Great news for mothers to be and potential fathers! It is now possible to determine DNA paternity during pregnancy and without using any invasive procedures that could harm the baby.

Previously, it was necessary to extract DNA from the fetus that could potentially involve risks and an obviously emotionally painful decision on the part of the mother to judge the value in doing so.

DDC (DNA Diagnostics Center), the largest provider of private DNA paternity and other DNA tests in the United States and around the world, announced today the company’s exclusive license for the first non-invasive prenatal paternity test.

It involves using SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) Microarray Technology, which requires only a simple blood draw from the mother and alleged father. This is a huge leap forward in rendering paternity determination prior to birth virtually painless and with no risk to the child.

Costs have not been indicated but are likely in the same range as a standard DNA paternity test using DNA samples collected from child, mother and potential father. Congratulations DDC!

Learn how the methods and discoveries of human population genetics are applied for personal genealogical reconstruction and anthropological testing.

We will start with a short general review of human genetics and the biology behind this form of DNA testing. We will look at how DNA testing is performed and how samples are processed in our laboratory.

We will also examine examples of personal genealogical results from Family Tree DNA and personal anthropological results from the Genographic Project.

Finally, I will describe the newest project in our laboratory, the DNA Shoah Project. Speaker: Dr. Matt Kaplan, University of Arizona Genetics Core, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Date: March 29, 2011