A Record of Trust and Transparency in Cannabis Genetics

Given all the recent discussions about cannabis genetics, I thought I would share our most recent blog, which clarifies our position as a genetic testing company and our history.

Cannabis crimes can happen in the backwoods…and in back rooms. We don’t deal in either.

From the beginning, Medicinal Genomics has been dedicated to advancing cannabis science through transparency, collaboration, and empowering others. And we believe that people and companies should be judged on their actions, not their words.

We demonstrated that in our very first act as a company, when in 2011, our CSO Kevin McKernan sequenced the Chemdog cultivar genome, and published it publicly, and invited other researchers in the community to use it.

Medicinal Genomics started in a hotel room in Holland, extracting DNA from cannabis purchased at Amsterdam coffee shops.

In 2018, we collaborated with Dash, Pacific Biosciences, New England Biolabs, and Phase Genomicsto sequence the Jamaican Lion cultivar using the best sequencing tools available. The result of that project is the most complete cannabis reference genome to date. Again, we made that data public and invited the world to use it. Industry leaders such as Seth Crawford (OregonCBD), Keith Allen (SteepHill), Reggie Gaudino (SteepHill), Phillipe Henry (VSSL), Jesse Leach (Colorado Seed), and others have used Jamaican Lion to advance their respective breeding and research projects.

The StrainSEEK Strain Identification and Registration Service we offer our customers is built on the same principles we use in our own sequencing projects. The data generated from each StrainSEEK test is published on the Dash blockchain, a public, time-stamped, tamper-proof database. No matter what happens to Medicinal Genomics or Kannapedia.net, there is a record of each StrainSEEK test on the blockchain network that can never be erased or edited. We also provide FastQ files to our customers that cover more than 3.5 million bases across thousands of high-value targets, including 29 cannabinoid and terpene synthase genes as well as several genes for seed production and sex determination.

We built the youPCR Plant Screening Platform as a way for cultivators to avoid using companies who offer testing services as a data intake engine. Using equipment and reagents that cost less than the average commercial LED light, growers can screen their own plants, on-site for gender, cannabinoid production, and pathogen infection. youPCR is a genomic breeding tool that anyone can use.

Dick Fitts recently wrote, “We need a scientific community that’s open source, fully transparent and works for everybody equally.”

At Medicinal Genomics, we believe that, too. Just look at our record.

4 Likes

Thanks for sharing, @BenMGC! It sounds like you are working hard to preserve a reputable facet of our industry (i.e. genetic sequencing and screening) still seemingly in its infancy.

Given some of the recent events in the cannabis science community, have you felt increased pressure to defend your company’s reputation and practices? How have you been able to distance MG from some of your less-than-ethical competitors and stay a leader in cannabis genetics?

3 Likes

We are not feeling a ton of pressure to defend ourselves, mainly because we have worked hard to build a solid reputation and have a proven record of transparency and collaboration. We don’t have any skeletons or grainy investor videos we are trying to hide.

However, we do get some “How are you guys different than…?” questions from prospects.

First, we provide all our customers with their data files, so they can analyze it for their breeding or research projects. We also put their data onto the blockchain so there is an enduring, public record no matter what happens to us as a company. We can’t edit those files or delete them even if we wanted to.

Second, is the data itself. The other guys openly admitted that the data they provided to their customers is not good enough to build a breeding program on. Ours it. Our StrainSEEK test covers 4 million bases, including 25 genes In the cannabinoid and terpene pathways. Those bases are also mapped to the best cannabis reference genome ever assembled (Jamaican Lion). A reference we are continuing to improve, which will provide additional insights to those who sequence with us. Compare that to “the other guys” who only provided 300,000 bases that do NOT cover any cannabinoid or terpene genes.

5 Likes

That’s good. We appreciate a company that maintains a high degree of integrity.

Thanks for answering the “How are you different?” question.

How can growers go about mapping their own cannabis DNA the way you did with Jamaican Lion? As you know, @BenMGC, I have been working to develop some new genetic lineage with some of my breeding stock, how might I go about entering that data in to the StrainSEEK database?

1 Like