Relationships are typically formed around commonalities. In the old days, people came together because they went to the same school, grew up in the same town, or shared the same worldview, etc. Today, connections are formed through shared interests around movies you like on Flixster, the same widgets you like on Facebook, and in the future connections might be made based on the haplotype you share. “What’s your haplogroup?” may become as frequently asked as “What’s your sign?,” said Linda Avey, cofounder and CEO of 23andMe, a high-profile, Google-backed consumer genomic company. Haplogroup, according to Wikipedia, is a group of haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a SNP (single nucleotide polymorhism) mutation. Linda spoke at VLab’s all-female panel covering ... [ Read more ]