UNDERSTANDING THE 'PERSONALITY' OF YOUR GENOME.

At WHEELHOUSE comprehensive genetic assessment is the starting point for your precision medicine journey. Our objective is to provide the highest level of personalization possible based on your inherited genetics looking particularly at small sections of code in your DNA called SNPs.

What in the world is a SNP?

In our bodies, each cell holds special instructions in the form of genetic information. This information guides the creation of proteins, which in turn determine our physical appearance, development, and how our body functions. 

This genetic information is neatly packed inside structures called chromosomes, sort of like different volumes in a set of genetic encyclopedias. Humans have a total of 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each pair consists of one chromosome from the mother and one from the father, with the exception of the sex-linked chromosome. 

Most of the cells in our body have a complete set of this genetic encyclopedia, meaning they have all 23 pairs of chromosomes. Inside each chromosome, you'll find many genes, which are like the entries or topics in our genetic encyclopedia. These genes provide instructions for making proteins. All this genetic information within our genes is stored in code, and it's held within a molecule known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). 

A SNP (pronounced “snip”) is a single nucleotide polymorphism. Your genetic code is built with DNA. The smallest building blocks of DNA are called nucleotides. There are four bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T). These bases come together as pairs (A.K.A base pairs): 

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• Adenine + Thymine → AT

• Cytosine + Guanine → CG

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The order of the base pairs is referred to as the sequence. The sequence is like our genetic alphabet which writes the instructions to make every protein in our bodies. The nucleotides run along two strands (called alleles) that come together to form the familiar double helix of DNA. If there is a pair of nucleotides (a base pair) in a location of a gene that would be expected to have a C-G and instead has a C-C, we call this a polymorphism. These unexpected base pairings may be benign but in some circumstances also carry the risk of conferring changes to the function of the gene, hence the close attention to these SNPs. 

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WHEELHOUSE utilizes highly specialized software.

At WHEELHOUSE we utilize a software suite, Opus23,™ that employs artificial intelligence and algorithmic analyses to help craft a personalized assessment of your genomics. When the software reads your raw data file, it is extracting information about your single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) as described above. As an example three patients with the same diagnosis may have a different letter (occupant) in the exact same location on the same ‘risk’ gene. Depending on their SNP and its strength of association with their diagnosis, each patient may require different treatments or prevention measures.  While the typical way we treat disease is based on a protocol that has generally worked best for most people, at WHEELHOUSE we attempt to do the opposite by tailoring treatment recommendations to each patient’s unique genetic risks. 

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Understanding your ‘Genetic Personality’

The first thing to understand is that your SNP data can tell us what risks you’ve inherited. While not often diagnostic, this risk assessment can tell us a lot about how current symptoms may have manifested when given the right environmental exposures. About 75% of your DNA is highly responsive to environmental impact. This changes how your genes function over time as your DNA is replicated into new cells. These changes become a part of your ‘genetic personality’. This process is known as epigenetics and plays a role in the development of any disease or condition you can think of from anxiety to diabetes. 

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Once the risk assessment has been identified epigenetic modification can be used to intentionally alter how your genes function over time, relieving current symptoms and/or preventing the development of disease. 

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