Advanced DNA Strategies with Autosomal DNA (490)

Are you looking to take working with your DNA matches to the next level? Do you want to work more effectively, and learn about problem solving tools and techniques? This course is for you! Our Advanced DNA Strategies course considers a host of DNA tools, techniques and strategies to help you get the most from your autosomal DNA matches.

This not a beginners’ course and should be considered in combination with our intermediate level DNA course, Demystifying DNA for Family Historians. If you are new to DNA testing, or have only started working with your test results, it is recommended that you take our Demystifying DNA course before embarking on this course. The Demystifying DNA course will introduce you to the different types of DNA test (autosomal DNA, Y-DNA and mtDNA), give you information as to which to use when, and talk through what you should consider before testing or asking someone else to test. It introduces some of the tools and gets you started on working with DNA matches successfully. It also covers ‘ancestral region’ or admixture estimates, the maps and percentages of ‘where you come from’.

This course, Advanced DNA Strategies with Autosomal DNA, looks in more detail at only autosomal DNA, the most common type of DNA test, and the test you take at Ancestry, My Heritage, 23andMe, Living DNA, and Family Tree DNA’s Family Finder test.

In this course we will look at different ways of focusing research, think about the process you use to investigate a new match, employ different tools for different research hurdles, and look at ways of staying organised, including software solutions.

Tools include the Leeds Method, auto-clustering, What Are The Odds? (WATO) chromosome painting and an introduction to visual phasing. Software and platforms includes DNA Painter, DNAGedcom, GEDmatch and GDAT (formerly GMP-pro), the Genealogical DNA Analysis Tool.

This course is aimed at those who have already taken an autosomal DNA test, have started working with matches and are looking for more advanced tools and techniques to move forward with their research. Students will have the opportunity to work with their own matches throughout the course and will need to have tested or uploaded to one of the websites which provide segment data (My Heritage, Family Tree DNA or GEDmatch) to be able to complete all of the exercises and get the most from the course.

Reading List:

Students often ask us for recommended reading for their courses, that they can look at before the course starts. Here is a suggested book list for this course.