The First Ever Independent Genetic Genealogy Conference was a Smashing Success!

It has been a week now since our history-making  SCGS/ISOGG Genetic Genealogy Conference in Burbank. It was a smashing success in every way. I wanted to take a moment to thank all of the speakers who generously came, often from all the way across the country, to share their knowledge and expertise with us. I was thrilled and honored by the enthusiastic response from all of the speakers to my invitations to participate.

Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Dr. Spencer Wells were our headliner speakers and they definitely lived up to their reputations (and more). We would have been extremely lucky to have even one of them attend. For me, having both accept my invitation to speak was nothing short of incredible!

Dr. Wells of National Geographic did a wonderful job encouraging all of us citizen scientists and recognizing our efforts. I had seen him speak before and always love how he makes the science so interesting and approachable, even for the beginners in the audience. Dr. Wells spent the day at the conference, attending presentations and interacting with the community. He even joined us for dinner and socialized with a group of genetic genealogists late into the night. He is definitely one of us!

The packed house for Spencer Wells' wonderful opening presentation

Professor Gates spoke at our luncheon and he was absolutely hilarious! I had no idea he would have us rolling in the aisles with laughter the way he did. If he ever decides that he wants a new career, stand-up comedy should be first on his list! He regaled us with tales of his own family history and his early ventures into television. The Professor was a fitting participant in our history-making day since his PBS shows were the first to introduce genetic genealogy into American homes. He also stuck around most of the day, attending presentations and socializing with the attendees. (I have to tell you that giving a presentation while looking out on the audience of Dr. Wells, Professor Gates, Dr. Mountain and many of my colleagues was quite intimidating!)

Professor Gates entertaining us

With these two celebrities, it might seem easy to forget our other speakers, except that they were all so outstanding in their own right! We had wonderful representation from the companies that our community depends on - Bennett Greenspan from Family Tree DNA, Dr. Joanna Mountain from 23andMe and Dr. Ken Chahine from AncestryDNA all gave presentations packed full of valuable information for genetic genealogists. Their speeches were standing room only. This was a very important part of the event to me. From the beginning of the planning process, one of my goals for the conference was to gather management from all of these companies in one place with the common purpose of promoting the education of the community. This was the very first time that this has happened and it will not be the last time.

Dr. Mountain explaining the finer points

Many of our leading genetic genealogists also generously gave of their time to ensure that our first conference would be a success. The informative presentations from Dr. Tim Janzen, Blaine Bettinger, Judy Russell, Dick Hill, Debbie Parker-Wayne, Alice Fairhurst, David Reynolds, Emily Aulicino and Katherine Borges were essential to this groundbreaking event. Many of these presentations were livestreamed and/or recorded so more people could benefit from these outstanding speeches. Dr. Kathy Johnston and Bonny Cook were also integral to the event and helped it to run as smoothly as it did. Additionally, all of the roundtable discussion leaders and the general volunteer efforts were very much appreciated by us all.

Blaine Bettinger sharing his knowledge

We had a total of 352 attendees, including speakers, which is a very good turnout for the first conference of this kind in the history of our field. We even had attendees from China, Australia and the UK, making this an international event! Thank you all for the tremendous support! The success of this inaugural event ensures that we can hold similar conferences in the future. This has proven that the time had indeed come for genetic genealogy to have its own annual conference. Thanks to SCGS for giving us this trial run, Paula Hinkel for her expertise in conference planning, which ensured a perfectly executed day, and Vicki Hilb for taking such good care of the speakers.

Next year we plan to hold the event on the East Coast, so those who could not make the long trip this year can participate in our second annual conference. I hope to again entice our wonderful Dr. Wells and Professor Gates to join us (they say they will!). We intend to hold a two day event next time in order to allow attendees to see more of the speakers and presentations. I will update everyone once we have dates and a location nailed down. I hope it will be as much fun as this one was!

Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of everyone since it was such a whirlwind day, but thanks to Tim Janzen, I have quite a few to share with you all.  (His are the clear ones. :-))

 CeCe and Professor Gates

Tim Janzen Presenting

 

Dick Hill telling his tale...

