Day 6 - Genetic Networks

Paul Woodbury was our instructor in the afternoon.   He’s a bit of a celebrity in the genetic genealogy world so I was sort of star struck.  I’ve listened to him speak on multiple podcasts.  One of my favorite podcasts, in particular, is Extreme Genes.  Paul talked about using segments to solve a DNA case.  He explained that you have to look at the segment shared along with centimorgans when it comes to DNA matches because that can point you in the right direction as far as generational steps.  

Today Paul talked about Genetic Networks which you will be hearing much more about this topic as genetic testing becomes more advanced.  We have all heard of triangulation in DNA but that approach doesn’t always work.  Just because person A is related to person B and person C is related to person A, that does not mean that person A is related to person C.  Genetic networks take groups of people who match each other and put them into a graph in clusters.  So based on your different family branches you will see a genetic network of people in different groups.  Paul showed us how we can input this data into a program to do this.  Now he makes this look very easy, much like an Olympic figure skater doing their routine.  Then you try to go out on ice skates and instantly realize that ice skating is not at all as easy as they make it look and you fall down.  

We saw genetic networking in action after Paul put all this data in and a graph pulls up that looks like a giant globe of dots and lines.  The dots are people and the lines are connections.   Then the globe starts to move and cluster into the networks and we are all amazed!  There were audible gasps in the audience!  It was like watching a symphony.  Totally amazing!  Now, Paul told us this was very easy to do but I think it’s going to take some practice for sure.  Much like the ice skater, I’m not going to be doing any double axels anytime soon - I would break a hip or something!  But I will practice!  I’m talking about genetic communities, not ice skating, after all, I live in the South and there’s not exactly any ice there.

At night, we went to Ancestry’s Professional Genealogy offices.  We were given a tour of the office and they explained how their teams work and what they do.  That was SO much fun and of course, I took a bunch of selfies at their headquarters.  It was a #genealogynerd moment. 

This week just keeps getting better!

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