This just in: Genealogy and family networking giant MyHeritage just announced a partnership with personal genetics company 23andMe. Here we share highlights from a press release, followed by comments from Your DNA Guide here at Genealogy Gems, Diahan Southard:
“We have some breaking news today at MyHeritage – we’ve just announced an important new collaboration and product integration between MyHeritage and leading personal genetics company 23andMe….
23andMe pioneered autosomal DNA analysis, which can find relatives across all ancestral lines, and has built the largest autosomal DNA ancestry service in the world. MyHeritage’s 5.5 billion global historical records, 1.5 billion family tree profiles in 27 million family trees and innovative matching technologies, combined with 23andMe’s DNA analysis, will provide users with an integrated and enhanced experience to uncover their family history.
Combining documented genealogy – family trees, family stories and family memories – with DNA-based ancestry is the next evolution in family history research. While DNA testing can find relatives from shared ancestors, it’s the family trees and historical records that are critical to fully map and understand these connections….”
Hmmm….what to make of this? Diahan Southard comments:
“The announcement of the collaboration between 23andme and My Heritage is definitely good news for genealogists. This proves that influential genealogy companies and popular genetics companies are recognizing that genetic genealogy is a team buy ear mite medication sport. We need both genetics and traditional genealogical methods to tell the full story of our ancestry. I think this is a move that both companies needed to make in order to face the increased competition from competitors.
It also shows that the genetic genealogy industry is nearly bursting with new ideas and new collaborations, which means more innovation and more competition, ultimately leading to a better experience for us as genealogists as we try to integrate DNA testing into our research.
While the details of the collaboration are thin, we will watch anxiously over the next few months to learn how integrated the two companies will become, and then we can determine the best ways to use the tools of both to fill in the holes in your family tree.”
Read more about the collaboration and product integration between MyHeritage and 23andMe in a MyHeritage blog post or watch the video below where MyHeritage Founder and CEO, Gilad Japhet, break the news live on Bloomberg TV earlier today.
Want to learn more about DNA? Check out Your DNA Guide Diahan Southard’s series of laminated quick reference guides to genetic genealogy:
