more than that. I am a fast metabolizer. I love coffee and I love my liver enzyme cytochrome P450 1A2 and I love my AA genotype for SNP called  rs762551. In the morning when I drink my first coffee, something strong between an espresso and the long American coffee, brewed in 98 celsius degree water, I feel the tingling effect going through my body. It lasts for about 30 minutes. That is enough to refresh me for the day and I am ready to work hard or do anything else to make myself productive for the day. Coffee is essential part of this. I have one more coffee during the morning hours to have a second boost, a smaller dose, just to repeat the feeling and the beloved taste of coffee in my mouth. I have my third and last coffee right after lunch. “The study found that fast metabolizers, on the other hand, may have actually reduced their heart attack risk by drinking coffee” That is my bonus.

Alcohol. When I was younger, college years, I got drunk easily, I could not drink in fast pace with my friends, because I got drunk too early, they had to tell me the next day what had happened the night before. During my many more years in my life, unfortunately I practiced enough alcohol drinking so I actually improved my alcohol tolerance. I am not proud of this achievement of mine. As I am getting into my little aging, fortunately, I am loosing this acquired skill. And look at this what I have just learned from genotype analysis of my Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH1B). I have the GG SNP for rs1229984, meaning I am a slow alcohol metabolizer. The slow breakdown of alcohol might be the reason that it accumulates in my brain and I get drunk from fewer drinks. The good news is that I am fast for the Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH2) based on my GG for rs671. This means that the harmful toxic aldehyde clears out of my system fast enough for the second step of alcohol break down so I actually never get the next day disease called hangover. Easily enjoy alcohol in my brain without getting sick on the next day! Dangerous! My genetic constellation makes me 18% on the risk of becoming an alcoholic as opposed to less than 9% for the average. I wish if I had learned this genetic test result sooner, I might have written a few chapter in my EpiGeneBook, differently.

I am better today than I was yesterday, because I know. I know that I need to move my legs on long flights. I know that alcohol is dangerous for me. I know that I need to continue eating dark green leafs and nuts and all the goodies to make me healthier. I know coffee is good for me. I know why I don’t like milk and why I am disgusted by oyster. Today, I know only 254 answers to my understanding of my own genes. The answers are not even absolute, only associations. Still this knowledge has already changed my life. I am better today, because based on this knowledge I can actually change my life.

Tibor Gyuris

Personal Genomics Blogger

2013. October 2

“Knowledge is always good and certainly always better than ignorance.”–Sergey Brin

“Possideo genes ergo sum”—Anonymous Roman Philosopher

….stay tuned for more personal nutrigenomics data….

Almost a week ago I opened this blog for discussion of personal genomics and I promised to share my personal genome profile. I am in beta testing phase, trying to improve the format of my startup blog site. I am also grooming my philosophy about this new social genomics forum by talking to very beginners in genomics through leading professionals in the science and business of genomics all over the spectrum.  So what is the ethical issue about personal genomics? So what is the privacy issue of personal genomics? I have my own opinion that will come through my blog. I am a DNA sequencing professional, a scientist who believes genomics should be personal. All the other zillion questions are open for discussion. Regarding my own sequence: I was planning to bring my personal SNP sequence database online, it would look like this:

# rsid                       chromosome            position            genotype

rs4477212                1                                82154                    AA

rs3094315               1                                752566                   AA

rs3131972                1                                752721                   GG

…and so on 1 million lines like these.

Well, it would be a symbolic gesture, because this information is boring this way, even I don’t read this as it is. This level of data is for bioinformatics professional, who I am not. The analysis of my genetic profile was done by the testing company in a very professional and in the same time totally user friendly way. We live in a free open global society, some people publish their own genomic sequence in full details, every 3 billion letters written down in the public domain. Some people are afraid to publish any personal data, even like a photo of themselves. I actually know people who are so shy they don’t even have a FaceBook profile, can you believe this??!! This is absolutely OK, we respect either end of the spectrum and as a matter of fact, everything in between.  When I signed up for genetic testing, I gave fully informed consent to use my data for research. My purpose to obtain my genomic SNP sequence profile from two independent companies several months ago was first I wanted to know my own genetic destiny and second I wanted to generate the foundation of my personal genomics blog to open a social discussion about our own personal genome.  Including every risky aspect of it. My plan was to put my 1 million or so SNP sequences on the internet. Well, as I said it is kind of boring. Instead, I decided to deposit my data into a bank account, you hear me, a bank account, more, it is a Swiss Bank Account, it is called Healthbank. Don’t you want to put your money into a Swiss Bank Account? I want! So first to those close to half a million people who already have some kind of own genomic sequence data, please, don’t keep them under the mattress. Put them into a Swiss Health Bank Account. To those who about to get their genomic profile done, be assured, you can keep it safe. And always consent to use it for research purpose in a confidential matter. Like you consent your portfolio manager of your retirement account to invest your money.

