About two weeks ago a new project was launched by scientists at Columbia University. It is called DNAland and can be reached here. What is it? It's a program where users of private autosomal DNA testing can upload their raw data files. The purpose isn't the same as Gedmatch, it's not a place to further your research using DNA, though as a perk to entice users they do give you an ancestry composition and up to 50 matches of relatives who have uploaded.
They also create what they call "Imputed" files. In other words, taking the raw data and knowing dna they can "fill" in the blanks of genetic code. Now, I don't know what to do with the files at this point. I suppose if you were really interested in medical genetic traits it may be a way to get more data.
They are run by volunteers. So far they have just over 7500 users. They promise never to give identifying info. And it's to help scientists who are researching DNA do research. What I do know is that DNA research has a long way to go. The way I look at it, every set of DNA they have to compare gives them that much more info. So why not give it a try?
Of course of the 9 kits I have paid for testing, I only uploaded my own and my parents. Each kit needs a separate email address. The questions at this point have been straight forward. What are your parents names and when were they born. In the future as the site develops there may be more, but as for now, I am glad that I could contribute.
I found that site very ease to use and much more straightforward on ethnicity prediction. As of today I've got two matches who are both users I've encountered on other services. What would be exciting is to find new ones from more abstract testing companies.
ReplyDelete