Tech

Tech Roundup: Creating a Latin America-wide DNA database

This week: a possible DNA database. Brazil's controversial AI guidelines. And the IADB's push for digitizing the Brazilian government

dna tests latin america
Image: Explode/Shutterstock

You’re reading The Brazilian Report’s weekly tech roundup, a digest of the most important news on technology and innovation in Brazil. This week’s topics: how a Brazilian startup is working to create a Latin America-wide DNA database, Brazil’s controversial new AI guidelines, and the IADB’s efforts to make the Brazilian government more digital. 

Uncovering the DNA of Latin America 

Amid the pandemic, Brazilian genomics laboratory Genera decided to go digital. After closing its brick-and-mortar collection units, it invested in e-commerce and decided to focus exclusively on DNA analysis for health and ancestry purposes. Soon after, Genera saw test sales increase twentyfold and revenues rose by 15 times in Brazil. The foray into the virtual world worked so well that it gave the company the financial muscle to pursue another business venture, expanding around Latin America.

Conquering America via DNA. Genera teamed up with laboratory Genia to set up shop in Uruguay in March and Argentina this month. As CEO Ricardo di Lazzaro told The Brazilian Report, Chile and Colombia are next in line for this year, with Mexico and Ecuador set to join the list. 

  • “Latin America is a huge market and we have cultural similarities. Due to the devaluation of the Brazilian Real, our DNA tests became the cheapest in the world, so we thought it was the right time to expand,” he adds. 

Goals. Genera does not reveal individual figures for each country — as operations outside Brazil are still in their early days — but the company says its Latin American expansion will help make the jump from its current level of 100,000 tests administered in Brazil to 10 million DNA analysis carried out continent-wide by 2027. While Mr. Di Lazzari admits it is an ambitious goal, but says the company has the structure to achieve it.

  • “Our partners collect the samples there and ship them to Brazil. We analyze it here because we already have the high-end laboratories needed to process such exams. (…) Our infrastructure can scale to let the company grow three times over if needed, to support demand,” he says.
  • Genera’s DNA database is already integrated, so people will be able to trace their potential relatives in neighboring countries. The “find my relatives” tab currently only shows individuals’ names and email addresses, but Mr. Di Lazzari says they will soon include people’s country of residence.

Social role. DNA-tracing is a hot topic in Latin America, especially in Argentina. One of the most cruel tactics of the country’s last military dictatorship involved kidnapping the children of political opponents and putting them up for adoption. Since 1987, the country has kept its own national...

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