December 23, 2009
Stephen C. Stearns, Ph.D.
Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Box 208106
Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520-8106 USA
phone: (203) 432 8452
email: stephen.stearns@yale.edu
Dear Dr. Stearns:
Thank you for your kind reply. There is another approach to matching kinship with fertility even in the absence of genealogical data. I assume the Framingham study is archiving DNA specimens from the subjects. If not, let me know. I can spring for a couple or three thousand dollars for the freezer. A DNA library will be invaluable someday as an adjunct to this famous longitudinal study.
When funding becomes available, it will be possible to do genomes on the volunteers. Once those are available, it should be a simple matter to determine 1) the homozygosity of each subject and thus the kinship of the parents and 2) the kinship of the couple. Those results should be directly comparable with the Helgason et al results. As the DVD pointed out, this will be a very exciting subject.
Do it and I promise I will come clap when you get your Nobel Prize.
Sincerely,
Linton Herbert
Nobabie.net SilentNursery.com
There have been 2,970 visitors so far.