Do You Know That 23andMe Now Tests for BRCA Breast Cancer Genes?

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In an FDA-backed move, the genetic test kit, 23andMe, will be able to notify its customers of any possible mutations in the breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. According to 23andMe, it is the “first-ever FDA authorization for a direct-to-consumer genetic test for cancer risk.”

Previously, the genetic testing company was only able to test for Bloom syndrome, and to offer risk reports for some conditions like Alzheimer’s, Celiac Disease, and Parkinson’s Disease.

23andMe does include information on its limited ability – to detect only three variants of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes out of more than a thousand that are known to increase cancer risk. Therefore, 23andMe urges users who do test positive to contact a medical professional for retesting in an actual clinical laboratory. The company is now the only one able to generate genetic health risk reports for consumers without a prescription or doctor’s note.

New @sloankettering Author Titles Added to Collection!

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We have recently added two new titles — contributed to by MSK staff — to our Library collection:

By bringing together expert researchers in the field, Monte-Carlo Simulation-Based Statistical Modeling, presents and discusses recent issues in methodological development as well as public health applications.  This resource has the potential to impact model development and data analyses across a wide spectrum of fields.
This title, which features work from Zhigang Zhang, may be found in OneSearch.

 

Network Functions and Plasticity: Perspectives from Studying Neuronal Electrical Coupling in Microcircuits, which includes contributions from Song-Hai Shi, provides an introduction on neural circuits of the model system. Features include specific roles of electrical coupling in tractable, well-defined circuits, recent discoveries and findings within the context of historical background and current outstanding issues in the field.
This title may be found in OneSearch.

Three Questions for our Librarians – Sylvie

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To introduce our staff to everyone at the Center, we’re rolling out a new series of posts, Three Questions for our Librarians! This month, I asked three questions to Sylvie Larsen, Supervisor, Document Delivery.

What areas can you help MSK users with?
In my position as Supervisor of Document Delivery, I’ve gotten very good at finding tricky citations. I’ve tracked down foreign language articles, meeting abstracts from obsolete societies, and even a thesis from Kuala Lampur. It’s my favorite part of my job – it’s like a scavenger hunt!

What projects have you been working on recently?
Recently, I’ve put together a poster for the Medical Library Association meeting. My team and I looked at information collected from a survey to see how we could improve our service. It can be challenging to know exactly what our users need, especially in an institution like MSK, we’re not only a school, a research center, or a hospital, we’re all three together, so our users needs are different from a lot of other institutions. Checking in with them was very informative.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I would love to see the Northern Lights from one of those ice hotels.