Google and autism advocacy and research organization Autism Speaks have announced a partnership to collect and analyze the DNA of 10,000 people with autism. From the article in the Wall Street Journal: “One of the biggest insights gleaned from genetic research in autism so far is that there isn’t just one form of autism, but many. Whole-genome sequencing, which allows scientists to look at every single letter—known as a base pair or nucleotide—in a person’s DNA should provide “increased resolution of understanding what autism is,” says Robert Ring, chief science officer at Autism Speaks.”
For more information: “Genes in the Cloud: Google Steps into Autism Research“, by Shirley S. Wang, June 9th 2014, Wall Street Journal.
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