Cheryl, As a Group Leader in the PRA and as a Ph.D. in the biological sciences (Marine Biology / Aquatic Toxicology), I too, agree with the comments by Nick. There is no intentional effort to exclude women from the DNA study; it is purely an issue of our current scientific state of knowledge regarding DNA. I would also be delighted to discuss this with you or your daughter at anytime. Nick is 100%, scientifically correct in what he is saying. According to our present state of knowledge of DNA, the DNA on the Y-chromosome (the Y is unfortunately only found in men) affords us the best (and perhaps the only) opportunity to study our genealogy using DNA. As Nick pointed out, there are other sources of DNA within each of our cells, but they are not suitable for these types of studies for a variety of reasons which, also, I would be glad to discuss with you in more detail. Believe me, if there was a way for us to use DNA from women in genealogical studies, a great deal of questions could be answered in my groupÂ… and I would embrace that effort wholeheartedly. My sincerest regards, Paul L. Pennington, Ph.D. Research Marine Biologist National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Ocean Service Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research Charleston, SC Group Leader for Group 6 Pennington Research Association ============================================================ From: "Gene Pennington" <[email protected]> Date: 2004/01/27 Tue AM 10:26:05 EST To: [email protected] Subject: Re: The "new genealogy" bumper sticker Posted by Gene Pennington at request of Nick Penington who has an e-mail problem and cannot send messages from his home computer at this time. ====================================================== Cheryl, I am sorry if you got the impression that I or anyone in the PRA is not interested in tracing female lines but this is certainly untrue. It is just more difficult than male lines as you know. My comments seem to have been misunderstood since they referred to the use of DNA in tracing female lines. I traced all lines for my wife back to 1720 in Europe !! Re what your daughter said: When suggesting that someone is not in command of the facts it is customary to point out where they are incorrect. I have a Ph.D. in medical science and work with DNA. I would gladly compare my knowledge of the use of DNA in genealogy with anyone, short of someone who uses molecular population genetics for a living! Nicholas J. Penington Associate Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York. ==== PRA Mailing List ==== ==== PENNINGTON RESEARCH ASSOCIATION ==== Learn what's new at the PRA. To learn more, go to --> http://www.penningtonresearch.org and click on the "News" link on the left side of the page. ============================================================