About my promise to share my personal genomic profile with you is still valid. Even if I won’t publish each SNP variation of it, I will certainly tell you the interesting conclusions that can be drawn from the crude data as of today. If we increase the database, we talk about it everywhere, yes, even my blog included, we will help the bioinformatics people to be able to learn more in order to deeper interpret our data. Tomorrow, in the not so distant future we will be able to understand more and more what those DNA sequence letters mean.

In the meantime, just read my blog. If somebody has difficulties to understand it, the glossary part tries to explain some genomic terms in simple English. Please, give me your feedback, ask questions, this blog is for everybody, not just for the few genetics professionals. This project is about personal genomics goes into the social networking. We are a small community, as I said there are less than half a million people out there who tested their genetic profile not because they were sick but because they were interested what secret their genes try to tell them. However, this number of genomic enthusiasts will grow and my personal genomics blog forum is here for them to talk about their personal genomic experience. The most important fact is, that my genomic sequence result is very personal, literally my genetic profile is not an abstract scientific information and when I share my genetic result through my personal experiences in my life, that is real. Hopefully people will find me and they are going to share their genomics experience also. More, I will motivate people to get tested, so I would contribute to the growth of the genomic enthusiasts network. This is fun, at this level it is entertaining, but also it could be beneficial to your life if you make lifestyle changes based on your genetic destiny and you will have driver position in your life. Finally, science will gain also, because as I said there are a lot of uncharted territories in the field of genomics. So, for start, please read the book, the EpiGeneBook!

Plus, be interactive, give me your favorite gene or trait, read the widget on the right hand side. Ah, yes, and are you a little bit of Neanderthal? We are all, almost all carrying a few percentage of the Neanderthal DNA sequence. Don’t be afraid, Neanderthal people were not that stupid you think, well, kind a ugly though, I agree. But certainly not aggressive creatures, we, modern humans ultimately won the struggle of survival, certainly we are the stronger ones, I guess more aggressive than the Neanderthal people were. So don’t be ashamed of your gentle side of being a little bit of Neanderthal. I am 3% gentle, ugly creature.

Tibor Gyuris

Personal Genomics Blogger

2013. September 22

“Knowledge is always good and certainly always better than ignorance.”–Sergey Brin

“Possideo genes ergo sum”—Anonymous Roman Philosopher

….stay tuned for personal interpretation of some Tibor’s real SNP data….

My genes, I love my genes, but I don’t even know most of them. Fortunately, I have been able to have a glimpse of my few select genes. Not the whole genome sequence, yet, but in the future I want to know all my genes.  And beyond, my EpiGenes, the modification of my genes, how they change when I get older, how they are modified, when I am sick from flu, any change on them, when I am hungry and when I am depressed or when I am in love and very happy and yes, I want to know every single details my genes want to tell me and finally yes, I want to share with you. And I am asking you to learn your own EpiGenes and share with me and with all of your friends. Let’s have an EpiGeneBook together and start to understand what is in our genes.

We are at the beginning of the genetic revolution.  Any revolution generates chaos at the beginning. It can be very dangerous.  Well, here I am exposing myself, shoot me! OK!  I will take your shot. Correct me, criticize me or simply tell me I am wrong.  Agree with me, sure, that is welcomed, but I expect heated debates about my EpiGenes and your EpiGenes in order to build our EpiGeneBook, together.

Revolution is dangerous, yes, but what is most dangerous is to be skeptical and boring and idle. It is time now to spit into the collection tubes. Careful, before you do that, my revolutionary friends, calculate the risk. Read the CDC warning about genetic testing:

“Limited Scientific Information for Most Genetic Tests”

“Despite the many scientific advances in genetics, researchers have only identified a small fraction of the genetic component of most diseases. Therefore, genetic tests for many diseases are developed on the basis of limited scientific information and may not yet provide valid or useful results to individuals who are tested.” So, we need to be very careful about what to do when we are sick, as I told you, if you are sick, go to a doctor!

“However, many genetic tests are being marketed prematurely to the public through the Internet, TV, and other media.” Well, what is wrong about marketing? I have purchased my genetic test profile from two different companies, not because I was marketed, but because I wanted to know it.

“This may lead to the misuse of these tests and the potential for physical or psychological harms to the public.” I totally agree. Certainly, genetic information can cause harm, unfortunately, we know examples of great advances of science and technology led to harm many people. Let’s do this blog and educate ourselves to avoid harm at all cost!

The purpose of this new blog about my EpiGeneBook is to help people understand what we can read out of our genes. This blog is for genetic beginners, interested in their genetic destiny and their potential to improve their life through studying their own genes. This blog is for advanced genetic professionals, sure, they are so advanced, they know all possible variations in their own genes and are willing to share their knowledge with us. This blog is for every person in Gaia Earth to start writing, reading and thinking and acting together. So, get your genes tested and share with us. Talk about it. Find out what they mean. Together. Let’s start to read our EpiGeneBook! Go  personal genomics social networking!

Tibor Gyuris

Personal Genomics Blogger

2013. September 17

“Knowledge is always good and certainly always better than ignorance.”–Sergey Brin

“Possideo genes ergo sum”—Anonymous Roman Philosopher

……stay tuned for Tibor’ personal genome…….