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The DNA Shoah Project
is building a database of genetic material from Holocaust survivors and
their immediate descendants in an attempt to match displaced relatives,
provide Shoah orphans and lost children with information about their
biological families and assist in the identification of Holocaust-era
victims whose remains continue to surface.
There is no cost to participants.
The Project contains an educational component as well, employing
current science and technology to teach the Holocaust in our schools.
Units on forensics, genetics and DNA matching software aimed at middle-
and high school-aged students will provide an introduction to
contemporary practices while stressing a message of ethics, compassion
and personal responsibility.
Project co-founders include Syd Mandelbaum, Founder and CEO of Rock and Wrap it Up!,
a nationally recognized hunger-relief organization and himself the son
of two Holocaust survivors, and Dr. Michael Hammer, a research
scientist with Arizona Research Labs who specializes in human
population genetics. Joining them is Howard Cash, CEO of GeneCodes Forensics, Inc.,
the organization that developed the genomic sequencing software
necessary to identify victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the
Indonesian tsunami of 2004, and Hurricane Katrina. GeneCodes Forensics,
Inc. has generously donated their software to the DNA Shoah Project.
The Human Origins Genotyping Laboratory will provide the sample testing
for this unique effort. Approximately 500 samples have been collected
thus far, from Holocaust survivors and their families around the globe.
HOGL Staff involved in the DNA Shoah Project:
Lynn Davis, Information Specialist
Barbara Fransway, Research Specialist
Matt Kaplan, Staff Scientist
Erika Noebel,
Program Coordinator
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HOGL Projects 
