FTDNA Family Finder DNA test bundles expire at Midnight CST on the 31st!

Save $30.00 on the Family Finder DNA test with or without other bundled tests. Details are here www.familytreedna.com.

FTDNA DNA test results and transferring to GENI.

FTDNA and GENI have teamed up and you can now transfer your FTDNA DNA test results to GENI for free. There is not charge to maintain a pedigree at GENI. For other GENI services the basic membership is $119.90 USD per year. See the comment below.

I transferred my Y DNA, mtDNA and atDNA (it appears to be Family Finder) to Geni and have some 15 mtDNA and atDNA matches. No Y DNA matches. It will give you a list of people who should match you based on your DNA and the pedigrees. With mtDNA, it seems to give very close readings for people who actually are far far away. So far I am told I have 3rd to 4th cousin mtDNA matches in Finland, Norway, and South Africa based on HVR1 and HVR2 matches. Not likely in my opinion.

Confusingly, GENI says you can transfer your 23andme or Ancestry atDNA results to GENI. The announcement with FTDNA did not mention atDNA, but my Family Finder results seem to have been transferred.

Also GENI is now affiliated to My Heritage. If you have less than 250 people in you pedigree at My Heritage there is no charge to use their service. If you want to add more people to the pedigree you must pay the basic membership price. At GENI you will often get notices of matches in the My Heritage document databases or pedigrees. If followed, these will take you to My Heritage and you will need to purchase a membership to see the information. As My Heritage charges separately for their pedigree and their document databases, this can get expensive fast.

On its own, My Heritage accepts atDNA uploads from 23andme. How these different DNA tests are going to work together in the databases is currently unknown.

There is no chromosome browser at either GENI or My Heritage at this time.

If you have known European ancestry since 1830 or so, this is probably a good deal. Otherwise it is not much use to US colonial descendants. YMMV.

23andMe and the new homepage for The New Experience

Since last year 23andMe has been transitioning new and old participants to The New Experience. As a version 2.0 and 3.0 participant, I have recently been told I will be transitioned by the end of August 2016.

Below is a link to a 23andMe Blog post on the new Homepage:

Designing the New 23andMe Homepage

June 22, 2016
Published by 23andMe under 23andMe and you, inside 23andMe

A Personalized Guide to the Incredible You
By Scott Andress, Director of Product Design at 23andMe

Your 23andMe results have arrived. The day you’ve been waiting for is here. It’s the culmination of curiosity, mystery – even trepidation. What will you find out about yourself and your family? The answers are just one click away.

Continue reading here: Designing the new 23andMe homepage

Danish travel site does DNA testing

DNA Results Reveal Surprising Truths in This Travel Site's Experiment

Momondo Encouraged 67 People to Find Out More About Their Origins

By Alexandra Jardine. Published on Jun 02, 2016

Danish travel search site Momondo conducts a mass DNA experiment in this revealing mini documentary, which sets out to prove that our views about foreigners could be fundamentally changed if we knew more about our own genetic origins.

http://creativity-online.com/work/momondo-the-dna-journey/47554

MyHeritage is accepting DNA data uploads from FTDNA, 23andMe, and AncestryDNA for DNA matching

The MyHeritage blog has posted details of the new feature:
http://blog.myheritage.com/2016/05/myheritage-is-adding-free-dna-matching/

Judy Russel has posted about the consents asked for by MyHeritage. If you are considering uploading your DNA data, you should read her blog at The Legal Genealogist.

One requested consent is required to allow the use of your DNA in matching. The other covers use of your DNA and non-identifying personal information in current or future "research". That consent is not required to use the DNA matching. Judy has done a fine job describing the issues around this consent and I urge you to read it carefully.

New DNA Service - Diploid: Diagnosing rare diseases

Diploid:

http://www.diploid.com/diagnosed

From their homepage:

Diploid Diagnosed

The ultimate genome interpretation service


Diagnosed is a rare disease diagnostics service unlike any other. Combining our critically acclaimed SNP interpretation platform, with our new CNV analysis pipeline, we are confident that we can provide a genetic diagnosis for rare diseases in the areas of intellectual disability, dysmorphisms, metabolic conditions, blindness and deafness. You don’t have to take our word for it: if our WGS analysis does not return a plausible candidate variant, the analysis will be completely free*.

Less than 4% of sequenced human genome sequences are non-European

Article: New era of genetic research must include more indigenous people, says Keolu Fox Geneticist says trust, technology key to increasing ethnic diversity in human genome project.

Keolu Fox is on a mission to increase ethnic diversity in human genome sequencing.

Fox, an indigenous Hawaiian geneticist, was studying at the University of Washington when he discovered that less than four per cent of human genome sequencing is non-European, with less than one per cent being from indigenous people. 

Human genome sequencing could play a key part in determining how genetics play a role in chronic diseases that disproportionately impact indigenous people, such as diabetes, Fox said.

Maine Irish DNA Database

Thanks to DNA ancestry project, Mainers with Irish ties are smiling

A giant archive overseen by a Portland group twins traditional and genetic genealogy to help trace family trees and connect relatives.

Continued here: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/03/17/thanks-to-dna-ancestry-project-mainers-with-irish-ties-are-smiling/

23andMe now legal in New York and Maryland

From Reuters:

23andMe Genetic Service Now Fully Accessible to Customers in New York and Maryland

PR Newswire

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 4, 2015

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- 23andMe, Inc., the leading personal genetics company, today announced that its service is now completely available to people both in New York and Maryland.

Previously, customers in New York could not ship saliva samples from the state, while state law in Maryland prohibited direct-to-consumer genetic testing all together.

Continued:
http://www.reuters.com/article/23andme-service-ny-idUSnPn20XYqD+8d+PRN20151204

Ancestry DNA Black Friday Discount, USA and UK

30% discount.

Here is the order link for the US:

https://dna.ancestry.com/

Here is the link for the UK:

http://dna.ancestry.co.uk/

Good through 30 November 2015.

Enjoy!