Five bioethicists have published a paper in today’s issue of Science - The Illusive Gold Standard in Genetic Ancestry Testing (paid subscription required) – calling for government regulation of genetic ancestry testing (aka genetic genealogy). There is an accompanying press release: “Stanford Bioethicist and Colleagues Call for Federal Regulation of Genetic Ancestry Testing” (another [...]
An article in the United Arab Emirate newspaper The National (wikipedia) does a terrific job of highlighting recent research from Family Tree DNA. The story - “DNA could illuminate Islam’s lineage” – discusses research that has attempted to elucidate the Y-DNA signature of Mohammed. Although Mohammed did not have a son, he had [...]
A recent article by Ronald Bailey in reasononline asks whether genetic tests actually need more federal regulation. It’s probably clear that I strongly support the individual’s right to their own genetic information via DTC testing, but this viewpoint is rarely seen or endorsed in the press. Bailey concludes:
“There may well be some inaccurate [...]
SALT LAKE CITY (May 26, 2009) - GeneTree and Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF) today announced a special offer to the tens of thousands of men who donated their Y-DNA samples and pedigree information to the non-profit SMGF’s genetic genealogy database. At a deeply discounted price, participants now may access their Y-DNA profiles through [...]
In January I wrote about Benjaman Kyle, an amnesiac who was found on August 31, 2004 next to a dumpster behind a Burger King in Richmond Hill, Georgia. In that post, “Using Genetic Genealogy to Solve the Mystery of Benjaman Kyle,” I suggested that a Y-DNA test might be helpful in elucidating Mr. [...]
In February, I received a number of comments and emails which suggested that DNAPrint Genomics was not processing results and could not be reached by telephone. DNAPrint was one of the first companies to offer ‘large-scale’ autosomal testing, although their tests were unable to compete with the testing currently offered by companies like 23andMe [...]
16 February 2009 – 4:00 am
I’ve been working on a presentation regarding the future of genetic genealogy, and one aspect of that future is the ability to trace DNA (SNPs, mutations, haplogroups, etc…) through recent history as the result of combining extensive genomic sequencing with massive family tree information. Although the ability to do this will have many [...]
28 January 2009 – 11:59 am
23andMe and mondoBIOTECH announced at Davos (the World Economic Forum in Switzerland) today that they will work together to further the study of rare diseases. According to the press release (below), mondoBIOTECH will identify individuals suffering from certain rare diseases and sponsor their enrollment in the 23andMe Personal Genome Service™. Researchers will use the [...]
14 January 2009 – 3:00 am
Although I can hardly hope to introduce or discuss these recent events any better than Daniel MacArthur has already given at Genetic Future, I will at least bring this new information to your attention.
Last Wednesday the New York Times printed “My Genome, My Self”, an article written by Stephen Pinker, one of the Personal [...]
An international team of researchers have concluded that humans entered the Americas from Asia along at least two different paths. By studying two rare mtDNA haplogroups found in Native Americans – D4h3 and X2a – the researchers conclude that D4h3 spread into the Americans along the Pacific coast while X2a entered through the [...]