The Gates Luncheon

 

Confirming My Pedigree with DNA

What the Livestreaming looked like from our end

 

Does DNA Testing Work?

Socializing was fun with Blaine...

...and Debbie Parker-Wayne (with Cyndi Howells of "Cyndi's List" in the background)

I couldn't have asked for a better group of people with whom to share the day! There were so many familiar faces and friendly people that it was impossible to have the time to speak to everyone I wanted to. It was wonderful to be among people who share the same passion for genetic genealogy. Thank you to everyone who made the event so successful. It really was a dream come true!

Update: I received some great new photos from Katherine Borges which I have added, two below and one above in the section about Dr. Well's speech.

Adam, Spencer Wells, me, Lennart, Leo and Alice's infamous gold hat

At the Jamboree ISOGG booth, Back Row: Emily, Bonny, me, Kathy
Front Row: Linda and Katherine

A Sneak Peek at the UPDATED AncestryDNA Search Filter

AncestryDNA has been hard at work perfecting the new search filter these last few weeks. Not surprisingly, it has undergone some changes since I last shared it with my readers.

Stephen Baloglu, Ancestry.com's Director of Product Marketing, described what appears to be the version that will go live in the next few weeks:

The search includes looking within your DNA matches for surnames and birth locations in their family tree that they have linked to their DNA results. It does not currently include searching for username, but we may update that in the future. The top request was surnames/birth locations, so we started there. Also, we expect people to more likely know surnames they're looking for much more often than ancestry username.

He also shared these screen shots and accompanying descriptions with me on June 6th. Click to enlarge them for a closer look.

 

In a YouTube video on Ancestry.com's account (dated June 3, 2013), this slide is shown describing the AncestryDNA search filters.

Notice that the username search was, apparently, still expected at that time. Ancestry.com employees Anna Swayne and Crista Cowan discuss it on the video from about 15:30 to 16:00.  Crista clarifies that the username filter will be "an ability to search by the name of somebody who is a DNA match" and Anna says that it "will be coming soon". However when I asked Ken Chahine, General Manager of AncestryDNA, about the username filter at the recent DNA conference on June 6th, he explained that Ancestry.com does not currently have the option to search by username built into their system, which is limiting AncestryDNA's ability to provide it. [Update: I have asked for clarification on this point.]

Although this additional filter would be convenient, in my opinion, it isn't essential. For example,  I would like to search my mother's account to determine which of my matches with a surname of interest also appear in her account, but I can do so almost as easily by searching on that surname. Further, to search your account to see if your research partners appear as matches, you can also filter by your shared surname(s). I would really like to see an "In Common With" filter to determine which of my matches are from my mother's side, but, fortunately, I can already use Jeff Snavely's tool for that purpose.

With these upcoming filters, Jeff's terrific tool and Family Tree DNA's recent announcement that they are accepting raw data uploads from AncestryDNA (for only $49!), this test is becoming much more useful for genetic genealogists. (Now, if only we could get that chromosome browser onsite!)

Stephen tells me that there still isn't a confirmed date for the new search filter's arrival, but I expect it to appear sometime this summer.

Family Tree DNA Promotions Galore - Father's Day Y-DNA Upgrade Sale, AncestryDNA Transfers, mtDNA and DNA storage!

I am behind in blogging, in part, due to the Genetic Genealogy Conference that was just held last week (which I co-chaired), so I am going to be posting a few articles in quick succession. I hope it is not too much mail compared to what my subscribers are used to receiving!

First, Family Tree DNA has announced a number of wonderful promotions and price drops recently which are of great interest to our community. Two of these are very important promotions that will help us all get greater benefit from DNA tests that we have already taken, while the third is a great way to learn more about the deep ancestry of our direct maternal lines and to get out relatives DNA into storage for the future.

Father's Day Y-DNA Upgrade Sale
From June 12th-19th, FTDNA is reducing the price of Y-DNA upgrades, so if you took advantage of the recent price drop on Y-DNA 12 or if you need to clarify your current matches, now is the time to get that much needed resolution to your results.

