5280 (Denver’s Mile High Magazine), Tells the BABYGlimpse Story
Many of our team members at HumanCode are Colorado natives — which is why we were thrilled to work with 5280 on a feature story introducing BABYGlimpse.
For Denver dwellers, 5280 is an institution: a hip, witty and credible local source for all the goings-on in the Mile High City.
The story, by Elisa Wiseman ran on 10/10/17, and did a great job of explaining how BABYGlimpse works and what HumanCode does.
Elisa is a very curious, thorough, and sharp reporter — we very much appreciated her attention to detail and her care in getting the facts straight. Thanks Elisa! Explaining personal genomics products can be challenging, as it’s a new category of experiences that can be intimidating to people learning about how they work. We’re continuing to do our best to make our products easy to understand, and Elisa did likewise in how she approached this article.
Elisa summarizes BABYGlimpse well in this passage:
Users who want to order BABYGlimpse are re-directed to the Helix website, where they can purchase the DNA-collecting kits and BABYGlimpse services for about $350. When the kits arrive, mom and dad each spit in a tube, and send the saliva-containing kits back to Helix.
Helix then sequences the couple’s genomes, meaning the DNA is analyzed to find the specific order of nucleotides (which make up DNA) within each person. That takes about two-to-four weeks, Glode says. After that, Helix will send the raw DNA data, which presents as a series of letters in a specific order, to HumanCode.
HumanCode inputs the broken-down DNA into a set of algorithms that’ll translate it into the information couples seek. The process, which Glode says takes about five minutes, determines each couple’s traits and then uses their information to predict how their kid might turn out. When the results are ready, parents get a notification through the BABYGlimpse app.
While medical-related genome sequencing called “carrier-screening” is a relatively common practice (usually to test for genetic disorders a child may inherit), Glode makes it clear that BABYGlimpse is very much, well, not that.
Source: http://www.5280.com/2017/10/denver-based-startup-can-predict-baby-will-look/
We look forward to continuing to get the word out about HumanCode and BABYGlimpse!
Let us know if you have ideas on how we can introduce the product to couples curious to learn more about their genetics, and check out our Brandfolder for screenshots, marketing materials and more.
Our best,
The HumanCode Team