The Irish Times - Thursday, November 1, 2012

LOUISE ROSEINGRAVE

DNA TESTS on human remains recovered from a car found by divers in the river Blackwater may solve a 22-year-old mystery.

The remains and items of clothing were taken from a Daihatsu car buried in silt in the river at Fermoy, Co Cork.

It is believed the remains are those of William Fennessy (54), a former county councillor, publican and auctioneer, from Glenabo, outside Fermoy, who has been missing since March 1990.

Divers from the Blackwater Sub Aqua Search and Rescue Unit found what is thought to be Mr Fennessys car during a routine training exercise on Monday.

Mr Fennessys brother James and his wife Noreen watched divers make multiple descents to the submerged car on Tuesday.

Garda believe the car may have been embedded in silt on the northern banks of the river 300m west of the towns main bridge.

DNA tests and dental record checks will be carried out.

Local councillor John Murphy said he hoped the discovery would bring closure to the Fennessy family. He served on the county council, we were friends, I knew him very well, Mr Murphy said. They are a family of decent people, a good community family, and, while the remains have not yet been formally identified, it is 99 per cent sure that its him because of the car.

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DNA tests on remains in submerged car

Christopher Hatzis who was fatally stabbed in Light Square, Adelaide. Picture: Facebook Source: Supplied

THE DNA of a man accused of stabbing Christopher Hatzis near the Savvy nightclub was found in three locations at the scene, a court has been told.

The man, 22, whose name and image have been suppressed, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court yesterday.

He has been charged with one count of murder over the Light Square incident that occurred in August.

Yesterday, prosecutor Karen Ingleton told the court Mr Hatzis had been ejected from the club prior to the fatal brawl.

She said he was then assaulted by up to six male offenders and suffered seven stab wounds and eight incisions.

Ms Ingleton said witnesses saw the accused man running from the scene.

It was alleged he had torn clothing and a laceration to his hand and that his DNA was found at three locations at the scene.

DNA was also allegedly found on a pendant that was discovered nearby.

Ms Ingleton said police were concerned that since the incident the man had accumulated $40,000 and presently has $20,000 in his bank account.

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DNA evidence linked to stabbing

Tue, Oct 30, 2012

by Benson Ang

DNA is passed down from parents to children and can be found throughout the body. Common samples of DNA are blood, bone and skin cells. For testing purposes, they are typically taken from inside the mouth. Heres how Paternity Testing Corporation (PTC) conducts a DNA test:

Step 1

Clients are finger-printed, photographed and their mouths are swabbed. The samples are sent to a lab in the US for processing.

Step 2

A paternity test works by identifying certain specific size pieces of DNA that the child received from his or her biological father. If the man has the same size pieces as the child, he is likely to be the biological father.

Unrelated individuals are unlikely to have the same specific size pieces. PTC guarantees that its normal DNA paternity tests have an accuracy of higher than 99.99 per cent.

Step 3

Once samples reach the lab, results are ready within two business days. But clients typically wait 10 days due to shipping and the number of cases that have to be handled.

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DNA samples sent to US

Priscilla Blevins was a studious, pretty woman whod studied Spanish at Wake Forest University, taught English in Bogota, Colombia, and wanted to be a translator for the United Nations. She disappeared without a trace shortly after Independence Day in 1975.

Now, police say they have solved the 37-year-old missing persons case thanks to a persistent family and a swab of DNA collected at a Winston-Salem bookstore.

Its the oldest missing persons case the unit has solved, said Det. Lee Tuttle, the lead investigator who added that police still dont know how Blevins died.

Blevins was last seen alive by her roommate at their apartment on Tyvola Road near South Boulevard. Her younger sister, Cathy Blevins Howe, who lived in Arizona at the time, still vividly remembers the long-distance phone call from her worried parents saying her older sister couldnt be found.

As the years ticked by, the Blevins family stayed in constant contact with Charlotte police, urging them to find their daughter. But investigators had exhausted all leads.

They never knew that a womans body was discovered 10 years later in Haywood County, near the Tennessee-North Carolina border, roughly 150 miles from Blevins apartment. Unidentified, it was shipped to the chief medical examiners office in Chapel Hill in 1985. No one knew it was Blevins.

As her parents aged, Howe continued the search for her older sister.

As I got older and had a daughter of my own, my curiosity about this continued and it just never let up, she said. I just decided that I wanted to see what I could find out.

She called CMPDs missing persons team in 2000. Tuttle, a 20-year-veteran of the department, who is also from Winston-Salem, called her back. Over time, he found an article about Blevins disappearance written in 1978. He also contacted a private detective whod been hired by the family to find Blevins.

But the key to cracking the case would be newer investigative methods.

