Embark is a canine genomics and biotechnology company based in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts. The company offers dog
DNA testing services to consumers, breeders, and veterinarians.
History
Embark was founded in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, in 2015 by brothers Adam Boyko and Ryan Boyko,
Matt Salzberg Matt Salzberg is a businessperson and entrepreneur, known for co-founding Blue Apron (where he was CEO), Embark Veterinary and Suma Brands. He is currently founder and Managing Partner at Material, a venture fund focused on systematic company creat ...
, and
Spencer Wells
Spencer Wells (born April 6, 1969) is an American geneticist, anthropologist, author and entrepreneur. He co-hosts The Insight podcast with Razib Khan. Wells led The Genographic Project from 2005 to 2015, as an Explorer-in-Residence at the Na ...
.
Prior to the formation of the company, the Boyko brothers spent nearly a decade collecting thousands of DNA samples from dogs for research into the origin of dogs and what DNA can reveal about their health. This led to the formation of Embark, which sells dog DNA tests to dog owners, veterinarians, and breeders.
Embark's stated goals are to help pet owners better understand their dog's health and risk for
heritable diseases, and to advance canine DNA research in general.
Adam Boyko is an associate professor at
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
The New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University is a college of veterinary medicine at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1894, it is the first statutory college established by the State University of New York ...
.
Ryan Boyko, the company’s CEO, was an independent researcher at Cornell
and studied computer science and biology at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. Wells directed the
Genographic Project
The Genographic Project, launched on 13 April 2005 by the National Geographic Society and IBM, was a genetic anthropological study (sales discontinued on 31 May 2019) that aimed to map historical human migrations patterns by collecting and ...
at the
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
, and Salzberg is a founder of meal delivery company
Blue Apron
Blue Apron Inc. is an American ingredient-and-recipe meal kit company headquartered in New York City, operating its services exclusively in the United States. It offers weekly boxes containing ingredients, which also includes suggested recipes th ...
.
In March 2016, Embark launched publicly with a presentation by the Boyko brothers at
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
.
That year, the startup began offering its DNA tests for dogs.
In 2016, Embark raised a $1.6 million seed round investment, from lead investors Slow Ventures and Aspiration Growth Fund.
The company raised an additional $4.5 million in seed funding in the summer of 2017, led by Founder Collective, and including
23andMe
23andMe Holding Co. is a publicly held personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva sample t ...
founder
Anne Wojcicki
Anne E. Wojcicki ( ; born July 28, 1973) is an American entrepreneur who co-founded and serves as CEO of the personal genomics company 23andMe. She founded the company in 2006 with Linda Avey and Paul Cusenza to provide the general public access t ...
.
In 2017, Embark relocated its headquarters from Austin to Boston, with its main science team remaining in
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
.
That year, the company was inducted into the McGovern Center, Cornell's incubator for life science companies.
Embark is a research partner of Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Criticism
The company uses submitted genetic data for research unless the customer opts out, raising privacy concerns.
Some veterinarians have expressed skepticism about the lack of standards in DNA testing for dogs and the difficulty in properly analyzing and understanding the data, while acknowledging the potential of genetics to treat diseases.
In 2018,
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
reported on shortcomings for DNA tests for dogs, including an incorrect analysis of the genetic data that can lead to unnecessary medical treatment and questionable clinical decisions. In 2018, science journal ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'' ran an article by a veterinarian and two scientists stating that "pet genetics must be reined in" to avoid misinterpreting data.
Research
In July 2017, Embark worked with Cornell University to test more than 6,000 dogs of various breeds in order to identify the genetic mutation that causes blue eyes, which was the first research of its kind to be conducted on non-humans. Dog owners conducted DNA tests from Embark, completed online surveys, and Embark and Cornell analyzed the data.
Researchers discovered a genetic tweak in
Siberian Huskies that can cause blue-eyed dogs.
Adam Boyko was part of a team of scientists who in 2015 discovered that the origin of domestic dogs was near Central Asia 15,000 years ago. In 2016, he was the senior author of a study by Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine researchers that was the largest genetic study of dogs to ever be completed, with a collection of samples that included the DNA of more than 10,000 dogs from around the world. The researchers compared dogs of different purebred breeds in a large-scale genome-wide association study. It was published in the journal ''Nature Communication''.
See also
*
23andMe
23andMe Holding Co. is a publicly held personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva sample t ...
*
Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites.
In November 2018, ...
References
{{reflist
Genetic genealogy companies
Applied genetics
Animal genetics
American companies established in 2015
Biotechnology companies established in 2015
Biotechnology companies of the United States
Companies based in Boston
Privately held companies based in Massachusetts
Veterinary companies of the United States