DNAprint Genomics (DNAG)

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NEWS: {Not Jeeve's news tho-....}

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2005/12/12-05-05tdc/12-05-05dnews-01.asp


[ Monday, Dec. 5, 2005 ]

DNA test unearths students' family roots

By Megan Rundle
Collegian Staff Writer

A.J. Dobbins knew that despite the dark color of his skin, the roots of his family tree extend to many different countries.

"My family comes in all different shades," Dobbins said. "Some of us are darker, and some of us are so light we can pass for white. I've always been taught that there's more to race than color."

But Dobbins said that even he didn't imagine the results he would get from one of Penn State's latest technological advancements.

Thanks to a cooperation between Sam Richards, senior lecturer in sociology, and Mark Shriver, associate professor of anthropology and genetics, Dobbins (senior-sociology) took a DNA test that showed his genetic racial breakdown.

The test was offered to students in Sociology 119 (Race and Ethnic Relations) last spring and again to those taking the class this fall.

Richards said the test is a complex process taken through a tissue sample from a cheek swab. Researchers then break down the sample to find a person's genetic makeup by comparing it to "parent" samples taken in different countries.

Shriver said he's worked on the project for five years with Tony Frudakis, a researcher from an innovative genetic research company called DNAPrint.

"This test says we're really all mixes ... and the idea that people can fit into specific categories is one of the fallacies of race typology," Shriver said.

About six weeks after taking his test, Dobbins said he was a little surprised to learn that he was more than a quarter of something other than African.

Dobbins, whose results showed he was 28 percent Caucasian, 70 percent sub-Saharan African and 2 percent Native American, said that while he wasn't expecting that combination of numbers, he's always known his family had at least some Caucasian blood in it.

"I come from a slave family, but I have an Old English last name," he said. "If you put my dad next to his brothers, you wouldn't even know they were related."

Dobbins, a student facilitator for Penn State's Race Relations Project (RRP), said he is one of Richard's former students and a former teaching assistant for the class.

"When I found out I was almost a third white and told my friends their initial reaction was 'Shut up, no you're not,' and I had to get out the results and actually show them," he said.

Dobbins' grandmother, Mae Dobbins of Maryland, said she knew her family was more than just African but was a little surprised at the numbers the results showed. "Before my mother died, she told me that a white man had fathered some of her siblings, and my husband had some Caucasian on his side as well," she said. "If you go back, you'll find that most people have a mixture of races at their roots."

Dobbins' father, Aaron Dobbins Sr., agreed, adding that he would love to have the opportunity to take the test.

"We know we have a lot of diversity in our blood," Dobbins Sr. said. "I'm almost surprised they didn't find more diversity."

Another RRP facilitator, Brianna Ford, said she decided to take the test because she had been reading journals from people who had already been tested. "I never really knew what I was," Ford (junior-crime, law and justice) said. "A lot of people who took it and wrote their journals didn't seem to care, and I knew I would care."

When Ford got her results back, she said she was completely shocked to learn that she was 8 percent East Asian, 8 percent Sub-Saharan African, 19 percent Native American and 65 percent European.

Ford said she was disappointed and frustrated by her parents' reactions because they automatically assumed the test was wrong.

"My parents started arguing over whose side of the family I got the Asian and African from," she said. "I wondered if I was better off not knowing, but now I know I can use it to push further and learn more."

Laurie Mulvey, co-director of the Race Relations Project, said people react in different ways after learning their results.

Mulvey organizes discussion groups where people meet to share their experiences and feelings about their test results and race relations at Penn State. She trains student facilitators to conduct progressive discussions about race issues. "For some people, knowing the results doesn't change anything because they feel they're still the same person they've always been," Mulvey said. "Some people are really excited by their results, and sometimes people get disappointed as well."

Lauren Wenner (senior-public relations and sociology) said she was disappointed to learn she was 96 percent European and 4 percent Native American.

"When I told my friends about my disappointment, they were like, 'Well, Lauren, you're white,' " she said. "But now after I've had time to think about it, I think it's a good thing to know that I can be this open-minded about diversity and not really have any physical reason to be."

Shriver said the next phase of the project involves traveling back to Europe next semester for several months to work on getting more samples. The test uses parent samples from Northwest Europe, but Shriver said he hopes to break this down further.

Dobbins said the most important thing he's learned from this experience is that he really can't make assumptions about people anymore.

"Science doesn't lie," he said. "We all make assumptions, and people can tell you their experiences and how it's changed them, but until you have a personal experience and it resonates in you, I guess you really can't describe it. This test just shows that we're really all a lot more closely related than we think."
PHOTO: Ben Snyder
Merin Thomas, left, and A.J. Dobbins discuss the results of the DNA ancestry tests.