She Donated Her Genome to Science
December 13, 2011 | Terry Sharrer
Known only as “W115,” a 115 year old woman-before her death she was the oldest known living person-had her genome sequenced by a university research group in Amsterdam. The medical facts of her life, which the geneticists will explore further were these: she was a premature baby, developed breast cancer at age 100, died of a stomach tumor, and, showed no signs of vascular disease or dementia. In examining her single nucleotide and copy number variations, the researchers found known links to atherosclerosis, heart disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s-none of which presented as diseases is her extraordinarily long life. MORE