Disambiguation

This article relates to the former Australian company MyGene Pty Ltd (ACN 137 407 848 ) that traded between 2007 and 2013 and does not relate to the Australian company MyGene Pty Ltd incorporated in 2020 (ACN 646 563 064) and currently trading. MyGene Pty. Ltd. was a

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

genetic testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

services company located in Melbourne,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

that owned and operated an accredited on-site laboratory. MyGene specialised in the development of genetic tests and interpretive reports that assessed the genetic contribution of personal response to diet, also known as

nutrigenetics Nutritional genomics, also known as nutrigenomics, is a science studying the relationship between human genome, human nutrition and health. People in the field work toward developing an understanding of how the whole body responds to a food via sy ...

Establishment

MyGene was conceived and established by Harry Banaharis during work done initially in profiling

umbilical cord blood Cord blood (umbilical cord blood) is blood that remains in the placenta and in the attached umbilical cord after childbirth. Cord blood is collected because it contains stem cells, which can be used to treat hematopoietic and genetic disorders su ...

and later mesenchymal stem cells. The business value proposition anticipated a desire by individuals to understand their genetic individuality and how such knowledge could be used to personalise diet and exercise choices for improved health outcomes. In its initial conception the business would sub-contract a laboratory to perform the genetic test and provide an interpretive web-based report. After some attempts to secure Australian laboratories to perform the testing in a commercially viable manner he decided to establish his own. In 2006, he funded and deployed a prototype gene testing laboratory within the

Alfred Hospital The Alfred Hospital, also known as The Alfred or Alfred Hospital, is a leading tertiary teaching hospital in Melbourne, Victoria. It is the second oldest hospital in Victoria, and the oldest Melbourne hospital still operating on its original site ...

research centre utilising a Biotage Pyrosequencer instrument for analysing

epigenetic In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "o ...

changes in the promoter of TGF-beta gene to generate data towards his Honours thesis. In 2007 he established the MyGene "DNA to data" commercial laboratory in Melbourne CBD and released the first prototype direct to consumer genetic testing kit, the Sports Performance Gene Test. It analysed

single nucleotide polymorphisms In genetics, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP ; plural SNPs ) is a germline substitution of a single nucleotide at a specific position in the genome. Although certain definitions require the substitution to be present in a sufficiently larg ...

(SNPs) in 2 genes known to vary in power versus endurance athletes,

ACTN3 Alpha-actinin-3, also known as alpha-actinin skeletal muscle isoform 3 or F-actin cross-linking protein, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ACTN3'' gene (named sprinter gene, speed gene or athlete gene) located on chromosome 11. All ...

and ACE I/D and a gene associated with impact sports head injury,

APOE4 Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is a protein involved in the metabolism of fats in the body of mammals. A subtype is implicated in Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease. APOE belongs to a family of fat-binding proteins called apolipoproteins. ...

. The kit included 2 buccal swabs to ensure sufficient material was collected, a card that contained the access code for retrieving the web-based results and an envelope to mail the swabs to the laboratory. MyGene Genetic Testing Kit.jpeg, The MyGene Genetic Testing Kit with 2 coded swabs for buccal collection and customer ID card Collection_swabs_and_customer_ID_card_in_the_MyGene_Genetic_Test_Kit.jpeg, Detail of collection swabs and customer ID card MyGene_Sports_Gene_Test_Customer_Brochure.pdf, Mygene Sports Performance Gene Test Brochure

Expansion

In 2009 Harry Banaharis was joined by Nick Argyrou, a property developer and former SelecTV director and his wife Helen Argyrou, a pharmacy entrepreneur. The Argyrou's saw an opportunity to innovate in the crowded meal replacement market and the newly resourced company was oriented towards pursuing the development of nutrigenetic products and services. Graeme Smith, a nutritional biochemist and biomedical researcher, was recruited to help formulate the meal replacement variants and develop accompanying genetically prescribed weight loss programs. In 2010, David Koadlow, also a major investor in another Australian genetic testing company, Lumigenix (The Age: Tapping into your Genes), acquired a controlling share in MyGene and helped fuel its transition into the world's first genetic testing company that offered a range of genetically matched meal replacement formulations known as the MyGene Weightloss Complete Genetic Program. In 2011 Dr Les Sheffield, founder of MyDNA (MyDNA - About Us), became a member of MyGene's scientific advisory board (Bloomberg).

Nutrigenetics

MyGene's novel approach to predicting the

hereditary Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...

component of dietary response was to test for variations in

genes In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

that were known to be associated with disorders of glucose and lipid metabolism (see ). According to this method, the greater the number of genetic variants that an individual was found to carry that increased the risk of metabolic disturbances in glucose metabolism, the greater the sensitivity to dietary

carbohydrates In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or may ...

. Similarly, the number of genetic variations associated with adverse lipid metabolism was considered to be proportional to dietary fat sensitivity. Sensitivity to a macronutrient would indicate that its reduction in the diet may have conferred increased metabolic and health benefits. Further refinements to personalising diet included tests for genes associated with gluten sensitivity, lactose intolerance, salt palatability,

appetite Appetite is the desire to eat food items, usually due to hunger. Appealing foods can stimulate appetite even when hunger is absent, although appetite can be greatly reduced by satiety. Appetite exists in all higher life-forms, and serves to regu ...

control, folate and Vitamin D metabolism.

MyGene Weightloss Complete Genetic Program

In 2011 MyGene brought to market a nutrigenetic dietary program to optimise weight loss that was composed of a genetic test, a genetically allocated meal replacement formulation and 12-week dietary program (MyGene Weightloss Complete). Via a collaboration with

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia The Pharmacy Guild of Australia is a national employer's organisation representing community pharmacy proprietors in Australia. Еstablished in 1927 as the Federated Pharmaceutical Services Guild of Australia it is registered under the federa ...

(Australia's chief

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

body representing community pharmacies)"Guild endorses MyGene"
Pharmacy Daily - Pharmacy Industry News a select number of participating pharmacies provided MyGene consulting rooms whereby customers had DNA samples collected and were counselled on the type of dietary regime required (according to their genetic test results) to achieve their desired weight management goals. The program was also offered in a clinical setting for the treatment of obesity.

Program Withdrawal

Despite the support of the Pharmacy Guild the claims in MyGene's nutrigenetic dietary program were met with scepticism particularly as supporting clinical research was found to be lacking. Dr. Ken Harvey, from the school of public health at La Trobe University challenged MyGene to provide evidence on the sensitivity and specificity of the tests being offered. With no response to the increasing number of questions being raised about MyGene's nutrigenetic test and a campaign by the Professional Pharmacists Australia association to have Pharmacy endorsement rescinded the Weightloss Complete Genetic Program was withdrawn from the market during 2012. In 2016, in a recapitulation of MyGene's contentious reception in the Australian market, the myDNA pharmacogenetic test met with similar scepticism regarding clinical utility and patient benefits. Like MyGene's nutrigenetic test, myDNA's pharmacogenetic test is being distributed via pharmacy outlets.

Voluntary Administration & Wind Up

On 11 September 2013, following long standing differences between its major shareholders MyGene was placed in voluntary administration by the majority owner, David Koadlow, and wound up.

References

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External links

MyGene LinkedIn site
Genomics companies Biotechnology companies established in 2007 Biotechnology companies of Australia Biotechnology companies disestablished in 2013 Australian companies disestablished in 2013 Australian companies established in 2007 Science and technology in Melbourne