DNA, Lecture F342, “Understanding the Science Behind Your DNA Results”

2:30 pm, Friday, 12 May 2017

AncestryDNA

DNA is a record of our history – what is in our DNA that records our family history? How does DNA pass from parents to children generation after generation and allow us to connect with our cousins and our ancestors? How does your own DNA provide a picture of where in the world your ancestors might have lived?

Julie Granka for AncestryDNA will address these questions and more in her lecture. She says that “topics in human history –where we came from and how we are connected to one another–have always piqued my curiosity. Once I learned that DNA holds clues to these answers, I made genetics the focus of my career, and have been excited to find answers to questions that motivated me to study genetics in the first place. Over the past several years, I’ve focused on helping people understand their own family histories through genetics. At AncestryDNA, I develop tools to empower genealogists in their research. As humans moved all over the world, they took their DNA with them and passed it to subsequent generations. Traces of human history left in our DNA empower the use of it for genealogical research. In my lecture, I’ll help you understand the basic principles behind your ethnicity estimates, matching results, and evidence for your family tree, allowing you to more effectively use genetics for genealogy. My hope is by the end of my lecture, you’ll be as fascinated by genetics as I am –and inspired to forge ahead using DNA for your research, just as I’ve used it in my own.”