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February 16, 2012

More DNA Testing Choices: MyHeritage brings DNA testing to the global community

The following Press Release came to Olive Tree Genealogy Blog today:

PROVO, Utah & LONDON & TEL AVIV, Israel – February 16, 2012: MyHeritage, the
most popular family network on the web, announced today the integration of DNA
testing into its core family history offering. The move adds genetic genealogy to the
company’s suite of tools for researching family history, used by millions of families
around the world.

With more than 62 million registered users and 21 million family trees, MyHeritage
has become the trusted home on the web for families wishing to explore their family
history, share memories and stay connected. With the new biological layer added to the
MyHeritage experience, users can now enjoy a service combining science, intuitive web
features and social networking for discovering and sharing their family legacy.

“DNA testing provides a fascinating new way to discover one’s origins and
find previously unknown relatives”, said MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad
Japhet. “Offering the highest quality DNA tests to our tens of millions of users around
the world in 38 languages, and providing DNA matches with hundreds of thousands
of people who have already had their DNA tested, significantly advances our mission
of bringing family history to the masses. By combining DNA with our innovative Smart
Matching™ technology, families will be closer than ever before to constructing a more
complete picture of their history”.

DNA is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. By
purchasing a simple cheek-swab DNA test, users can now use information contained
in their DNA to find present-day relatives who share a common ancestor up to many
hundreds of years ago. A DNA test can also reveal ethnic origins such as Native
American, African or Jewish descent on paternal or maternal lines, as well as uncover
ancestral information for those who were adopted. While DNA tests can break through
brick walls in family history research by revealing biological relations, MyHeritage’s
flagship Smart Matching™ technology then steps in to help piece together the paper
trail by uncovering how the family trees of related people actually connect. In addition,
people with the same paternal surname can get together via MyHeritage to see if
they’re related by DNA.

MyHeritage is introducing today a wide range of DNA tests to meet different research
objectives and budgets, with special discounted prices for MyHeritage subscribers
starting from as low as $84. Users can identify the deep ancestral origins of their direct
paternal line (Y-DNA), of their direct maternal line (mtDNA), find relatives across all
lines via autosomal DNA (Family Finder), receive a percentage breakdown of their
ethnic roots and confirm or disprove whether someone is a close relative. View the full
list of the DNA kits on MyHeritage and a list of Frequently Asked Questions about
DNA tests on MyHeritage.

For the analysis of users’ DNA tests and the DNA matching, MyHeritage is working
with long-time partner and global leader in genealogy DNA, Family Tree DNA. Pioneers
of genetic genealogy and with a state-of-the-art laboratory, Family Tree DNA has
established the world’s largest DNA database for genealogy and is well known for
its work with National Geographic on the Genographic Project. All information is kept
strictly confidential and is never shared.

Bennett Greenspan, President and CEO of Family Tree DNA said “We’re proud to
work with MyHeritage to bring DNA testing to a much wider, global audience. The
phenomenal size and reach of the global MyHeritage family network will create new
horizons in collecting DNA data, helping many more people discover their ancestral
origins”.

2 comments:

ARCPoint Labs of Greenville, NC said...

Good information for the people who are looking for more insight intl their genealogy!

Arcpoint Labs of Worcester said...

Great information! Thank you for sharing!