How do Insitome and Helix work?

Helix enables partners like Insitome to access genetic information generated from Helix’s Exome+.

Insitome analyzes your genome to provide insights into the story you carry in your DNA, but we do not have a lab, nor do we store your data.

That is where our partner, Helix, comes in.

In order to analyze your DNA, it must first be sequenced. Using next generation sequencing technology, Helix analyzes the DNA in your saliva and processes it into an “Exome+” sequence. What is an Exome+? The exome is the 20,000 or so genes in your DNA that actually code for proteins in your body. The “+” is the hundreds of thousands of other regions of interest in your DNA, from data important to provide insights about ancestry to markers that are associated with a wide range of health conditions.

Most consumer genomic companies today use a technology called genotyping which is very different than Exome+ sequencing. To explain the difference between these technologies, think of your DNA as a book. Imagine the string of letters that make up your genetic code are like words on a page, telling a story, chapter by chapter.

Genotyping reads a few scattered words on a page.

Sequencing reads whole sentences, paragraphs and chapters.

Genotyping is good for looking at what we know today, but what about what we don’t know? And what about context? Sequencing gives you that additional data, with more meaning and context, today and down the road.

Exome+ sequencing produces 100X more data than genotyping offered by other consumer genomics companies. The additional data generated by sequencing is what allows you to only have to test once and then be able to choose from different products in the Helix marketplace. After you have been sequenced, if you do purchase an additional product, you can get your results almost instantly. With Insitome, we can update your results or add new traits to them as new scientific discoveries are made.

That’s the beauty of Helix’s technology and Insitome’s products. You only have to test ONCE to discover again and again!

When you purchase an Insitome product, we retrieve your DNA data from Helix (only the parts that are used for the product you’ve purchased) and begin to write the story of you. Learn more about our products and what you get today! Questions? Email us at help@insito.me.

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