Resource on Genetics -- Beyond Genetic Lifehacks

Free resources for digging into your genetic raw data file on your own:

If you want to learn more about certain health concerns using your genetic raw data file, there are a number of free research resources available to help you get started.

  1. LitVar

    This search engine looks up research studies relevant to specific SNPs or genes. It is convenient because it searches by both rs id and other ways researchers can reference a gene.

  2. SNPedia (www.snpedia.com):

    Overview: This is a user-edited resource (like Wikipedia) with links to research papers on specific genetic variants. If you have a specific topic in mind, SNPedia.com is a good starting point, but hasn’t been updated much since 2019.

    Price: Free

    Privacy policy: SNPedia was sold to MyHeritage. It is still a great resource for older links to published articles on genetic variants.

  3. Pubmed.gov

    Overview: This is the National Institutes of Health’s searchable database for medical research studies. It’s a great starting place if you know the medical terminology to search for.

    Price: Free

  4. Clue.io

    Overview: From the Broad Institute, this tool allows you to input a gene name and find out which pharmaceuticals and other genes interact with that gene.

    Price: Free

  5. BioMed Explorer

    Overview: New tool from Google uses their search technology to explore medical and biology research papers. Essentially, a better way to search PubMed.

    Price: Free

  6. PharmGKB

    Overview: This database for clinicians and researchers to use contains information on how pharmaceutical drugs interact with genetic variants.

    Price: Free

  7. dbSNP

    Overview: Database of SNP information for researchers. If you have the rs id of a SNP you are interested in learning more about, plug it in here. It will give you information on the frequency in the population and links to all published research on that SNP.

    Price: Free

  8. GWAS Catalog

    Overview: This is a searchable database for results from genome-wide association studies.

    Price: free.

  9. Google Scholar

    Overview: While not just for medical or genetics research, Google Scholar often gives the best results when looking for solid research studies on a topic. There is also a feature to look at similar research studies or studies that reference the article.

    Price