Friday 25 May 2012

Scientists seek big genes of bigfoot


Can science unravel one of life’s enduring mysteries?

Rumors of the hairy humanoid known variously as the yeti, bigfoot and sasquatch have persisted for decades, despite little hard evidence beyond grainy photographs and plaster casts of giant footprints. Now scientists are hoping to make more of a case for the creature -- with the help of genetic testing, Reuters reported.

The Lausanne Museum of Zoology in Switzerland together with prestigious Oxford University said Tuesday, May 22, that they will together use DNA testing to examine organic remains that some claim belong to the beast.

"It's an area that any serious academic ventures into with a deal of trepidation ... it's full of eccentric and downright misleading reports," Bryan Sykes at Oxford's Wolfson College told Reuters.

Lausanne has an archive of such organic material assembled by researcher Bernard Heuvelmans, the news agency reported. Heuvelmans sought the yeti for over 50 years until his death in 2001.

"There have been DNA tests done on alleged yetis and other such things but since then the testing techniques, particularly on hair, have improved a lot due to advances in forensic science," Sykes said.


Continued:  
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/05/22/scientists-use-dna-tests-in-hunt-for-bigfoot/


Oxford-Lausanne Collateral Hominid Project
As part of a larger enquiry into the genetic relationship between our own species Homo sapiens and other hominids, we invite submissions of organic material from formally undescribed species, or “cryptids”, for the purpose of their species identification by genetic means.

Timetable
The project is divided into three phases.

SAMPLE SUBMISSION PHASE        May – September 2012
DNA ANALYSIS PHASE            September – November 2012
PUBLICATION PHASE            November – December 2012

SAMPLE SUBMISSION
Sample submissions are invited from institutions and individuals. In the first instance, please send details of the material you would like to submit to one of the Principal Investigators. These should include:

·    Your name, institutional affiliation (if any), postal and email addresses and other contact details.
·    A physical description of the specimen: (Hair, tooth etc). Photographs welcome.
·    Its provenance: A short account of the origin of the sample, when and where (with coordinates if known) it was collected and how it came to be in your possession.
·    Identification: Your opinion of its likely species identification, and your reasons.
·    Authority: A statement that you are entitled to send the specimen for analysis and that we have permission to publish the results.

In order to avoid misidentification of samples due to contamination, our preferred material is hair, although tissues will be considered.

After reviewing your submission, we will send you a sampling kit with instructions. Please do not send any materials without first hearing from us. They will not be analysed nor returned.

You may choose whether to be identified as the donor of the sample, or to remain anonymous.

DNA ANALYSIS
At the end of the submission phase, the most promising samples will be selected for DNA analysis. You will not be charged for the analysis. Unselected samples will be returned.

The process of DNA analysis is destructive. Any unused material from selected samples will be returned or, if you prefer, will be submitted for curation as part of the Bernard Heuvelmans Cryptozoology archive in Lausanne.

PUBLICATION PHASE
Results from DNA analysis will be prepared for publication in a peer-reviewed science journal. No results will be released until any embargoes on publication have passed.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS

Prof. Bryan Sykes                       
Professor of Human Genetics                   
Wolfson College                       
University of Oxford                       
Oxford OX2 6UD                       
United Kingdom                       
bryan.sykes@wolfson.ox.ac.uk                   
                               
Dr. Michel Sartori
Directeur
Musee de Zoologie
Palais de Rumine
Place de Riponne 6
CH-1014 Lausanne
Switzerland
michel.sartori@vd.ch
When emailing please use OLCHP as the subject of your message

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