Are you my Cousin?

FROM THE AARP MAGAZINE:

Are You My Cousin?
By Richard Rubin, November & December 2008

How the new DNA technology can solve mysteries in your family tree… and help you discover relatives you never knew you had

    * Trace Your Family Tree—Without Losing Your Mind (March & April 2005)
    * Genealogy Resources (Updated 2008)
    * Studs Terkel’s Tips for Preserving Family History
    * Web Exclusive: A Beginner's Guide to Genealogy on the Web (Updated 2008)
    * Share Your Family History in the AARP.org Online Community

I recently received an e-mail from a cousin of mine out on Long Island—we’ll call him Harry—who was writing to invite me to a family reunion. It was an offer I couldn’t resist, even though, as family reunions go, this one is a bit unusual. For one thing, Harry and I have never met. I didn’t even know he existed before he e-mailed me. In fact, though I know for certain that he and I are related, I don’t know exactly how. Neither does he. For that matter, the entire family gathering is composed of people who know we are related, but little else. The guest list isn’t set—actually, it’s growing all the time—but that’s okay, because we don’t have to rent a space, or figure out how much potato salad to make. This reunion, you see, is happening online. It’s virtual. And perpetual.

FTDNA's 5th Annual Conference on Genetic Genealogy Postponed

Dear Customers,
Here is the latest update regarding the Conference and our lab in Houston:

a) The 5th Annual Conference on Genetic Genealogy will be postponed until February or March 2009, as the Sheraton Hotel has just informed us that they will not be in an appropriate condition to host our conference. The positive aspect of this postponement is that we will try our best to arrange the schedule in order for Spencer Wells to be one of our speakers. As soon as we have the new date we will advise you.

b) Labs: First of all there has been no interruption in the processes related to the standard Y-DNA and mtDNA tests, which are performed in Arizona. The batch was successfully closed this week and transmitted, a couple of days later than normal, due to networking issues that were resolved Friday.

The Genomics Research Center (Houston Lab) processes the full mitochondria, autosomal, and deep clade, as well as the advanced marker tests. These are the only ones subject to delays. We are pleased to announce that due to the outstanding efforts of our lab team and the restoration crew in place at our site, we were able to fully restore the freezing capabilities of our DNA storage robot. Yesterday, we were also able to power one of our sequencing machines. Our lab team is working this weekend and we will be able to advise you of the integrity of the DNA samples stored in Houston by mid-week. As soon as this is confirmed, our Houston lab will resume the work on our customer samples, while we restore the full capabilities of the lab.

As we have additional news, we will keep updating you.

We also want to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for the hundreds of emails of support and encouragement that we have received during this difficult time. There is no adequate way to express how much this means to us and our entire team. Thank you so much!

As always, many thanks for your continued support!

E-mail us anytime!

Bennett Greenspan
President
bcg [at symbol] familytreedna.com

Max Blankfeld
Vice-President, Operations and Marketing
max [at symbol] familytreedna.com