The World's Premier Home Paternity Testing Service

Using statistics that surprised many readers, The Tennessean published the following:

Naming the wrong man as the father is not rare. Each year, more than 2,000 women across Tennessee name the wrong guy as their baby’s father, Department of Human Services DNA tests results show.

The article, “Paternity cases are often memorable, often sad,” features Juvenile Court referee Scott Rosenberg as he reflects on the many paternity cases he’s presided over. He argues for more use of paternity DNA tests when paternity is in question because they provide definitive answers within a short time period. Rosenberg says that many questions surrounding such situations would have been otherwise impossible to resolve without the use of paternity tests and other DNA testing services.

Beta Genetics offers in-home paternity tests for peace of mind. This means that if you have a doubt about paternity, you can take a Beta paternity test in the privacy of your own home. The results you receive will be as accurate as legal DNA test results, but they will not be admissible in court. However, if you desire legally defensible results after you receive results from Beta, you can undergo testing through DNA Diagnostics Center (DDC), the world leader in private paternity testing, at a discounted price.

The primary difference between in-home and legal DNA testing is the DNA collection process. For in-home tests, you or anyone you know can collect the samples of DNA. For legal DNA tests, however, only an unbiased third party may collect the samples. Despite this difference, the DNA testing standards for in-home paternity tests at Beta’s laboratory are as stringent as those in DDC’s laboratory for legal tests, so you can be confident in the accuracy of your DNA test results.

Beta Genetics provides high quality, discreet paternity DNA tests to establish peace of mind. You can learn more about our services and test uses by visiting the DNA testing page now.

Illustrator of the first published and accurate drawing of a DNA molecule and wife of famed DNA scientist, Francis Crick, Odile Crick died this month at the age of 86. As an artist who was accomplished in Rubenesque sketches and paintings, she gained attention when she drew the abstract structure of DNA that accompanied James Watson’s and Crick’s Nature article in 1953.

Her abstract drawing in conjunction with the article revolutionized the understanding of DNA’s structure and opened the door to great advances in research. And despite all the new research, her drawing and the research conclusion of Watson and Crick have remained accurate over time.

As more has been understood about DNA, the more real-life applications of DNA science have been found. Notably, paternity tests, forensic investigation, and other DNA identification processes have been established that are invaluable today to scientists and laypeople alike.

Odile was preceded in death by her husband, Francis, in 2004.

The Internet contains many different interactive websites that review the basics of genetics and DNA testing. The following websites, created by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Dolan DNA Learning Center, are a few that we recommend to you for learning more about the DNA testing and genetics.

DNA from the Beginning
DNA from the Beginning is “an animated primer on the basics of DNA, genes, and heredity. It is organized around key concepts… [with] each concept explained by animation, image gallery, video interviews, problem, biographies, and links.”

DNA Interactive
DNA Interactive, a site “dedicated to the moment on February 28, 1953, when Jim Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double-helical structure of DNA – and to the scientists who breathed life into that structure,” covers the many different applications for DNA technology and chronicles the history leading to today’s cutting-edge DNA science. This site includes exclusive videos and photographs of the world’s leading DNA testing experts.

Gene Almanac
Gene Almanac links you to all of the online resources provided by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Some of the resources include a media library and educational seminar opportunities hosted by Dolan DNA Learning Center.

You can also learn more about DNA testing technology by visiting our laboratory page or by reviewing answers on our FAQs page. A useful glossary of terms is also available to you as you review these and other pages on the Beta Genetics website.

A long-overlooked mummy of an obese woman was identified last week as the most powerful ancient Egyptian female pharaoh, Hatshepsut. Scientists used dental analysis and DNA testing to determine her identity. Hatshepsut ruled in the 15th century BCE, but when she died, her mummified remains were not marked like other pharaohs. In fact, her mummy was ignored until recently because it was found lying on the ground next to the sarcophagus mummy of her wet nurse in the Valley of Kings.

This discovery coincides with the establishment of a DNA testing laboratory funded by Discovery Channel. A year ago, Discovery Channel paid $5 million for Egypt to set up its first DNA lab dedicated to testing mummies. It is hoped that DNA analysis will uncover biological relationships among the royal Egyptian mummies and establish reference samples for future DNA samples from mummies.

The Discovery Channel DNA testing lab is equipped with state-of-the-art genetic analyzers and robotics from Applied Biosystems (ABI). Much of this equipment is the same cutting edge equipment that Beta Genetics uses. In Beta’s laboratory, we use ABI PRISM genetic analyzers that measure the size of DNA markers produced after amplification. The marker sizes are used for comparison to identify biological relationships.

To learn more about the search for and identification of Hatshepsut, visit Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen on the DiscoveryChannel.com. You can also learn more about the technology and analysis behind the DNA tests by visiting the Beta Genetics laboratory now.