Today we announced that the matching portions of the AncestryDNA test results have been updated. The purpose of this post is to give you a little more detail around the science behind these improvements. Our previous DNA matching algorithms were based on the AncestryDNA database when it was populated by about half a million people. Read More
AncestryDNA recently released a feature to your DNA match results that we call Amount of Shared DNA. It allows you to see some scientific details behind your relationship with each of your matches. You now have access to this for each of your matches. See an example below. New DNA Matching Details In this example, Read More
Ancestry science team gives two platform presentations on Friday, October 9th at human genetics conference ASHG With over one million customers who have submitted their DNA, AncestryDNA has the fastest-growing and one of the largest collections of human genetic data around the world. That amount of DNA data powers the AncestryDNA science team to perform Read More
When someone takes an AncestryDNA test, we compare their DNA to the DNA of the hundreds of thousands of other test-takers in the AncestryDNA database. We’re looking for “DNA matches” — people who share DNA with one another, and so might be relatives. The main idea behind identifying a DNA match is to look for Read More
This post was co-written with Peter Carbonetto, Ph.D., Computational Biologist at AncestryDNA For every AncestryDNA customer, we estimate the ethnic origins of their ancestors from their DNA sample—what we call a “genetic ethnicity estimate.” AncestryDNA customers can currently trace their ancestral origins to specific parts of the world, including 26 regions across Europe, Africa, Asia, Read More
At AncestryDNA, we empower our customers to uncover exciting details about their family stories. Today, we announced a new AncestryDNA experience based on years of research and development by the AncestryDNA science team that is revolutionizing the way people discover, preserve, and share their family history. Learn more about the announcement here. We are combining DNA Read More
Passed down through the generations, fragments of the genomes of long-gone ancestors exist today in the genomes of their living descendants. Those fragments can actually be used to recover parts of those ancestors’ genomes – without having to resort to some more morbid techniques for obtaining their DNA. That means a potentially easier way for Read More
For the AncestryDNA science team, October brings more than fall foliage and pumpkins. It also brings us the yearly meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), the main conference of the year in our field. On Saturday, we’ll arrive in San Diego to join thousands of other scientists for a four day conference Read More
Research into matching patterns of over a half-million AncestryDNA members translates into new DNA matching discoveries Among over 500,000 AncestryDNA customers, more than 35 million 4th cousin relationships have been identified – a number that continues to grow rapidly at an exponential rate. While that means millions of opportunities for personal discoveries by AncestryDNA members, Read More
Interested in genealogy? Curious about DNA? Fascinated by the world of big data? If so, come check out my talk at the Global Big Data Conference on DNA day this Friday, April 25 at 4pmPT in the Santa Clara Convention Center! I’ll cover Jermline, our massively-scalable DNA matching application. I’ll talk about our business, give a run-through Read More