Born to Code? New Test for Geek Gene

When Raji Ramnani learned recently that a simple genetic test might be able to determine which technology field will suit the talents of her 2-year old son Sanjay, she instantly said, Where can I get it and who cares what it costs?

"I could see how some people might think the test would pigeonhole your child into doing search optimization, xml coding or chip design, but I think it's good to match them with the right activity," Ms. Ramnani, 28, said as she watched a toddler web design class struggle to perform a Google pagerank calculation in between afternoon snack and nap time.

"I think it would prevent a lot of parental frustration," she said. "Why should I be spending $1,000 each week to send Sanjay to a web design pre-school if he's going to grow up to design tera-scale processing chips?" 

In tech-conscious Mountain View, California, 23andYou has been optimizing tests for variations in the ventral patterning factor Sonic Hedgehog that coordinates the growth of telencephalic subregions which has been shown to correlate strongly to preference of technology careers.

Some experts say that Sonic Hedgehog testing is in its infancy and virtually useless.  Dr. Thadeus Nadwadny, the director of the Fresno Institute of Technology's interdepartmental gene therapy program, called it "an opportunity to sell new versions of snake oil."

A 23andYou spokesperson said that they were developing an entire suite of genetic testing for early identification of sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies and dickheads.

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