Y-DNA 12 to 25        was $49             Now $35
Y-DNA 12 to 37        was $99             Now $69
Y-DNA 12 to 67        was $189           Now $148
Y-DNA 25 to 37        was $49             Now $35
Y-DNA 25 to 67        was $148           Now $114
Y-DNA 25 to 111      was $249           Now $224
Y-DNA 37 to 67        was $99             Now $79
Y-DNA 37 to 111       was $220          Now $188
Y-DNA 67 to 111       was $129          Now $109

To order an upgrade at these special prices your members can log into their personal pages with their kit number and password. Click on the "Order Upgrade" button located on the right side of the menu bar. Then click on the "Special Offers" button.

ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY 11:59pm, JUNE 19, 2013, TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICE. You can order here by logging into your account.

Family Tree DNA Accepting AncestryDNA Transfers for only $49!
The other terrific news that was announced at the conference last week is that Family Tree DNA is now accepting AncestryDNA raw data file imports in addition to the 23andMe raw data imports, both for only $49 (for a limited time).

The test is offered toward the bottom of their products list under "Autosomal DNA Transfer". The explanation on the site is as follows:

This option is available for men and women who have autosomal DNA results from a third party company that used the Illumina OmniExpress Plus Genotyping BeadChip, such as 23andMe© (known as the Relative Finder) and AncestryDNA™. You may use this option to upload your raw data to the Family Tree DNA Family Finder database to take advantage of features associated with the Family Finder product, such as relative matches and the Population Finder. This data transfer does not include any Y-DNA or mtDNA results from any company, nor does it involve the transfer of any physical DNA sample. 

The $49 Introductory fee will provide you with a Family Tree DNA personal page which will allow you to:

• View matches related within about the last 5 generations and predicted relationship ranges.*
• See percentages of your ancestral make-up from 62 world reference populations such as Native-American, Middle Eastern (including Jewish), African, West and East European.
• Confirm close relationships regardless of gender.
• Generate additional genealogical information..

Please note, uploaded files are batched once a week then run through the conversion program. Results take between 6-10 weeks based on volume. You will be notified by e-mail when your results are available. 

You can order here. Click on "Products" from the menu across the top and then scroll down to "Third Party >> "Autosomal DNA Transfer" (near the bottom).

mtDNAPlus (and DNA storage) for only $49
About a month ago, Family Tree DNA announced that they had reduced their mtDNAPlus (HVR1&2) test to only $49. This was the middle level test, so this is an incredible deal! Even if an mtDNA test is not your first choice for your genealogy research, this is a terrific way to get anyone's DNA in storage for at least 25 years for a very low price. You might wonder why this is important. With all of the new technology that will be developed in the future, we will all wish that we had our elderly relatives' DNA to test. If you go this route, be sure that the beneficiary field is filled out, so you can access the DNA in the future for additional testing if that person is no longer with us.

Here is the official press release about this development:

HOUSTON, May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Family Tree DNA, the genetic genealogy arm of Gene By Gene, Ltd., has lowered the price of its mid-level maternal line mtDNA test to $49, effective immediately.  The company announced it will offer its mtDNAPlus product at a two-third price reduction permanently, in just its latest step toward universal access by individuals to their personal genetic data. 
"This groundbreaking pricing illustrates how next generation sequencing (NGS) is changing the DNA testing landscape," Gene By Gene President Bennett Greenspan said.  "For Family Tree DNA to be able to offer this test at such an affordable price would have been unheard of before NGS.  We're hopeful that by lowering the price of products like our mtDNAPlus, we'll be able to expand the horizon of DNA testing and, importantly, grow our database to fuel future genetic discoveries."
Earlier this year, Family Tree DNA -- the world's largest processor of Y-DNA and full mitochondrial sequences -- dropped the price of its basic Y-DNA test for males by 60 percent, in order to eliminate cost as a barrier to individuals interested in learning more about their personal genetic and genomic data. 
Since then, the company has been working to do the same with its mtDNA test, which is applicable to both males and females and provides data on the direct maternal line by testing the mitochondria.  The mtDNAPlus product tests Hypervariable Regions 1 and 2, or HVR1 and HVR2, providing individuals with both anthropological and genealogical information. 
With the largest DNA database in the world, Family Tree DNA has processed over 5 million discrete tests for more than 700,000 individuals and organizations since it introduced its Y-DNA test in 2000.  Data gathered from the mtDNAPlus test will be stored, free of charge, in the company's database. If customers are interested in performing any other DNA tests that the company offers in the future, they won't be required to resubmit DNA samples.

