Posted on 06/15/2005 11:34:14 AM PDT by blam
The Genographic Project
Public participation, including yours, is critical to the Genographic Project's success.
Here's how you can get involved:
Purchasing a Public Participation Kit will fund important research around the world—and open the door to the ancient past of your own genetic background.
With a simple and painless cheek swab you can sample your own DNA. You'll submit the sample through our secure, private, and completely anonymous system, then log on to the project Web site to track your personal results online.
This is not a genealogy test and you won't learn about your great grandparents. You will learn, however, of your deep ancestry, the ancient genetic journeys and physical travels of your distant relatives.
To insure total anonymity you will be identified at all times only by your kit number, not by your name. There is no record, no database that links test results with the names of their contributors. If you lose the kit number there will be no way to access your genetic results.
As your own genetic ancestry is revealed you'll also see worldwide samples map humankind's shared genetic background around the world and through the ages.
If you'd like to contribute your own results to the project's global database you'll be asked to answer a dozen "phenotyping" questions that will help place your DNA in cultural context.
This process is optional and completely anonymous, but it's also important. Each of us has a part in the ancient story of humankind's genetic journey. Together we can tell the whole story before it's too late.
Order a Kit The Participation Kit costs U.S. $99.95 (plus shipping and handling and tax if applicable). The kit includes:
1. DVD with a Genographic Project overview hosted by Dr. Spencer Wells, visual instructions on how to collect a DNA sample using a cheek scraper, and a bonus feature program: the National Geographic Channel/PBS production The Journey of Man. 2. Exclusive National Geographic map illustrating human migratory history and created especially for the launch of the Genographic Project. 3. Buccal swab kit, instructions, and a self-addressed envelope in which to return your cheek swab sample. (You can download a pdf of instructions or the consent form. You will need Acrobat Reader.) 4. Detailed brochure about the Genographic Project, featuring stunning National Geographic photography 5. Confidential Genographic Project ID # (GPID) to anonymously access your results at this Web site
The purchase price also includes the cost of the testing and analysis—an expensive process—that will take place once your sample is sent in.
Return Your Kit Once you have completed the cheek scraping process, you will secure the scrapers inside the transport tubes, sign the informed consent form and mail the tubes and form off to the lab.
That's it! In about 4 to 6 weeks—the time necessary for the laboratory to correctly analyze your DNA—your results will be ready. In the meantime, visit the Web site to see where your sample is in the analysis process.
Get Your Results Samples will be analyzed for genetic "markers" found in mitochondrial DNA and on the Y chromosome. We will be performing two tests for the public participants:
Males: Y-DNA test. This test allows you to identify your deep ancestral geographic origins on your direct paternal line.
Females: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). This tests the mtDNA of females to identify the ancestral migratory origins of your direct maternal line.
To be clear—these tests are not conventional genealogy. Your results will not provide names for your personal family tree or tell you where your great grandparents lived. Rather, they will indicate the maternal or paternal genetic markers your deep ancestors passed on to you and the story that goes with those markers.
Once your results are posted, you will be able to learn something about that story and the journey of your ancestors. The genetic profile you receive is more than a static set of data. It is like an ongoing subscription to your genetic history. Your profile might become more detailed as the Genographic Project amasses more data from around the world, so be sure to return to the Genographic Project Web site for project updates.
Public participation is critical to the Project's success. By purchasing a Genographic Project Public Participation Kit, you will not only contribute to the impact of this great endeavor, but you may discover something about your own genetic past as well.
A Note on Privacy To ensure the privacy of participants, we have built an anonymous analysis process. Your Participation Kit will be mailed with a randomly-generated, non-sequential Genographic Participant ID number (GPID). Although we will have mailed a Participation Kit to your address, we do not know the random code included in the Kit. When you send in your DNA sample with your consent form, they will only be identified by your GPID. Therefore, your cheek cells will be analyzed completely anonymously.
In order to access your test results, you will need to access the Genographic Project Web site and enter your GPID, so it is very important that you do not lose your GPID. See the Genographic Project Terms and Conditions for more information. Also, be sure to visit our FAQs.
For International Participants (outside the United States and Canada) Public participation may be restricted in some countries where the export of genetic material requires government approval. China is one country that has such restrictions in place. The Genographic Project will work with the relevant authorities to achieve the broadest level of public participation possible.
For more info, click on and go to the site.
GGG Ping.
My roots are black. Don't need DNA testing to tell me that. A quick glance in the nearest mirror will suffice ;o)
If I turn up Albanian-Slavic my parents better have some answers.
What if you're a mongrel like me? I suspect they coerce the results into the closest match they can find. But that doesn't mean it reflects reality.
LOL. I think I'd just better not check this out.
LOL. That post reminded me that I wanted to post this.
I've already cross linked them.
I have my kit already (coolest birthday present ever, IMO). Just need to swab my cheek and send it back in.
Just got my results today!
Y chromosome traced to Haplogroup O (genetic marker M175).
:)
I'd love to do this.
BTW:
I really enjoy your posts, blam. I nearly always read them.
I'm no expert here, but you direct paternal line can only come from one ethnic group, right? And your direct maternal line can also come from only one group too, right?
Return Your Kit Once you have completed the cheek scraping process, you will secure the scrapers inside the transport tubes, sign the informed consent form and mail the tubes and form off to the lab.
Aren't those two statements contradictory? How can I sign my consent form without identifying myself?
I love these "trust me" articles that make no sense.
In case you're wondering why I never trust so-called scientists.
LOL!!!
I care more about where I am going than where I have been.
Doesn't this information correspond to a geographic coordinate? Isn't that the most important thing in tracking the movement of populations?
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