progress:helena[The mtDNA H Haplogroup Project]

Dear Hs and HVs,

How odd to realize that it has been almost a year since I wrote the last progress report. It was even odder to check the creation date for the project and see the 1/16/2006. Time does indeed fly.

The year has seen changes both good and bad. Membership is now over 2300. The number of people who have tested out to the FGS level is almost 250. We progress.

It was with a good deal of sadness that I saw, Laura Hayden, decide to take time away from DNA Genealogy to finish her degree. Her contributions were invaluable and she is missed.

Yet the project has been joined by a team of enthusiastic dedicated people. As announced at the last conference, ISOGG is moving forward to create an online mtDNA tree. This will complement the efforts of Dr. Behar who we hear is hard at work on a new tree, thanks in part to our contributions.

There is word that The DNA Fund, as mentioned in JOGG, will be launched in time for the next conference.

And so I have attempted to set down what I see taking shape in the project. The greatest news is from those FGS samples but, because I feel that the right to privacy of members comes first, I have struggled to show it.