Continue reading here:
DNA confirms body found by highway is woman missing since 1975

DNA taken from someone acquitted of a crime may be retained and used in subsequent investigations, according to a unanimous opinion by the Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday that said such people dont have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

In the 7-0 opinion written by Justice Robert Cupp, the court said that if the DNA is obtained legally during a criminal investigation, it may be used in a separate investigation down the road.

The decision stems from the case of a Cleveland man who was acquitted in the 2005 rape of his girlfriends 7-year-old daughter but was later convicted of a 2007 murder.

Authorities had taken a DNA sample from Dajuan Emerson, 34, in the rape investigation. Emerson was acquitted, but the sample was retained in the FBIs Combined DNA Index System and matched blood found on a door handle at the scene of the 2007 murder of 37-year-old Marnie Macon of Cleveland.

Macon had been stabbed 74 times, and prosecutors said the lower half of her body had been sanitized in an effort to destroy any semen left behind.

Emerson, who is now serving a life sentence stemming from his aggravated murder conviction, had argued that the state violated his constitutional rights by retaining his DNA and should only have used it for the rape investigation.

The justices denied that argument and said Emersons DNA was obtained through a proper search warrant and that he never challenged the validity of that warrant, noting that numerous courts across the country have examined the issue and reached the same conclusion:

A person has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her DNA profile extracted from a lawfully obtained DNA sample, Cupp wrote.

Emersons Cleveland attorney, Robert Moriarty, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Emerson also had argued at trial that his DNA sample from the rape investigation should not have been used and unsuccessfully tried to get it suppressed.

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Ohio court: Old DNA in acquittals may be kept

By Randy Ludlow

The Columbus Dispatch Thursday November 1, 2012 2:00 PM

DNA profiles obtained from felony suspects can be retained in a state database and used in subsequent criminal investigations even if suspects were acquitted in the cases in which samples were obtained, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled today.

Retaining the DNA profiles of acquitted suspects does not constitute unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment, the court said in a unanimous opinion written by Justice Robert R. Cupp.

The decision upheld an appellate court ruling in the case of a Cleveland man who was acquitted of rape in 2005 and charged with aggravated murder in 2009 when the rape-case DNA profile matched blood found at the murder scene.

Lawyers for Dajuan Emerson argued that the convicted killer had an expectation of privacy for his DNA profile since he was not convicted of the crime for which he provided a sample in response to a search warrant.

Emersons DNA profile could only be used in the rape case and its retention in the states Combined DNA Index System constituted illegal search and seizure when used to identify him as a suspect in the murder case, his lawyers said.

Cupp wrote that a DNA sample and a DNA profile differ. When the state tests a sample, the scientific process creates a profile that is a government work product in which criminal suspects do not have an ownership interest.

Retention by the state of a DNA profile for possible future comparison with profiles obtained from unknown samples taken from a victim or a crime scene does not differ from the retention by the state of fingerprints for use in subsequent investigations, the court stated.

Emerson, who was acquitted of raping a 7-year-old girl in 2005, was convicted of the aggravated murder of Marnie Macon, 37, who was stabbed 74 times in her apartment on July 4, 2007.

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Ohio suspects' DNA can be saved for later cases, court rules

Helen Wallace: We need safeguards to protect human rights and prevent miscarriage of justice.

Helen Wallace says the U.K. is undergoing a rethink on its DNA policies

The Union government is working on a new version of a legislation that seeks to set up a national DNA data base of offenders, that allows for the collection and storage of DNA samples of those accused in cases ranging from homicide, sexual assault and rape to even violations under the motor vehicle Act.

A draft version of the legislation first mooted in 2007 envisages the maintenance of several state-level databases of suspects across a list of violations ranging from Motor Vehicle Act offences to crimes such as rape and murder.

Activists have opposed the legislation as a potential breach of citizens privacy, and have challenged it on ethical and technical grounds.

Helen Wallace, a member of Gene Watch, a U.K.-based group advocating against DNA databases, feels that India must learn from international experiences, particularly from the U.K. which was the first country to set up a database in 1995 that even allowed retention of DNA records of innocent citizens.

In May, the U.K. passed the Protection of Freedoms Act which will remove about 1 million records from the database.

In an interview with The Hindu, on the sidelines of a recent lecture at the Centre for Internet and Society, Ms. Wallace spoke about the need for proper safeguards, the proposed legislation and the cost-effectiveness of doing so in a country as India.

Excerpts:

Q: Theres been a major rethink on DNA profiling and databases in the UK. What are the lessons for India here?

Excerpt from:
DNA databases: ‘India must learn from international experiences’

Police have a DNA profile of the man who sexually assaulted a woman at North Adelaide last month, but the profile does not match any in the national database.

On September 6, a 23-year-old woman was walking home after having drinks with friends in OConnell St when she was attacked on Gover St just after midnight.

