GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

[Gina_Paige]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Originally posted by hassan:
[qb] ¿What has been your firm's biggest challenge thus far? [/qb]

Our biggest challenge so far has been the educational aspect of the new technology. We've had to explain to people how DNA works. We've also had to help people look at their family histories in order to understand who to test. As you can imagine, this can be time intensive! But, it is well worth it and very fulfilling.

[Gina_Paige]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Originally posted by chickie:
[qb] how long has your company been established and what's your success rate ? [/qb]

Our company launched in Feb. 2003. However, Dr. Kittles (my co-founder and Scientific Director) has been doing this research for almost ten years.

We find matches over 95 % of the time. If we cannot find a match, we keep the sequence on file and re-run it as our database increases.

[hassan]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

¿Can you tell us a little more about the process please?

¿How do you 'extract' DNA samples from clients?

*Many people are not "needle-people".

Thank you.

[Xavier]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Thanks for the response. Hopefully the Jamaicans.com members will do testing as a group (hint...hint)in the very near future.

What would the minium/maxium your team needs for a DNA test? Also I know this may sound like a weird question however if one had DNA material (such as hair) of a dead grandmother could that be tested?

[Gina_Paige]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Originally posted by Bigtime:
[qb] Have you found any surprising results?
Siera Leone is interesting as this is the area that the British shipped many captured Maroons to! [/qb]

We have been told by people that the country we matched them to is consistent with family names.

We found a Native American result for a news anchor, Valerie Morris on CNN. The tribe was Pima. As it turns out, she knew that her maternal lineage was Native American but didn't know the tribe. She has a home in Tucson AZ in Pima County!

We are always surprised by people who identify as "White" who find that they in fact have African maternal lineages.

[Bigtime]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Could a test on a particular lineage be ommited (If you were asked not to test for Swedish ancestry)?

[hassan]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Originally posted by Gina_Paige:
[qb] We are always surprised by people who identify as "White" who find that they in fact have African maternal lineages. [/qb]

I'm not [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] - in Cuba there is a saying that goes:

Sí no eres de Congo, eres de Carabalí

VERY loosely translated it means that EVERYONE has at least a LITTLE African blood in them

[Gina_Paige]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Originally posted by hassan:
[qb] Recently, i was viewing a segment on one of the network news magazines that featured a Black man that was not Black.

He was raised thinking he was Black and being treated as if he were Black. Of swarthy complexion as old-timers would say, and having curly black hair, he had no reason to doubt his ancestry - until he took a test that sounds a lot like yours.

¿How often do you run across clients finding out that they do not have ANY African bloodlines? [/qb]

I believe that the test this man took told him what percentage of ancestries are in his genetic makeup. So, that test will tell you what % African, what %European, what % Native American, etc. His result came up with 0% African. I don't fully believe the results.

We only test one lineage at a time so we wouldn't know if someone had no African bloodlines. I really don't think that is possible.

[Bigtime]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

What information do you ask a client for?

[hassan]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

¿Are you having fun yet Ms Gina?

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Gina_Paige]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Originally posted by hassan:
[qb] ¿Can you tell us a little more about the process please?

¿How do you 'extract' DNA samples from clients?

*Many people are not "needle-people".

Thank you. [/qb]

This is not a blood test. We send you a kit that contains two swabs, similar to long Q-Tips. You gently rub the inside of each cheek to collect the cheek cells. You return the swabs to us in the packaging provided.

The swabs are sent to our lab where the DNA is extracted from the swab. Then the DNA is sequenced. If it is a maternal analysis, we sequence the mitochondrial DNA. If it is a paternal analysis, we sequencce the Y chromosome.

Dr. Kittles then compares your sequence to the sequences in our database to look for a match. Our is the most comprehensive database of African DNA sequences. It contains over 11,000 African mitochondrial DNA sequences and over 12,000 African Y chromosome sequences. The database is segmented by country and ethnic group. The primary focus of the database is West and Central African countries. However, we have a representative sampling across the continent.

We find a match 95% of the time at the country level.
If we find an identical sequence in the database, we can tell you an ethnic group. That happens about 85% of the time.

[Gina_Paige]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

@nally posted by Xavier:
[qb] Thanks for the response. Hopefully the Jamaicans.com members will do testing as a group (hint...hint)in the very near future.

What would the minium/maxium your team needs for a DNA test? Also I know this may sound like a weird question however if one had DNA material (such as hair) of a dead grandmother could that be tested? [/qb][/QUOTE]

Our lab does not handle forensic DNA analysis. But there are labs that do. You would have to send your DNA material to that lab and ask for specific markers (that we would tell you). Then you could send those markers to us for analysis only. That cost is $249.

Will you please rephrase your maximum/minimum question? Thanks!

[Gina_Paige]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Originally posted by Bigtime:
[qb] Could a test on a particular lineage be ommited (If you were asked not to test for Swedish ancestry)? [/qb]

We only search a European database if an African paternal lineage is not found. Moreover, we only do it at your request. So, on the kit, you are able to designate whether or not you want us to trace a European database.

[Gina_Paige]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Originally posted by hassan:
[qb] ¿Are you having fun yet Ms Gina?

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [/qb]

This is fun. I just feel slow! And I'm a fast typer. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Keep the questions coming.

[yardy]

Re: GINA PAIGE - Guest Discussion TODAY 2 PM

Hi Gina, welcome to the board [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]