The Genographic Project

The Genographic Project, launched on 13 April 2005 by the National Geographic Society and IBM, is a multi-year genetic anthropology study that aims to map historical human migration patterns by collecting and analyzing DNA samples. As of 2017, over 800,000 participants in over 140 countries have joined the project.

Created and led by project director Dr. Spencer Wells from 2005 to 2015, field researchers at 11 regional centers around the world collect DNA samples from indigenous populations. The project also sells self-testing kits to members of the general public.

The project is a privately funded, not-for-profit collaboration between the National Geographic Society, IBM and the Waitt Foundation.

In Fall 2012, The Genographic Project announced the completion of a new genotyping array, dedicated to Genetic Anthropology, called the GenoChip. GenoChip is specifically designed for anthropological testing and includes SNPs from autosomal DNA, X-chromosome DNA, Y-chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The design of the new chip was a collaborative effort between Spencer Wells of National Geographic, Dr. Eran Elhaik of Johns Hopkins, Family Tree DNA, and Illumina.

The Admixture test developed by Wells and Elhaik classifies individuals by assessing their proportions of genomic ancestry related to nine ancestral regions: Northeast Asian, Mediterranean, Southern African, Southwest Asian, Oceanian, Southeast Asian, Northern European, Sub-Saharan African and Native American.

Geno 2.0: Next Generation is the following phase of the Genographic Project. As compared earlier phases which used nine regional affiliations, Geno 2.0: Next Generation analyzes modern-day indigenous populations around the world carry using 18 regional affiliations. A DNA-testing kit requiring a saliva sample from a user is analyzed for genomic identifiers that offer unprecedented insight into the user's genetic origins.

Since 2005 Genographic has used volunteers (in fieldwork and providing DNA samples) and citizen science projects. Such outreach for public participation in research has been encouraged by organizations such as International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG), which is seeking to promote benefits from scientific research. This includes supporting, organization and dissemination of personal DNA (genetic) testing.

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