Police say the DNA profile of the offender does not match any match profiles on the National Criminal Investigation DNA Data Base, meaning the offender is unlikely to have a significant criminal history and could be a first time offender.

The suspect is described as aged in his 30s, about 175cm tall, with an olive complexion, shaved head and a calm, husky voice.

Posters depicting an image of the suspect have been distributed to businesses around North Adelaide.

We urge members of the public to take note of them and to read, have a look and to see if you recognise this person, Detective Acting Sergeant Matthew Lyon said.

Police said they have been reviewing CCTV footage and talking to local businesses as part of their ongoing enquiries.

They do not believe the attack is linked to others around North Adelaide, but have warned women to avoid walking alone at night and to stick to well-lit main roads.

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Police have rape suspect’s DNA profile

By Amanda Gardner HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have developed a new DNA test for colorectal cancer and for cancer precursors that seems to be not only accurate, but also noninvasive.

If approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, experts say, the test could be a welcome alternative to colonoscopies, which require a lengthy and uncomfortable preparation.

"The study is interesting and may hold some promise in the future," said Dr. David Beck, chairman of the department of colon and rectal surgery at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. "More testing needs to be done to confirm the findings, and we need to know how available the test will be and what it will cost."

"Currently, it is estimated that almost 50 percent of Americans have not been screened [by any method] for colorectal cancer," added Beck, who was not involved with the study. "Most tests are better than nothing. If further study confirms the usefulness of this test, it would be a significant help."

The researchers began with stool samples from more than 1,000 people who were undergoing colonoscopies for screening and who had just had a colonoscopy that identified a malignancy or pre-malignancy.

In previous studies, the researchers had identified 11 biomarkers that, when combined, could indicate the presence of cancerous or precancerous lesions.

The test has three components, said study author Graham Lidgard, senior vice president of research and development and chief science officer at Exact Sciences in Madison, Wis., which developed the test and funded the research.

The first identifies methylation in two genes. Methylation is a process that can turn off tumor suppressor genes that would normally help curb the proliferation of cancer cells. Abnormal methylation can be found in both colorectal cancers and pre-cancers.

The second component searches for DNA mutations in the K-ras gene. Mutations in this gene can spur tumor growth, and these mutations can be identified both in cancers and in pre-cancers.

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New DNA Test Shows Promise for Spotting Colon Cancer

A DNA sample from a phony "chewing gum survey" led to the arrest of a man who has been charged with killing a 70-year-old woman in 1976, making this the oldest cold case to ever be cracked in Maine.

Gary Sanford Raub, 63, was arrested on Monday in Seattle and charged with murdering 70-year-old Blanche Kimball in Augusta, Maine.

Kimball was found stabbed to death inside her State Street home on June 12, 1976 after neighbors called police to say they had not seen her for several days. The killer eluded investigators and the case turned cold, but authorities kept at it over the decades.

"In Maine, State Police assign the open homicide cases to a detective. There's always a detective assigned to these cases, which are constantly reviewed, as time permits," Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland told ABCNews.com.

Recent DNA work by the State Police Crime Lab on evidence from the crime led them to Raub, authorities said.

"It was last summer that we got some very concrete DNA work on some of the evidence that was seized and made a comparison that brought us to this point," McCausland said. "It was DNA that cracked this."

Raub was tracked to Seattle, where he was living as a homeless transient and police knew him from his lengthy criminal record. Authorities discovered that Raub knew Kimball and had at one time lived at her home.

Augusta investigators coordinated with authorities in Seattle and used a fake "gum chewing survey" to get a new DNA sample from Raub.

"I don't know the exact details, but we obviously needed some up-to-date DNA from him and some bubble gum was the key to getting that," McCausland said.

Three decades later, investigators remained committed to finding justice for Kimball.

Continued here:
Fake 'Gum Survey' DNA Solves Case

Two high-profile entrepreneurs say they want to put a DNA sequencing machine on the surface of Mars in a bid to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life.

In what could become a race for the first extraterrestrial genome, researcher J. Craig Venter said Tuesday that his Maryland academic institute and company, Sythentic Genomics, would develop a machine capable of sequencing and beaming back DNA data from Mars.

Separately, Jonathan Rothberg, founder of Ion Torrent, a DNA sequencing company, is collaborating on an effort to adapt his company's "Personal Genome Machine" for Martian conditions.

"We want to make sure an Ion Torrent goes to Mars," Rothberg told Technology Review.

Although neither team yet has a berth on Mars rocket, their plans reflect the belief that the simplest way to prove there is life on Mars is to send a DNA sequencing machine to the planet.

"There will be DNA life forms there," Venter predicted Tuesday in New York, where he was speaking at the Wired Health Conference.

