A Genetic Poem
December 24th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
A poetry contest is being organized by 23andMe. The five lucky winners each get a free entry to the 2011 edition of the Personalized World Medicine Conference. The rules are simple, include at least 5 words from a list provided and send it by December 31st. Any formats and number of tries are allowed. Unfortunately I am not eligible because it is only open for US residents and travel costs are not covered.
Since Christmas is a time that tends to be free of distractions for me :-) I decided to give it a try and write a genetic poem, even though I am not eligible for the prize. I will share it for now but I might take it down later if I feel more embarrassed about it.
My Genes and Me
Genes between probes
Vary my transcription
Condition their relation
And length of ear lobes
My credit card spelled out
The questionnaires went
I too gave consent
To have my test done, no doubt
A saliva drop fell
As the parcel came home
I shook it all well
The lab got it, I logged on
Risks and Ancestry I found
Some were fine, some were high
I Scrolled up, I scrolled down
Browsed data through the night
Then something else happened
A 5th cousin had chatted
That shared my haplogroup
Was she part of my troupe?
Yet it was all the genotypes
That 23andMe found alike
Without it I wouldn’t know
Such tales of my chromosomes
For how can a little SNP count
If these traits are all mine
My phenotypes all defined
When I had just DNA out
And if this was not enough
Hope you’ll let me certify
GWAS is good for some stuff
Even if it’s hard to identify
