Getting your DNA as a digital file is comparable to taking a picture of a person and not getting all the other information you might get from a live interaction with them. DNA alone doesn’t capture everything that your cells can uncover.
The live cells that Acorn collects through your hair follicles can be converted into iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells). iPSCs are stem cells that can become any type of cell in the human body. This is why they have the potential to be used in regenerative medicine and gene therapies. In addition, your follicle cells can also be leveraged as genetic sources of data to help you make better health decisions based on your genetic make-up. They can be used to analyze 100% of the full genome. In comparison, the DNA obtained from the cells of cheek swabs/saliva in current popular home collection kits is made up of dead cells. The services that use cheek swabs/saliva typically focus on less than 1% of a full genome. Also, cells collected in this way are not viable for use in medical therapy the way that live hair follicle cells could be used from Acorn’s non-invasive process.
