1st International Conference on Genetic Genealogy
for Family Tree DNA Group Administrators*

Houston, TX
October 30, 2004

Syllabus

Bruce Walsh PhD Population Geneticist An expert on population genetics and statistical applications in genetics and co-author of one of the leading texts in this area, Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits, Lynch and Walsh, 1997, Dr. Walsh served on the editorial boards of the journals Genetics; Genetical Research; Theoretical Population Biology; Evolution and The American Naturalist. He received his PhD in Genetics from the University of Washington.

Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor - Estimates of TMRCA are based on the observed number of mutations by which the two Y chromosomes differ. Since mutations occur at random, the estimate of a TMRCA is not an exact number (i.e., 7 generations), but rather a probability distribution. The talk will address the TMRCA calculations and the stepwise model as well as the infinite allele model.

Doug Mumma B.A. in Physics from the University of California at Riverside in 1957. For 35 years he worked as an experimental physicist and administrator in nuclear weapons effects and high explosives research. Since his retirement, he has continued his interest in science and has become a pioneer in the use of DNA testing for genealogical research. His MUMMA Surname Project was the first privately funded project initiated over 4 years ago. The results of his ongoing research continue to be a benchmark and reference point in this new technology. He shares his family research and maintains a searchable database with over 65,000 Mumma descendants at http://www.mumma.org/mumma.html.

Case Study – Mumma Surname Project - A pioneer in the use of DNA for family research, Doug Mumma will share his experiences, from the roadblocks he encountered in his family research and the quest for recruiting participants, to how DNA helped in connecting branches of his family. He will give insights into his project so that other Surname administrators can understand the grouping and branching according to mutations.

Megan Smolenyak Author and Researcher is the co-author of Trace Your Roots with DNA: Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Tree, and writes for Ancestry, Ancestry Daily News, Family Tree Magazine, Family Chronicle, Heritage Quest, Genealogical Computing, and other publications. In addition to managing a village-based DNA project, she conducts research for the U.S. Army’s Repatriation Project, locating families (including mtDNA testing candidates) of soldiers still unaccounted for from WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Megan has appeared on the Today Show, Fox & Friends, NPR, Ancestors, They Came to America, and other television and radio shows. She can be reached at www.honoringourancestors.com .

Recruiting Participants for Your DNA Project - “Broadcasting” techniques (essentially sprinkling bread crumbs on the Internet to make it easier for others to find you) and “reverse genealogy” techniques (the tactics she's used to locate thousands of mtDNA testing candidates for the Army for soldiers killed in Korea and WWII – ones that will work for finding specific folks to participate in DNA projects). She will also share some results from her project manager survey.

Matt Kaplan FTDNA Lab Manager Doctoral candidate at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, with over 10 years of hands-on experience in Molecular Biology. (Family Tree DNA takes the blame for not giving Matt the time to complete his doctoral work, which otherwise would have been completed two years ago....)

Surname Projects and Mutation Rates - Release and analysis of the first Y-DNA mutation rate study in the world based on family genealogies, which was co-sponsored by the Department of Genetics at the University of Arizona and Family Tree DNA.

Multi-copy markers and nomenclature issues - Matt will explain the approach adopted by the international scientific community in regard to nomenclature, and will analyze the multi-copy markers - how to read them and how they can be valuable for determining splits in families.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM AND REGISTRATION        PRESS RELEASE

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