IGGA Spotlight: Behind the matches: Why bioinformatics matters in IGG

About the Presentation

The quality of the SNP data uploaded to a genetic genealogy database directly affects the matches a genetic genealogist sees. Bioinformatics plays a critical role in determining data quality, but not all approaches are equal. This presentation will provide a practical introduction to what happens computationally between DNA testing and genealogical analysis, how bioinformatics can address challenges such as degraded and mixed DNA, and how processing decisions can affect the resulting match data. Attendees will learn what to look for when evaluating SNP data, how to recognize problems that may warrant revisiting the bioinformatics, and when apparently poor results may still be recoverable.

About the Speaker

Dr. Ellen Greytak is Director of Bioinformatics at Parabon NanoLabs, where she has spent more than a decade developing genomic analysis methods to extract useful information from challenging forensic DNA samples and has performed bioinformatic analysis in more than 1,000 cases. She heads Parabon’s Snapshot® operational division, which has contributed to more than 380 identifications through investigative genetic genealogy, DNA phenotyping, and kinship analysis. Dr. Greytak created Parabon’s machine-learning approach for deconvoluting SNP microarray data from mixed DNA samples and has developed methods for analyzing degraded DNA, inferring distant kinship, and improving forensic SNP data for genealogical analysis. Her broader research applies computational genomics to forensic and biomedical problems. She holds a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University.

Event Details

Webinar Format: The presentation will be pre-recorded, followed by a live Q&A with Dr. Greytak.

Registration: Closes at 11:59 PM ET the night before the webinar.

Capacity: Limited to 300 attendees.

Live Webinar: 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT
Access: The webinar link will be sent by email on the day of the event.