If it is more than a week past the target date without your results being posted, it most often means that we did not get a quality result during the sequencing process.
From our lab’s experience, this happens 10 to 15% of the time. When it does, the first extracted swab is rerun. The results should be available in three to four weeks.
The pending status and an estimated results date will be shown after your order is added to a weekly batch. Weekly batches are usually done on Wednesday evenings. If you check your FamilyTreeDNA account on the Thursday after your sample is returned or after you order if we already have your sample, the Order History page will show the test you ordered.
Note: Batches may close earlier to accommodate lab staffing during sales and United States holidays.
In most cases, we will not need to request additional samples. This is only necessary if we have exhausted the samples that you have already provided. We will contact you and request additional samples if necessary.
Most illnesses will not affect your DNA and therefore will not affect your ability to test. However, if you have or have recently had an illness that has required antibiotics such as strep throat (Group A Streptococcus), you should wait until you are fully recovered before testing. Doing so will ensure that your samples contain your DNA and not that of the bacteria that caused the illness. Our lab is able to detect the difference between human DNA and bacterial DNA, so it would not affect the accuracy of results, if there is too much bacteria the sample would fail and you would not receive any results at all.
Medical situations that would be of concern would be known genetic disorders, bone marrow transplants, and/or facial reconstruction with donor skin grafts in the mouth. In any of these cases, please contact us and discuss the specifics of your situation to determine if we can get a usable sample.
I’ve had a blood transfusion, radiation therapy, or surgery recently. Will this affect the sample?
We recommend waiting one week after having serious surgery or radiation therapy before taking a sample. We suggest waiting 1-2 weeks after a blood transfusion as well. However, if you take the sample right away, the medical treatment you have had should not affect the sample, and we will be able to get a good result.
Medical situations that would be of concern are known genetic disorders, bone marrow transplants, and/or facial reconstruction with donor skin grafts in the mouth. In any of these cases, please contact us and discuss the specifics of your situation to determine if we can get a usable sample.
I've had stem cell transplants, bone marrow transplants, or inside-of-the- mouth skin grafts. Will this affect the sample?
Stem cell and bone marrow transplants can affect your DNA by replacing or mixing the DNA of the donor. Either of these may cause your DNA sample to fail our quality control checks. Likewise, inside-of-the-mouth skin grafts may cause issues with our buccal swab collection kits.
No. FamilyTreeDNA is an online product. You will receive an email notification when your results are complete. You can access your results through your FamilyTreeDNA account.
I received an email that my results are complete, but I do not see them.
Some products require more than one lab procedure to produce results. The processing time for each can vary, and you will receive an email notification of completed results at each stage. This means you may receive an email notification of results, but not see certain aspects of the results, such as matches or SNPs.
For example, the Big Y-700 test contains the Y-111 test in addition to SNP results. Typically, the Y-111 results are completed prior to the Big Y SNP results.
If this is not the case, you may need to clear the cookies and cache from your web browser, as it may be storing outdated information from when you visited the site prior to your test completion. The steps to do so vary depending on your web browser. We recommend checking their support center for additional details.