Customer Inquiries
Individuals interested in Family Tree DNA's $49 mtDNA test, or any of its ancestral testing products, can visit Family Tree DNA or call (713) 868-1438 for more information.

What this means for us...
As a result of these promotions and price drops, we will all benefit from quickly expanding databases and more/better resolution matches. For those who transfer their data in from AncestryDNA, they will have access to the essential chromosome browser data and we will finally be able to see where our cousins from AncestryDNA match us!

Sneak Peek of AncestryDNA's New Search Filter

The long-awaited search filter at AncestryDNA has been teasing customers for the last couple of days, with fleeting appearances reported Sunday through Tuesday. It appears that the lucky ones who were granted this exciting sneak preview were primarily those who were using Internet Explorer. A few people also reported brief sightings in Chrome. These customers were fervently testing out the new feature's capabilities, never sure when it might disappear and then reappear again unexpectedly. This left a lot of people scratching their heads and trying to figure out what was going on.

AncestryDNA's new search filter, click to enlarge

The new search boxes appear just below the "filter by" drop down menu and the relationship range bar (as seen above). The filter enables searching for a specific surname or birth location. Further, a surname search can be narrowed down by additionally entering a location. There is also an option to "include similar surnames" which is helpful for those of us who have ancestral surnames with variant spellings.

The DNA matches that contain your search term(s) in their family trees are returned. However, the feature does not go so far as to identify specifically where these targeted terms appear, so is still necessary to open each match to review the family trees and locate the desired information. Reportedly, searches include collateral lines, private trees(!) and family trees in accounts that do not have a tree linked to their DNA results. I hope this continues to be the case in the final version, but I would be a bit surprised if these capabilities are preserved in entirety. By the way, apparently it does not currently search matches that were moved to the trash, so you better pull those back out!

I asked Stephen Baloglu, Ancestry.com's Director of Product Marketing, for clarification in regard to exactly what has been going on with this feature the last couple of days, as well as the time frame for a full roll-out. He explained, "We had been doing some isolated early release testing of the new ability to search matches by surname and birth location. It's very exciting, but the development is not complete. We put it in the wild for a small, random portion of AncestryDNA customers to get a sense of how it is working. We expect to roll out the feature in late June/early July to all DNA customers along with a few modifications to what has already been seen."

So, there you have it. The mystery is solved. The rest of us will just have to try to be patient!

Last Chance for Early Bird Pricing for June 6th "Family History and DNA:Genetic Genealogy in 2013" Conference

Tomorrow, May 7th, is the last day for early bird pricing for the genetic genealogy conference to be held on June 6th in Burbank, CA. We have a truly outstanding program planned for this first-ever independently produced genetic genealogy conference (co-sponsored by the International Society of Genetic Genealogy and the Southern California Genealogical Society). I hope you will decide to join us if you haven't already signed up. Attendance is limited to 350 and we are more than 75% sold-out, so don't wait too long!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The details:

Family History and DNA: Genetic Genealogy in 2013

June 6, 2013 – 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport

2500 Hollywood Way

Burbank, CA 91505

 

Speakers and Topics:

We will have Dr. Spencer Wells as our keynote speaker and Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as our luncheon speaker. The rest of the day will feature three concurrent tracks, aimed at the beginner through advanced genetic genealogist. All presenters and topics are found on the Jamboree website on the DNA Day page.

 

Cost:

Through Tuesday, May 7, 2013 (Extended Early Bird Deadline)

SCGS Members: $175

Non-Members $195

 

May 8 through Friday, May 24

SCGS Members: $200

Non-Members $220

 

Henry Louis Gates Luncheon (extra payment required)

Attendee: $20

Guest accompanying attendee: $60

 

Reservations can be made online at here. Payments may also be made by phone at 818.843.7247 (closed Mondays) with Visa or MasterCard.

