The Story Behind GeoGene

Can you imagine discovering the prehistoric roots of your family tree?

The beginning of the 21st century has seen fantastic advances in the scientific understanding of humanity’s origins. We now know that the human race began in Africa more than 150,000 years ago. It was from there that our hunter-gatherer forebears spread out to people the entire world.

The research is painstaking, but scientists are successfully piecing together the very earliest journeys of humanity and a truly amazing story is emerging – a story that personally affects every one of us.

We have learned how, over tens of thousands of years, pioneering groups of early humans travelled along numerous different routes, their various populations continually separating and expanding in every direction. Where they went and what they did laid the foundations of the world we know today. Every country, every civilisation that has ever existed, every man, woman and child alive today – all have been profoundly shaped by these first journeys.

And somewhere in this vast story of humanity are the ancient roots of your own family tree.

Every human being alive today has a direct ancestral connection to these incredible journeys, but until recently there was just no way of knowing which of these journeys began your own family’s history.

But now, thanks to new developments in the science of genetics, you have the opportunity to learn exactly how you yourself are descended from these epic events!

Let Our Expert Scientific Team Reveal Your Personal Genetic Ancestry

• We have assembled a team of experts with the skills required to reveal the story of your own ancient ancestors.
  
  
• Our scientific team is headed by Dr Simon M Cutting. Simon earned his PhD at Oxford University before being awarded a post-doctoral fellowship to carry out research at Harvard. He is now Head of Biomedical Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London.
  
  
• Our testing laboratory is located in the University of London and it is fully equipped to perform this highly specialised service.
  
  
• There, Simon’s team uses scientific techniques that earned their inventors Nobel Prizes.

Who Were Your Own Ancient Ancestors? The Answer Is Inside You!

• The secret to tracing your ancestry back more than 100,000 years lies in DNA – that amazing molecule that defines your physical make-up.
  
  
• GeoGene was set up in 2003 – exactly 50 years after the structure of DNA was first discovered. That discovery earned a Nobel Prize for the scientists involved, but nobody then could have foreseen the incredible potential their work held.
  
  
• Your DNA was passed down to you from your parents – half from your mother and half from your father – and it contains information from every generation before you. It forms an unbroken genetic chain stretching back into the prehistoric past. Preserved within your DNA is the story of your heritage.
  
  
• The beginnings of your ancestral story lie deep in prehistory, at a time when the human race’s predecessors were still confined to our African motherland. Now you have the opportunity to follow your own ancient ancestors’ journey as early humanity expanded out of Africa to people the entire world.
  
  
• Your unique DNA contains key genetic markers that we are able to identify. By comparing these with genetic information from thousands of men and women living all over the world, we are able to retrace your ancestors’ footsteps.

Explore Your Own Ancient Ancestry … Along Both Your Maternal and Paternal Lines

• We can trace two direct lines of ancestry – one along your mother’s line and the other along your father’s line. We will let you have complete choice over which lineage you would like to learn about, or you can discover both.
  
  
• You can choose to trace your mother’s line using our GeoMother™ service. This examines your mitochondrial DNA. This type of DNA is present in everyone and so this service is available to both males and females.
  
  
• Our GeoFather™ service allows you to trace your father’s line. This service uses DNA from the Y chromosome, which is only present in males. However, females may learn about their paternal lineage by sending us a DNA sample from a close male blood relative, such as their father or a brother.
  
  
• Obtaining a sample of your DNA is an extremely simple procedure which you can perform yourself in the security of your own home. It is quick, perfectly safe and totally painless. We will send you an easy-to-use kit containing a mouth swab for you to gently rub against the inside of your cheek. Then all you have to do is press the swab against the special card supplied and return the card to us in the envelope we give you. We will then have everything we need to research your genetic ancestry.

Your Personalised Genetic Heritage Wallchart

• The scientifically researched story of your personal genetic heritage will be presented to you on a beautiful wallchart that I am sure you will want to display.
  
  
• On your wallchart, you will be able to read about the progress of your own ancestors as the human race gradually divided and re-divided into numerous different lineages, becoming ever more complex as humanity peopled the planet.
  
  
• Your own ancestors’ journeys will be clearly illustrated on your wallchart, on a specially-drawn map accompanying their story.
  
  
• As well as showing the directions in which they travelled, your ancestors’ map displays easy-to-read pie-charts, showing how frequently people who share similar ancestry to your own (your “genetic cousins”) are found in different countries today.
  
  
• You will learn how you fit into the global family tree that ultimately unites every one of us.
  Your wallchart will be personalised with your name and a scan of the actual DNA sequence used to identify your genetic ancestry.
  
  
• As well as sequencing your DNA we examine your DNA’s genetic microsatellites to give us a precise understanding of your ancestral background.
  
  
• To give you an idea of what your own personalised wallchart will look like, example GeoMother™ and GeoFather™ wallcharts are shown below:”

• The story of your ancestral heritage is something you will want to treasure. Because of this, your high-quality wallcharts will come already supplied with a frame and will be printed on Lyson paper, using specialist Lyson inks to ensure that you can pass this family heirloom on to future generations.
  
  
• Our wallcharts are A3-sized and are supplied with an attractive frame for display and protection.
  
  
• It is only by using the latest genetic technology, combined with the results of years of patient scientific research from all across the world, that you now have the opportunity to discover who your own ancient ancestors were.
  
  
• Our expert team is fully equipped to decode the secret history hidden within YOUR unique DNA. Using information from the simple sampling procedure that you perform yourself at home, we have all the specialist knowledge and cutting-edge technology necessary to discover your personal genetic heritage, dating back all the way to the very emergence of humanity, more than 100,000 years ago!

Contact Us

If there is anything you would like to ask us about, you are most welcome to contact us at any time. Call Becky at our office in San Francisco, USA on +1 415 955 0522 or Chris at the Wimbledon office in the UK on +44 20 8405 6425.