Pharmacogenetics: Your DNA can affect how your body processes certain kinds of medicine. This might affect how well the medicines work for you or if they cause side effects. This is called pharmacogenetics (FAR-mah-coh-je-NEH-tiks). Testing your DNA can give us information about these differences and might help your doctor select the right medicine or dose for you. As a biobank participant, you might be eligible to get new pharmacogenetic results.

What's new: The biobank recently added five new genes to its testing of participants' samples. This means you could now get results for more genes than before. These genetic results might give you information about how certain medicines work in the body. Some common medicines include:

• Blood thinners.
• Antidepressants and antipsychotics.
• Pain medicines.
• Medicines used to treat nausea, vomiting, or slow digestion.
• Medicines used after transplants and to treat certain skin diseases

Who might receive results: Results might be sent to participants who have had their samples collected and processed and who have given their consent to get results. Participants who have gotten results from the biobank before might get a message telling them that they have new results in their My Health Connection account for the additional genes we are now testing.

How to find your results: If these biobank results become available for you, we will send a My Health Connection notification telling you that you have a new test result. The date of the result will be the same as when your sample was collected, which might have been several months or years ago. If you have trouble finding your results, follow these steps or contact us and we can help.

The information you receive through this newsletter is not intended to be medical advice. If you need medical assistance, please seek care at an appropriate facility. You should contact your doctor about any genetic test results that you receive from the biobank. Do not stop using or change any of your medicines before speaking with your doctor.

It is important to know that not every biobank participant will receive these results. If you are concerned about your family's health history, talk to your doctor about having a genetic test.