ForenSeq Kintelligence for Genealogists

Alison Wild, Director of FIGG, Intermountain Forensics (DNA Labs International)

Alison Wilde is the newest member of the Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy team at DNA Labs International. In the last two years, she has served as the Genealogy Case Manager for the burials in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Investigation, and just recently announced their first identification. In the last ten years, Alison has held mentor and lecturer positions in various Family History Centers in Utah. She transitioned to full time professional genetic genealogy work in 2016 and then to cold cases and unidentified human remains in 2020. Until July of 2024, she was the Director of FIGG at Intermountain Forensics (recently acquired by DNA Labs International). Alison specializes in FIGG methodology as well as lead/theory probability and analysis.

Melissa Kotkin, Senior Global Product Manager HID, QIAGEN

Melissa Kotkin graduated from the University of Central Florida (UCF) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Forensic Science and minors in Chemistry and Molecular Biology. After her time at UCF, Melissa obtained a position at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, first as a technician and then as a DNA case-working analyst. In 2022, she obtained a Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy Graduate Certificate at the University of New Haven. For the past 19 years, she has supported forensic DNA labs, beginning as a Field application scientist with Applied Biosystems. She continued to support Forensic labs while at Illumina and Verogen. Now, at QIAGEN, she continues to support Forensic labs and HID applications as a Senior Global Product Manager.

Sally Reese, Lead Genealogist, DNA Labs International

Sally Reese is a registered nurse (RN) and genetic genealogist. Sally has been researching her own family tree for many years. She has been using direct-to-consumer DNA testing as a tool in her genealogy arsenal since its advent. This quickly kindled her love of genetic genealogy. Sally has served as a Search Angel for searchangels.org since 2019 and has been responsible for reuniting many adoptees with their biological families. She began an internship at DNA Labs International in 2020. This led to a position on the genealogy team. In 2023, Sally became their Lead Genealogist. When she was a child, Sally’s life was forever changed by violent crime. The death of her mother gives her a unique insight into the suffering of families touched by senseless crime and fuels her desire to seek justice for its victims.

Tom Osypian, Associate Director, GEDmatch Product Manager, QIAGEN

Tom Osypian is the Associate Director in QIAGEN HID and Forensics for GEDmatch and GEDmatch PRO. GEDmatch PRO is a dedicated portal designed to support police and forensic teams with investigative comparisons to GEDmatch data. Osypian is also an advisory board member for UC Irvine’s Customer Experience Program.

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ForenSeq Kintelligence for Genealogists

Highlights include:

DNA sequencing and forensic samples - why and how degraded DNA impacts methods and results

The Kintelligence SNP set – how and why the 10,000 SNPs were selected

Using GEDmatch PRO – generating and working from a Kintelligence match list

Beyond FIGG - what else does a Kintelligence result provide

About this webinar

Speakers

Alison Wild, Director of FIGG, Intermountain Forensics (DNA Labs International)

Melissa Kotkin, Senior Global Product Manager HID, QIAGEN

Sally Reese, Lead Genealogist, DNA Labs International

Tom Osypian, Associate Director, GEDmatch Product Manager, QIAGEN