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The 44^th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree will follow Friday through Sunday, June 7-9. DNA sessions will be held during Jamboree as well, including an expert’s panel on Friday afternoon. I will be participating in that panel as well as the Blogger's Summit panel on Saturday before lunch and speaking about Adoption and DNA on Saturday afternoon. I hope to see you there!

Happy DNA Day! (Celebrate with FTDNA's sale or 23andMe's multi-kit discount!)

Happy DNA Day to all of my friends!

WHAT IS DNA DAY?
Today is DNA Day! First observed ten years ago, DNA Day now celebrates all things genetic. It commemorates the day sixty years ago when the journal Nature published the papers by Watson, Crick, Wilkins, Gosling and Franklin describing the double helix structure of DNA and, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute, DNA Day also "commemorates the completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003".

THERE'S LOTS OF INTEREST IN GENETICS OUT THERE!
This year, in honor of DNA Day, 23andMe commissioned a survey of 1,067 Americans to find out just how much people in the United States know about genetics. Not surprisingly, it revealed the need for increased education, with only 21% of those surveyed correctly understanding that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. One of the most significant things that they found is that, while only 2% of the people surveyed had taken a genetics test, 73% of those who haven't would like to get tested in the future. Further, according to 23andMe, 71% of those said that the health results are what most interests them. (I guess we shouldn't be surprised by 23andMe's primary focus.) Even if they aren't all genetic genealogy enthusiasts, this is very good news for those of us who are. It appears that we can look forward to the databases growing exponentially in the coming months and years.

SALES
Although 23andMe is not offering a special discount for today, I did want to point out to anyone who hadn't yet noticed that 23andMe is now offering a multi-kit discount. The first kit is the regular price of $99, but any additional kits ordered at the same time are 20% off (that's only $79.20!). The discount is automatically applied when you add the kits to your cart.

Don't forget that Family Tree DNA's extensive DNA Day sale was extended through tonight April 30th.

It's a very good day to order a kit and add to what you know about (your) DNA!

DNA Makes a Splash at RootsTech 2013!

[I started writing this post right after Rootstech, but never published it. I had thought it was too late, but since lots of blogs are still discussing RootsTech, I decided to go ahead and publish it.]

I already wrote about the DNA announcements made at RootsTech, but DNA was such a hit at this year's RootsTech conference that I think another post is due.

This was my first attendance at RootsTech and I was impressed. The conference had more DNA talks than ever and most were standing room only. I think the organizers may need to give us all bigger rooms next year!

Nathan Murphy of the SLC Family History Library spoke to a full room about the application of Y-DNA for genealogy (Update - I just found Nathan's talk online.). Diahan Southard from The Genetic Genealogy Consultant gave an entertaining presentation on my favorite subject - autosomal DNA.  Elise Friedman from Relative Roots and Family Tree DNA gave two talks to packed rooms - one which lasted substantially longer than scheduled due to the enthusiastic questioning from the audience. AncestryDNA hosted a sold-out luncheon program featuring DNA and their product director Kenny Freestone gave a separate presentation on the AncestryDNA product.

My first presentation was on the Geno 2.0 test. My crowd was highly engaged and full of questions.

RootsTech Geno 2.0 Presentation

YGG and the Geno 2.0 Presentation Audience

My second presentation was an "Ask the Experts" genetic genealogy panel. Participants were Bennett Greenspan, CEO of Family Tree DNA; Dr. Catherine Ball, VP of Genomics and Bioinformatices for AncestryDNA and Dr. Tim Janzen, 23andMe Ancestry Ambassador and Independent Researcher. I had prepared questions, but didn't need them since we had such an enthusiastic crowd. Before we got started with questions, I asked the room how many had tested before. I was shocked to see almost every hand in the room go up. Most had tested at all three of the major companies and with multiple types of tests. I was expecting to have a much less advanced crowd, but since panels are inherently flexible, it worked out beautifully. I only wish we had more time since there were many hands raised throughout the entire hour and I don't think everyone got a chance to ask their question.

"Ask the Experts" panel - photo courtesy Lynn Broderick and the Single Leaf

The bottom line is that DNA for genealogy is here to stay. I think Dick Eastman expressed it best in the "Future of Genealogy" panel. When asked what three words best described the future of genealogy, he instead opted to respond with three letters "D.N.A."!