Living DNA updates European panel

From Living DNA (www.livingdna.com):

Living DNA European panel update

Living DNA’s European panel update includes the addition of new European regions and the ability for users to update their current results. This will make for a much smoother user experience that sends out automatic notifications when any regions qualify for an update.

● 9 new European regions
● Rich information covering genetic and cultural history
● Compare your previous results against your updated ones

Using the unique methods that power the Living DNA ancestry offering, our researchers have gathered data from across Europe in order to deliver the world’s most advanced product for people with European ancestry.

What regions are covered:
● Germany and immediate surrounding areas split into
○ Northeast Germanic
○ Northwest Germanic
○ South Germanic
● Iberia split into
○ West Iberia
○ East Iberia
● Russia split into
○ Finland
○ Western Russia
● Armenia and Cyprus split into
○ South Caucasus
○ Cyprus
● Chechnya renamed
○ Northeast Caucasus

How the science works
To determine your ancestral region(s) from the 73 current African regions, we analyze over 700,000 areas of your DNA. We then compare your unique DNA signature to our database of thousands of people with known ancestry throughout Europe and the world. Our ability to determine this incredible detail lies in our unique algorithms which compare not only which bits of DNA you have in common with populations but the arrangements and patterns they appear in. This extra power means we provide an unmatched resolution.

We used our own databases to retrieve genetic data from customers who had opted in to research and who had known ancestry from a specific region in Europe. Hierarchical clustering and chromosome painting methods were applied to the data in order to build a cluster tree which is later used to estimate the ancestry of every individual sample.

(With thanks to Living DNA)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Ancestry-through-Church-and-State-Records-Paperback/p/16848. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

LivingDNA launches new platform and products

LivingDNA (www.livingdna.com) has completely revamped its online platform from today, and also launched new product ranges.

The following are the press releases for the new products:

LIVING DNA LAUNCHES GENEALOGY AND WELLBEING DNA KIT AT LOWEST RETAIL PRICE POINT IN SECTOR

Popular Direct-To-Consumer DNA Service Fills Gap Left By Others In Affordability and Privacy

Somerset, UK, October 17 -- Living DNA, the global direct-to-consumer genealogy DNA service that does not sell or share customers’ DNA or data with third parties, today announced their entry into the health sector. In addition to the new Living DNA Wellbeing kit for $129, a $49 Starter DNA Kit is also available designed for the billion people who could benefit from DNA testing but are unsure of which part of testing they want.

The Starter Kit is a taster experience including a high-level global view of your ancestry, the ability to find DNA matches with people across the world, wellbeing reports focused on supporting your diet and exercise and the analysis of over 700,000 areas of your DNA code. Once you’ve taken your test you can select deeper insights and reports.

Living DNA has also overhauled its customer results platform and introduced a new Wellbeing Kit experience for users, aiming to cut down 80% of illness and disease that is lifestyle-related. Unlike
other firms that focus on health conditions, Living DNA is first exploring areas of your life influenced by your DNA where a customer can make changes which can lead to a greater quality of life.

David Nicholson, co-founder advises “Before we launched Living DNA, we always felt and understood that the power DNA offers people an opportunity to enjoy a greater quality in their lives. This comes not only from enriching relationships with your family but also understanding the way your body responds to different diets and exercises. By looking at the whole picture, it's possible to move from the era of post cause treatment to true preventative medicine.”

Co-Founder Hannah Nicholson shares that, “We are the people’s DNA company in terms of privacy and affordability. We see it as our responsibility to make sure everyone has access to information in a way that can truly transform their lives. Each of us has the power to take charge of our wellbeing with simple changes that could save healthcare systems around the world billions of dollars, cut waiting lists for critical care and spark GDP increases.”

The firm is building on its foundation as one of the leading companies that provides ancestry testing services worldwide with a mission of making sure each customer is in charge of their own DNA, and
never doing anything with a customer’s DNA information that they have not requested.


LIVING DNA NEW GENEALOGY AND WELLBEING KITS FACT SHEET

Company Overall

Living DNA’s range of easy to use DNA testing kits makes DNA testing accessible, private and secure to everyone across the world, from a simple mouth swab. Through our advanced ancestry reports, we help you unravel stories about your past, designed to enrich your family life and help you celebrate a shared past together. Our range of wellbeing reports shines a light on areas of nutrition and fitness to help improve your overall quality of life today and for the future.

The reports are not only simple to understand but often include actionable steps you can take in your life provided by relevant experts. No matter which Living DNA kit you choose, your privacy and security is our top concern and we only ever do what you ask us to do with your DNA.

Our starter kit costs just $49 USD giving you a taster into the ancestry and wellbeing experience with the full ancestry at $99, the full wellbeing test at $129 and a bundle including both the wellness and ancestry kits at $179. Existing Living DNA customers will be able to upgrade their accounts in mid-november 2019 to purchase the full Wellbeing experience for a reduced rate of $49 (normally $69) until December 31st 2019.

