Participants Sought for a Boston-area Genetics Study, September 14–18Based on the type of participants they're seeking and the information they ask for, I assume they'll be analyzing autosomal DNA in addition to Y and mtDNA.
For a significant research project, Professor Bryan Sykes, the Oxford-based geneticist, will be collecting data in collaboration with NEHGS in the Boston area the week of September 14–18. He is interested in identifying documented descendants of early (pre-1700) immigrants to New England – and the more lines of descent from early New Englanders the participant has, the better. Professor Sykes would also like to hear from people who know, or suspect, that they have New England Native American ancestry.
People selected for this study will take part in a 1–2 hour meeting, possibly in their homes, and should be prepared to have their DNA tested. They must also be available for consultation (by phone or email) for feedback after the genetic results are available. Those participating should be available in the Boston area during the week of September 14–18.
If you meet these criteria and are interested in participating, please send the following information to bryan.sykes@wolfson.ox.ac.uk.
1. Your name and town.
2. A brief summary of your New England ancestry including the patrilineal and matrilineal elements.
3. If you have New England Native American ancestry, identify the tribe and briefly (100 words or less) summarize your documentation;
4. Provide an estimate of what percentage of your pre-1700 ancestors lived in New England;
5. When you would be available during the week of September 14–18.
6. Your email address and telephone number during the week of September 14–18.
Those selected to be included in the project will be contacted via email.
Upcoming autosomal study of descendants of early New Englanders?
I'm not a fan of Bryan Sykes, but more data is always good -- and who knows if another study like this will ever be funded.
Will you be participating?
ReplyDeleteThat is to say, would you even be eligible in the first place?
Who are you and why do you care?
ReplyDeleten/a,
ReplyDeleteCould you check out the ongoing debate over here at this site, especially the commentor 'RT' maintaining that there are no appreciable differences IQ differences continent-wide among various European subgroups (his are the last few comments):
http://hbdbooks.com/2009/09/the-true-implications-of-hbd/comment-page-2/#comment-14363
Another commenter, 'keeping real' or something, who is discussing the issue with him keeps making some great points on North Euro intelligence levels and he just keeps maintaining there are no real differences between Europe's regions, say between 'Britain and the Balkans' for example.
*I am not to up on the data he presents and cites (and often doesn't directly link to) ,and was wondering if you could offer your perspective.
It doesn't matter who the hell I am. I'm a Swamp Yankee. Who the fuck are you? You could be a poseur or a dissimulating Jew for all we know.
ReplyDeleteWhy are you not a fan of Bryan Sykes, I read his "Vikings Celts and Saxons, Blood of the british isles". It was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteMost of my father's ancestors were in New England before 1700. My mother is of German and Scandinavian descent.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to know something about me, be polite and to-the-point. I think questions about ancestry are fair game; indirect questions about location are not.
@7:25,
I'll take a look at it this weekend.
Robert8,
Sykes relies on low-resolution Y-STR haplotypes and draws conclusions not supported by the data. Here's an amusing example. Sykes told a white man belonging to haplogroup R1a that he descended from "Genghis Khan" (that is, he belonged to a completely different haplogroup, C3, which shares a MRCA with R1a over 30,000 years ago) . You can see why skepticism might be warranted toward Sykes' attempts to make sense of more subtle differences within western Europe.