Who needs Ancestry informative markers (AIMs)? Are they still useful or relics of the past?

To say that my criticism of PCA rattled some people would be an understatement, and while a pushback against (or just ignoring) the results was expected, some appear to attack the mere concept of AIMs and their usefulness. I am not even certain how it challenges the criticism, but for their benefit – and for

So, you think you can predict bio-geography…?

It is exciting to see all the new papers attempting to link genetics and geography – a solid tradition in genetics that goes back to the days of Dr. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, one of the founders of the field. However, before you pet yourself on the shoulder and claim that you built a great PREDICTOR,

Is this the end of the booming genetic genealogy industry?

I have never hidden my opinions or mellowed my criticism on the genetic genealogy industry, even though I am a part of it. I designed the first dedicated microarray (chip) for genetic genealogy – The GenoChip. The GenoChip was designed for National Geographic’s Genographic Project. I also designed the online tests. National Geographic cashed in

GPS Origins results for four participants

In the previous post I discussed the results of an Ashkenazic Jew produced by GPS Origins. As more and more people take the GPS Origins ancestry test that my lab built (Disclosure: I consult DDC) and make them public, we have a chance to take a glimpse at what these results look like. As with all tools, GPS Origins also worked

The origin of Ashkenazic Jews according to GPSOrigins

Recently, we completed development of GPS2, an extension of the GPS tool (see FAQ here) that predicts the geographic origins of two-ways mixed individuals (e.g., an individual with British and Chinese parents). The genetics company DDC (conflict of interest statement: I consult DDC) incorporated the GPS2 engine into their new website and tool called GPSOrigins (https://gpsorigins.com).

Responding to the criticism for Das et al. (2016)

In Das et al. (2016), we applied the Geographic Population Structure (GPS) algorithm to the genomes of Yiddish and non-Yiddish speaking Ashkenazic Jews (and other Jewish and non-Jewish populations) to study the origin of their genomes. Since genetics, geography, and linguistics are well correlated we surmised that the origin of the DNA would point to the origin of