Starter Kit - $49/£49

The Living DNA starter kit, covering ancestry and wellbeing, is the best value DNA kit available. It’s perfectly designed for people who’ve heard about DNA testing but are unsure about which type of test to take. It gives you a taster experience of what is possible through a simple mouth swab. You can see:

● Your global ancestry breakdown across continents
● The ability to find people around the world who you share DNA with
● A nutrition report determining if your genetics indicate that you are prone to Vitamin D deficiency
● The type of exercise your muscles respond to best

The test includes a broad analysis of your DNA but if you want to explore a deeper or wider range of reports, a simple one-click process will unlock the next step in your DNA adventure.

Upgrades - Starter kit customers can upgrade to the ancestry experience for $49 and the wellbeing experience for $69.


Ancestry Kit - $99/£99

Living DNA’s ancestry experience is the most advanced in the industry, working to determine not only the countries where your ancestry is from, but where possible, sub-regions within those countries. The result is a DNA kit with the greatest number of DNA-based regions and sub-regions compared to any other in the industry. You will:

● Experience your ancestry at different points through history
● Uncover people who genetically match with you and are part of your ‘extended family’
● Learn about areas of the world where people live today who share your DNA
● Receive your recent ancestry report showing the countries and, where available, subregions your ancestors are from over the past 1000 years
● Delve into your extended ancestry exploring the migration paths your ancestors took out of Africa 80,000 years ago through today

This complete view of your ancestry is delivered through an intuitive interactive online platform as well as an optional hardcover personalized coffee table book for $69.00.

Ancestry kit customers will be able to upgrade to the full wellbeing experience for $69.

Wellbeing Kit - $129/£129

Living DNA’s wellbeing experience is designed to cast a light on your unique genetics that play a part in your quality of life. Discover how through understanding your body, it may be possible to improve the quality of your life by making adjustments to your diet and exercise.

Living DNA provides you with reports that indicate how your body responds to lifestyle-related analysis such as:

● How your body responds to different vitamins
● How your body breaks down foods to which your body may be sensitive to such as gluten or lactose
● How your body responds to different types of fitness.
● How we can help you understand what type of exercise best supports your body, for instance, DNA can indicate if you are better suited to running and sprinting or weight and circuit training.

Using a simple mouth swab, your DNA is analysed on the unique Living DNA system that allows us to provide a range of advanced reports focused around your goals. From weight management, vitality and digestion to strength and stamina, you will discover how genetically, your body breaks down different vitamins, food types and the exercise program that can support you. Understand the role genetics plays with your lifestyle choices and how you can optimise your wellbeing.

Customers who order at launch will also receive a complimentary 180-day updates package worth $39 that provides new reports as we release them.

Upgrades - Wellbeing kit customers can upgrade to the ancestry experience for $49.
Wellbeing + Ancestry kit- $179/£179

For our most complete experience, the combined wellbeing and ancestry DNA kit brings all the benefits of the two detailed products together at an incredible price. The combined DNA kit will enable you to understand the full depths of your ancestry, bringing family stories to life and unlocking goal-orientated wellbeing reports that help you to live a greater quality of life.

(With thanks to David Nicholson at LivingDNA)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

LivingDNA partners with FindmyPast

It looks like Ancestry may be about to get a serious challenge on the DNA front in the UK and Ireland. From LivingDNA (https://www.livingdna.com):

FindmyPast Partnership

We are extremely excited to announce that we will be partnering with Leading British and Irish family history website, Findmypast.

Together, we will be creating a new DNA experience that is designed to help customers explore their British and Irish roots. This new experience will combine cutting-edge science with traditional family history research methods, allowing families to discover more about their past and present.

Our tests provide a unique breakdown of ethnic identities associated with 21 regions across Britain and Ireland by analysing unique combinations of linked DNA. This proprietary method delivers a level of detail that is currently unmatched by any other test available on the market. By combining our technology with deep expertise and Findmypast’s vast collection of more 9 billion historical records and newspaper articles, family historian's will be able to make new discoveries about their British & Irish genetic history.

Living DNA testing kits are now available to purchase https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ancestry-dna-testing/ and co-branded kits will be launched when the new integrated Findmypast and Living DNA service is introduced later in the year.

“Our partnership with Findmypast continues Living DNA’s mission to make DNA testing simple. We are passionate at not only providing cutting edge ways of looking at your DNA but to do so with strict privacy measures by never selling your data. This partnership allows the most precise DNA test on the market to work together with Findmypast’s family history records in a way not done before” says Living DNA Co-Founder, David Nicholson.

Tamsin Todd, CEO of Findmypast, said: “As the world leader for British and Irish records, we work hard every day to help our customers feel the thrill of making discoveries about their families. I’m delighted that we are partnering with a British company, Living DNA, who are pioneers in DNA technology, and look forward to combining our expertise in DNA technology and historical records to help people around the world connect with their British and Irish roots.”

