The year was 2010, I have just gotten back from my first experience traveling to Laos and let me tell you.....
It was one of the craziest adventure in my life. No pun intended. Let's just say it was a unusual story for a person like me..lol
It was a story to remember. From my perspective, it was very educational. I learnt alot while I was overseas. The bad and the good.
One of the things that caught my most attention was how I was related to all these people whom I never really heard of. The only reason why I even found out I was related to them was because of an accidental meeting. I remember thinking to myself how saddening it is that the only thing that separates Hmong Americans from those overseas is the difference in culture, politics and economics. Very very different mindsets and ethical belief. I can see why though after spending time with the kids and teens there in Laos and hearing all their stories about their perspective on tourist. Lots of stereotyping and misunderstanding due to cultural influences and the media. I remember those days like it was yesterday........just exchanging view points on cultural differences. If you know the hmong community really well to the point where you hear about all these stereotyping from both sides of the planet, you would know why I'm interested in understanding the perception of those overseas.
When I got back from overseas, I just couldn't get my mind off the entire Hmong culture. It was like, it finally hit me why their is such a huge gap between all these Hmong generations overseas and here in the US. I suddenly felt like.....their was a need to retrace my roots. That's when I begin my quest to rediscover my Hmong culture in a way where I never did before. That's also when I begin to pay very close attention to the talks about the family tree every time a Hmong elder speaks. I have the up most respect for all those Hmong before me; the refugees that never made it to the United States (RIP) and those whom died way way before the Secret War and back in ancient China. If it wasn't for them, none of us Hmong Americans would be here today. I'm not much of a social person, but with my technical skills I have acquired from over the years and the help of some distant relatives overseas, I was slowly able to trace my family tree dating back to 3 generations before me.
It was around that time when I got back from overseas that I heard of the company "23andme" and their history with Google. 23andme is a privately held personal genomics and biotechnology company. They provide you service that would aid you in obtaining your genomic data related to your family tree and health. Their are many other companies like it.
Here is a list of other DNA testing companies like it
https://isogg.org/wiki/List_of_DNA_testing_companies
I wanted to look more into these DNA testing companies and eventually get a test done through one them to help aid my personal research in the family tree that I'm working on. I was also interested in obtaining a genetic health record of mine, but genetic privacy was a huge concern so I never gotten to the point where I could convince myself to actually do a testing.
Who owns your data? It should be you, right? You should be in control when it comes to your Genomic data.
That's what I keep telling myself. I really wanted to own my data and not just own it, but choose what I want to do with it....all while feeling pretty safe KNOWING that my genetic information is in the right hands.
It wasn't until sometime this year that I heard of Encrypgen, a Florida-based company that aims to tackling this issue concerning privacy through the use of blockchain technology. After fooling around with trading cryptocurrecies for more than over a year now, knowing that this company exist and being familar with both genealogy, security and blockchain.....I just couldn't back away from this opportunity. I JUST HAD TO SUPPORT THIS COMPANY!!!
I apologize, I should of made this post sooner as the ICO ends some time later today..
https://www.encrypgen.com/ico/
..but
Personally, I think this is a company worth looking into rather you're able to invest it's ICO in the beginning like I did or not. Their is so much more going on here than just the financial aspects. With this technology, it will not only help keep your genomic data secure, but it can also save lives.
I'm investing in this company and their technology not only for the financial benefit that comes with it, but because of the technology behind it. I'm looking at this investment from both a scientific, technological and crypto-trader's perspective.
_______________________
Investing in Encryptgen comes with both Clinical and Investment potential.
Gene-Chain's Whitepaper
https://ico.encrypgen.com/gene-chain-whitepaper.pdf.
Encrypgen develop the Gene-chain for the safe storage and sharing of genomic data on a private blockchain network. It exist to provide researchers and health care providers better access in handling and sharing of genomic data while giving control to the people whose genetic data is stored within the gene-chain.
The idea is that anyone of those commercial genomic testing services that partners with Encryptgen will be able to upload your data into Encrypgen's Gene-Chain providing you with a better sense of control over your genetic information.
What is the Gene-Chain?
Not only does this technology benefit individual's genetic privacy, it's one of the first of its kind to make use of the Blockchain. I believe, the Gene-Chain plays a major role in the Genomic Industry because everyone wants that sense of security when it comes to their genetic information. They are partner with Multi-Chain which uses sha256 hash functions similar to Bitcoin.
https://www.multichain.com/qa/5543/what-hash-function-does-multichain-uses-headers-hash-pointers
Could BlockChain technology be the missing link between Genomics and Privacy?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/patricklin/2017/05/08/blockchain-the-missing-link-between-genomics-and-privacy
After genomic data is uploaded within the Genechain, it should be view-able through the use of Genomic Browsers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_bioinformatics_software
To learn more about how DNA works..
Visit http://www.yourgenome.org/
With the rise of DIY Bioinformatics and the citizen science revolution; I think technologies like these is what will bring humanity together. When you're a small fish in a world of whales, you have delve in the wave if you want to see the results.
To learn more about your genetic raw data once you obtain it, you can visit..
https://promethease.com/
http://snpedia.com/
If you like this post and want more posts similar or related to cryptocurrencies and anything business or blockchain related. Please do vote this post and follow. If you're a visitor of this post and haven't join STEEMIT yet, you should look into it. I think you will like the STEEMIT community here.