Journey of your genes
Want to know where you come from, even trace your ancestry all the way back to Africa? Uni of Melbourne, in partnership with National Geographic’s Genographic Project, will allow you to do just that, Sunday 4 October.
Where did I come from? Well I can get as far back as England – Welsh peasants, to be precise, but historical records struggle to delve into my ancestry much further.
But if, like me, you live in Melbourne and want to trace your ancestral journey potentially back more than 2000 generations (1000s of years), back even to our African roots, then on Sunday 4 October the Bio21 Institute is hosting the “Journey of your Genes” to allow you to do just that.
Members of the public are invited to rock up to the University of Melbourne’s Bio21 Institute to undergo a cheek swab to analyse DNA markers that will allow the testing team to trace your ancestry back through history along a single line of maternal or paternal descent.
Even cooler, is that for the first 100 people at the door it is free.
The event is being staged as part of the Evolution Festival in partnership with the National Geographic’s Genographic Project and IBM.
Where: Bio21 Institute, 75 Flemington Rd, Parkville
When: Sunday 4 October
Time: 10am, but they are expecting a bit of a crowd so don’t sleep in
More info: www.humanjourneys.com.au
Jason Major
Gntis-australia@unimelb.edu.au