(Source story: https://www.livingdna.com/blog/333-findmypast-partnership)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Living DNA previews new "Family Networks" feature

From LivingDNA (https://www.livingdna.com):

LIVING DNA PREVIEWS UNIQUE NEW “FAMILY NETWORKS” OFFERING AT ROOTSTECH 2018

Innovative family tree and matching system will take the guesswork out of DNA relationships

Living DNA, the global consumer genetics company, has today publicly previewed its new ‘Family Networks’ platform for the first time – set to be the most precise DNA-driven matching service on the market.

Officially unveiled in Salt Lake City in Utah at RootsTech 2018, the world’s largest family-history technology conference, Living DNA’s Family Networks requires no prior user-generated family research, allowing users to build a detailed family tree based solely on their DNA, gender, and age. Living DNA will analyse a user's unique motherline and fatherline DNA data (mtDNA and YDNA), on top of the family ancestry line (autosomal) to deliver matches – something no other company can do.

David Nicholson, managing director and co-founder at Living DNA, comments: “With Family Networks, we will not only predict how users are related to direct matches, but we can also find and connect people to DNA matches going back up to 13 generations.

“The technology behind Family Networks automatically works out which genetic trees are possible to uncover relations. This new capability offers distinct benefits to a range of users, from avid genealogists and family history hobbyists through to adoptees and others searching for their family members. It will reduce the risk of human error and take away the tedious task of figuring out how each person in a user’s list are related to one another. We’re truly taking the guesswork out of DNA relationships.”
 
Living DNA’s Family Networks is scheduled to be made available to all existing and new Living DNA users by autumn 2018. The company states that the cutting-edge technology will give all customers – even those who upload from other DNA testing sites – a level of relationship prediction and accuracy that is beyond anything currently on the market.

David Nicholson adds:

“Living DNA’s precise and unique technology processes users’ DNA to identify relatives and define relationships deeper back in time. Through this rich experience, users will even be able to learn how they’re related to people with whom they share no DNA today.

“As we don’t ask for Gedcom files or other user research to build a family tree, Family Networks can be especially useful for adoptees and family searchers who are trying to locate long-lost family members but who don’t have any information on their biological family. Just by using their gender and date of birth in conjunction with their DNA, we will be able to translate their matches into a potential family tree, giving them a clearer place to start from.”

Living DNA breaks down users’ DNA into 80 worldwide regions, including 21 in the UK, more than any other testing company. The company offers a 3-in-1 test as standard: from a simple mouth swab, Living DNA not only covers a user’s family line ancestry, but—unlike most other tests—it also includes the user’s motherline and (if male) fatherline ancestry.

Living DNA’s test itself is run on a custom-built Living DNA Orion Chip. It is one of the first bespoke DNA chips in the world to be built using the latest GSA technology from market leader Illumina, and tests over 656,000 autosomal (family) markers, 4,700 mitrochondrial (maternal) markers and 22,000 Y-chromosomal (paternal) markers.

(With thanks to Rhiannon Winfield)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

LivingDNA launches One Family One World project

From LivingDNA (www.livingdna.com):

Hi Everyone,

Here at Living DNA, we have been working on an exciting new project that we have officially launched today. The One Family One World project. As you've been a great support to Living DNA I wanted to let you know first.

Our One Family One World project is the first of it’s kind to attempt to analyse people’s DNA results from around the world allowing them to see where they fit into a One World Family Tree, demonstrating how everyone is related if you go back far enough in time and produce an in country regional breakdown of DNA from around the world.

The project involves the use of proprietary technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and will see tens of thousands of computers working together to identify distinctive and shared patterns in people’s DNA.

Eventually we will be running in-country regional projects across the world, today people can join no matter where they are from and we already have a number of specific projects that can be seen here - https://www.livingdna.com/one-family/research.

You can find out a lot more information on the project, and how to get involved by visiting the website at www.livingdna.com/onefamily. If you know anyone that’s already taken a DNA test they can upload their DNA for Free and will benefit from a new type of DNA Matching in mid 2018.

Your support and opinion matters to us, so we would love to hear your feedback on the project. Also, let us know if you would like to get involved in any way - we always value any way in which people would like to work with us.

We’ve put together an introduction blog post that you can read https://www.livingdna.com/en-gb/blog/291/living-dna-demonstrating-how-we-re-all-connected-through-one-world-family-tree

We hope you’re as excited as we are on this new 5-year project, and I look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Warm regards,

David Nicholson & Hannah Mordern

(With thanks to David Nicholson via email)

UPDATE: Scotland is included in this project - for more on this, visit Ali MacDonald's blog at https://yourscottishancestry.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/livingdna-one-world-one-family-scotland.html

Chris

My next 5 week long Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course commences Nov 6th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.