23andMe awarded 19 grants and honorable mention awards to educators around the country, who have submitted exceptionally innovative teaching proposals that advance genetics education. Thank you to everyone who entered!
Awarded 100 Health + Ancestry Service kits
“Through the 23andMe grant program, my undergraduate students will have the opportunity to learn more about their own personal genetic information and develop a better understanding of what these types of services offer. We will be able to dive into genetics in a completely different and individualized way, bringing the science of the process into view and applying a creative twist. This means I can provide a genetics education experience that is unique for students and engaging on a whole new level.”
Awarded 50 Health + Ancestry Service kits
“This generous grant from 23andMe has brought an added air of expectancy and excitement to the classroom. My students are eager to learn more about genetics and how they can extrapolate that knowledge to their own personal genetics. I believe this will have a lifelong effect on my students and not just in their understanding of genetics.”
Awarded 50 Health + Ancestry Service kits
“This award will allow us to inspire generations of future healthcare providers through precision medicine education at UCSF. We are now able to transform our course to promote personalized learning, building upon the foundation Dr. Esteban Burchard and his team have developed.”
Awarded 1 Health + Ancestry Service kit
“My students and I are extremely excited to witness firsthand how genetics affects our lives. The best part of 23andMe is how they bring science to life. This opportunity is something that my pre-service education students can take into their future classrooms.”
“We teach about diversity and race as we prepare students in the field of human services. We study our family origin and ancestry to understand current and future events impacting children and families. Much of my family’s history has been lost to us and this will help connect the pieces.”
“This award highlights the opportunity to elevate genetic literacy in the undergraduate classroom, as it bridges the gap between theoretical education and its translation into the immediate practical applications of the vast amounts of genetic data that is generated from personal genomic sequencing. It is a personal honor to have been considered for it.”
“I currently use my own 23andMe results to enhance my lectures. This award will allow one of my colleagues to take the test and start to understand the role her genes might play.”
“Using 23andMe resources and sharing some of my own data has helped make genetics and genomics more interesting and relevant for my students. This award means that I can share the kit with a peer educator so that they, too, can share their firsthand experience with genomic testing with their students.”
“The best learning experience that educators can give to their students is to make it personal! 23andMe as an educational tool perfectly delivers that.”
“This kit from 23andMe will be conducted on my own genome. It will serve as a rich teaching tool in my four biology classes. I plan to have my students predict my ancestry and then extend further by using bioinformatics, i.e., NCBI’s BLAST, to research some of my intergenic sequences employed in the process.”
“This award will support the content I cover at the University of Southern California, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, Coordinated Program in Nutrition, Healthspan and Longevity. The National Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) has recently added a new competency for all Dietetics Program students that requires upon graduation that they are able to describe basic concepts of nutritional genomics (KRDN 3.5). The kit will support my teaching efforts to prepare students to meet this competency.”
“This award will be a wonderful way to introduce science writing to my journalism students, as well as delve into the fascinating world of genetics. I am especially pleased that the award comes from the trailblazer and leader in the field of direct genetic testing.”
“Using 23andMe, students at the University of Texas at Austin discover that they are often more similar than different genetically to students with disabilities despite their obvious differences. The 23andMe Education Grant Honorable Mention Award recognizes the courage and curiosity that both sets of my students show while learning about their own genes together as a group.”
“I appreciate all the effort 23andMe puts into supporting educational activities. This award means a lot for me and my students as a sign of collaboration and getting the biology and genetic education truly personalized.”
“I am excited to be able to bring to life the small chemical compounds that we all share yet make us unique. Being able to utilize the kit to study where we come from and how the order of the four nucleotide bases can alter our life in so many ways is an exciting way to bring the science of genetics to life and to offer students a glimpse into where this technology can take us.”
“I plan on using the materials and website to instruct students and adult education classes about human haplotypes in relation to the success of human migrations and settlements throughout the world. This award will personalize for students the concept of haplotypes and human natural selection. We will use the kit to study a specific student and use them as a model of understanding molecular phylogeny and biogeography of humans and other organisms.”
“I am very excited about receiving this award. I look forward to using the 23andMe kit to make DNA testing an authentic experience for my students. Using the reports as a primary source of data will surely bring relevance to biology content and help shape an engaging learning environment.”
“23andMe awards and support allow us to teach anatomy and physiology using students’ own personal genetics. This makes genes and function exciting and relevant to student in brand new ways.”
“I have used 23andMe data in my genetics classes for a few years and appreciate being awarded the 23andMe Education Grant Honorable Mention Award. Through use of the personal genomics kits, my biology students will continue to experience how modern genetic data can inform them of personal and practical aspects of human biology, providing them a sense of immediate relevance for the invisible molecular mechanisms they learn about in their genetics courses.”
