Want to know more about your roots? Buy a DNA analysis kit from the US-based National Geographic Society and know everything about your ancestors and their migratory history.
The Public Participation Kit is made available by the Society under its five-year Genographic Project, co-funded by IBM and the Tedd Wait Family Foundation.
The project, which began in April 2005, primarily aims to collect and genotype at least 100,000 indigenous and traditional DNA samples from across the world to study the 'journey of mankind'.
However, it also allows people to volunteer samples which will help them learn about their
own ancestral history, Ajay K Royyuru, a senior manager at IBM's Computational Biology Center, told PTI.
The kit can be ordered for $99 via the Internet. Cheek swab samples can be taken through a simple process and sent to the project's research laboratory.
Over 210,000 people have so far purchased the kits, said Royyuru. The cheek swab samples are processed at a research laboratory at the University of Arizona through 'Family Tree DNA', a leading genetic genealogy company selected to perform the public participant testing for the project. The project has already analysed genetic data of 78,590 public participants from around the globe.
