SLIG 2022 Sponsor Highlight: FamilyTreeDNA

FamilyTreeDNA Updates and Open Q&A 

Janine Cloud, Group Projects Manager, gave us an overview of FamilyTreeDNA's updates and initiatives over the past year at Wednesday's sponsored presentation. 

2021 was a "Year of Change." New ownership, a new management team, and several product enhancements topped the list.

Product enhancements include:

• Introduction of myDNA Wellness - uses the Family Finder data to provide insights about fitness, nutrition, sleep, and more.
• An updated matching algorithm for Family Finder data, with modifications to match thresholds and a new match page layout
• Updated Y-DNA and FamilyFinder pages
• Updated MyOrigins with 90 populations
• Chromosome painter with a view of both continental regions and super populations
• Support videos

Projects and Initiatives:

• This past year FTDNA reached landmark levels with Y-Haplotree. This pedigree of human ancestry now has 50,000 branches and over 460,000 variants.
• In progress is the Million Mito Project - the tree of womankind. FTDNA is presently evaluating the sequences in the database to make it dynamic like the Y tree. 

We sincerely appreciate FTDNA's ongoing support of SLIG through course sponsorship.

-------

Janine Cloud, a fifth-generation Texan and registered member of the Cherokee Nation, became interested in genealogy when a grade school assignment to complete a pedigree chart prompted her to question family members about her ancestors. She started working at FamilyTreeDNA in 2011 where she created the Group Projects - Events team she now manages. Janine has given presentations at conferences such as the National Genealogical Society Conference, RootsTech, and RootsTech London, as well as numerous local organizations.