About the SGP
The Sasquatch Genome Project (SGP) is a collaboration by an interdisciplinary team of scientists from independent, public, and academic laboratories, aided by volunteer researchers and supporters, who seek to understand the nature of the indigenous, aboriginal people in North America commonly known as Bigfoot or Sasquatch, primarily through the study of their DNA.
The SGP’s forensic DNA analysis proved the existence of this human hybrid species in a paper that appeared February 13, 2013 in the DeNovo Journal of Science.
We still have much to learn about the intriguing Sasquatch people, their origins, and their many unusual traits. The SGP team encourages the scientific community to partner with experienced Sasquatch researchers and long-term witnesseses toward thef further anthropological study of the Sasquatch people. The SGP hopes to open the door to international research collaboration on other "wild people" reported around world, such as the Yeti of Tibet, the Yeren of China, the Almas of Russia, and the Yowie of Australia. The SGP team hopes this research can validate the testimony of thousands of witnesses and previous evidence of novel hominin species.
Listed below are the scientists and laboratories involved in the SGP’s February 2013 paper:
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Dr. Melba S. Ketchum, Lead Scientist, SGP
Melba S. Ketchum, D.V.M.
Dr. Melba S. Ketchum grew up south of Houston, Texas. She is a Moody Scholar and attended Texas A&M University in College Station, where she received her doctorate in veterinary medicine in only five years. She practiced veterinary medicine until 1985 when her interest in genetics led her to establish DNA Diagnostics in 1985. She was a visiting scientist at the University of Kentucky’s Animal Genetic Testing and Research Laboratory in 1985 and in 1986. Dr. Ketchum has completed numerous training programs as new methods and technologies in DNA analysis have been introduced. She has advanced the science through her invention of the VeriSNP™ (patent pending) simultaneous DNA SNP and mutation array testing, which supports forensics, identity, parent verification, disease, traits (physical attributes), ancestry, and breed and sex determination.
Dr. Ketchum is a member of the Association of Forensic DNA Analysts and Administrators and has served as the organization’s treasurer. She has chaired or served on a number of international committees and projects through the International Society for Animal Genetics. Extensively published in her discipline, Dr. Ketchum and has spoken at more than 20 conferences and other events. She also has been a consultant on local, national and international levels and provides professional forensic consultation and testimony in legal cases.
Her funded research included multi-year work on the International Horse Genome Project and is one of the founding North American members of that consortium. She also has conducted a wide variety of research projects in DNA analysis and genetics involving animal species, DNA methods in animal and human forensics as well as veterinary diseases and treatments. Dr. Ketchum was one of the forensic scientists enlisted to conduct analysis of mtDNA sequences of human remains from victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center Disaster.
Dr. Ketchum now focuses on selected genetic research projects.
Patrick Wojkiewicz, PhD
Dr. Patrick Wojkiewicz
Pat Wojtkiewicz is the Director of the Shreveport Laboratory of the North Louisiana Crime Lab System and the Technical Leader of the DNA section. He has been employed at the crime lab since 1977. His first position was in the serology department where he worked in body fluid identification, blood typing, and hair and fiber analysis. In 1991, he moved to South Louisiana to pursue a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Tulane University. While working on his dissertation, he was involved in forensic DNA analysis and training. He returned to the North Louisiana Crime Lab in 1995, as Director of DNA Research and Training. The DNA Analysis Unit has developed into a premier facility in the country, utilizing the latest techniques to analyze DNA evidence. At the North Louisiana Crime Lab, DNA analysts and student interns are involved in applied research to improve and develop methods in DNA analysis. Dr. Wojtkiewicz has presented numerous talks and posters concerning DNA methods and evidence collection, and has co-authored several articles on DNA. He has served on the Governor’s Commission for Post-Conviction Testing by DNA Testing and the Legislative Commission for Sexual Assault Investigation. Dr. Wojtkiewicz has been involved in numerous workshops for training law enforcement officers and forensic DNA analysts. He is also currently an adjunct Assistant Professor of Chemistry at North western State University (Louisiana).
Aliece Watts
Aliece Watts
Aliece Watts, BS, MS, MT(ASCP), PBT(ASCP), F-ABC is a founding partner and the Quality Director for Integrated Forensic Laboratories, Inc., the nation’s only private, full-service, accredited forensic laboratory. With over 30 years of laboratory experience and three board certifications (Forensic Biology, Medical Technology and Phlebotomy), Ms. Watts has an extensive background in Forensic DNA and Quality Assurance. She is an ASCLD/LAB International (ISO 17025) assessor and has traveled to Malaysia to inspect that country’s laboratory system for accreditation. She is a former member of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, a Governor appointed and Senate approved position. Ms. Watts is an alumna of the University of Texas at Arlington where she also taught Introduction to Forensic Science Laboratory, Forensic Biology (DNA) and Methods in Forensic Biology Laboratory.
David W. Spence
David is trace evidence supervisor with the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences, Criminal Investigations Laboratory, at Dallas County, Texas.
Dr. Andreas Holzenburg
Andreas Holzenburg, Ph.D.
Dr. Andreas Holzenburg is a professor of biology and director of the Microscopy & Imaging Center at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. While working toward his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Göttingen (FR Germany), he worked as a research assistant at the famed Max-Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine. In 1987 he joined the Maurice E. Müller Institute at the Biocenter of the University of Basel . In 1989, he was awarded a Feodor-Lynen Research Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to carry out research on anaerobic cellulose degradation in the laboratory of Prof. L.G. Ljungdahl at the University of Georgia in Athens. He later lectured in the School of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and the School of Biology at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, and was invited as visiting professor to the Institute of Virology at the University of Marburg (FR Germany). In recognition of his achievements in the field of molecular structural biology using electron microscopy/crystallography, he received the 1994 Biology Prize from the German Academy of Sciences in Göttingen.
Douglas G. Toler, MD
Dr. Douglas G. Toler
Douglas G. Toler, MD has been a clinical pathologist at Huguley Memorial Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, for the past 30 years. His specialty also includes anatomical pathology. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Tom Prychitko
Tom Prychitko, Ph.D.
Dr. Tom Prychitko received both his master’s and doctorate degrees from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Tom is a molecular biologist with a background that also includes evolutionary biology, microbiology and biochemistry. He has worked extensively in academia and has been involved with a number of biological research programs throughout his career from which he has published several manuscripts. Tom has long had an interest in cryptozoology and has been intrigued by the possibility that creatures long described in myth and legend may in reality actually exist. No stranger to Sasquatch research, he conducted DNA testing on samples from the Carter Farm and elsewhere several years ago, resulting in haplotype data included in the SGP. A firm believer that science has no boundaries, Tom believes that we have only scratched the surface on what we can possibly learn and discover. Tom is currently laboratory director at Helix Biological Laboratory, a biological testing firm he established in 2009. He also is an adjunct instructor for the Department of Biological Sciences at Wayne State University.
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Dr. Fan Zhang
Fan Zhang, Ph.D.
Dr. Zhang is a Bioinformatician at the Department of Academic and Institutional Resources and Technology, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas. His areas of expertise include: Next Generation Sequencing, Genome-wide association studies, Proteomics, Pathway Analysis and Functional Analysis, Cancer Epidemiology, Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology.
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Ray Shoulders
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Ryan Smith
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