Venter said researchers working with him have already begun tests at a Mars-like test site in the Mojave Desert. Their goal, he said, is to demonstrate a machine capable of autonomously isolating microbes from soil, sequencing their DNA, and then transmitting the information to a remote computer, as would be required on an unmanned Mars mission. (Hear his comments in this video, starting at 00:11:01). Heather Kowalski, a spokeswoman for Venter, confirmed the existence of the project, but also said the prototype system was "not yet 100 percent robotic."

Meanwhile, Rothberg's Personal Genome Machine is being adapted for Martian conditions as part of a NASA-funded project at Harvard and MIT called SET-G, or "the search for extra-terrestrial genomes."

Christopher Carr, an MIT research scientist involved in the effort, says his lab is working to shrink Ion Torrent's machine from 30 kilograms down to just 3 kilograms so that it can fit on a NASA rover. Other tests, already conducted, have determined how well the device can withstand the heavy radiation it would encounter on the way to Mars.

NASA, whose Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August, won't send another rover mission to the planet before at least 2018 (see "The Mars Rover Curiosity Marks a Technological Triumph"), and there's no guarantee a DNA sequencing device would go aboard. "The hard thing about getting to Mars is hitting the NASA specifications," says George Church, a Harvard University researcher and a senior member of the SET-G team. "[Venter] isn't ahead of anyone else."

Originally posted here:
Genome Hunters Go after Martian DNA

NEW YORK, Oct. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

Top Ten Companies in DNA Sequencing

http://www.reportlinker.com/p01013573/Top-Ten-Companies-in-DNA-Sequencing.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Genomics

INTRODUCTION

The story of molecular biology is being both written and printed by sequencing toolsvarious chapters being currently authored by oncologists, ID experts, pathologists, and so forth. The narrative is understood by only those select few who have the cross discipline knowledge to comprehend what the sequencing tools output, and who also have the niche domain experience to act upon knowledge of that data. Recently, this story has begun to change as low cost next generation sequencing democratizes genome data, allowing a politics and commerce of inclusion, to enter the lab and now also the clinic.

Diagnostic manufacturers can now afford to develop sequencing tools as diagnostic shortcuts. The clinician does not need to understand the mathematical underpinnings of 16SrRNA coverage for phylogeny to run a rapid anthrax test.

Read more from the original source:
Top Ten Companies in DNA Sequencing

By: Jessica Zafra October 17, 2012 3:59 PM

InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5

After I saw "Give Up Tomorrow," the documentary on the apparently wrongful arrest, trial, and conviction of Paco Larraaga, I wondered how many innocent persons have been doomed to rot in our overcrowded jails. Thats how I heard about the Innocence Project Philippines, a network of law schools, non-governmental organizations and academic laboratories that seeks to make justice accessible for wrongfully convicted persons. Founded in 2012, the Innocence Project is presently headquartered at the DNA Analysis Laboratory at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

Being a compulsive viewer of the Law and Order shows and forensic dramas on TV, I asked for an interview with the head of the UP DNA Analysis Laboratory, Dr. Maria Corazon de Ungria. Unfortunately she didnt have the time, but she did answer, via email, my very elementary questions about the initiative. An NAST Outstanding Young Scientist Awardee in 2003, De Ungria is also the director of the Program on Forensic and Ethnicity of the Philippine Genome Center. She gave technical assistance in the formulation of the Rules on DNA Evidence, and has been an expert witness in criminal cases.

Incidentally, in a newspaper article she published two weeks ago, De Ungria noted that Eyewitness testimony is recognized to be the leading cause of judicial errors in the US and elsewhere. After I wrote about the Larraaga case I heard from various people who saw the accused in Manila on the day he was supposed to be committing the crimes in Cebu. As the movie points out, the Larraaga case is notable for the number of eyewitnesses whose testimony was ignored.

Have you any idea as to the number of wrongful convictions in the Philippines?

I dont think there is an estimate of the overall number of wrongful convictions. In 2004, in the case People of the Philippines v Mateo, the Supreme Court reported about 71.8% of all death penalty cases that were reviewed resulted in a modification of the sentence, a remanding of the case back to the lower courts and in some, acquittal of the accused.

Statistics would disclose that within the eleven-year period since the re-imposition of the death penalty law in 1993 until June 2004, the cases where the judgment of death has either been modified or vacated consisted of an astounding 71.77 percent of the total of death penalty cases directly elevated before the Court on automatic review that translates to a total of 651 out of 907 appellants saved from lethal injection.

What is the process for getting a conviction reviewed with your help? How has the Innocent Project been received by the Philippine police and judiciary?

The project is just about to start. We are in the process of registering the group with the SEC and launching the project. The target date and sites for the launch is December 9, 2012 at the National Bilibid Prison in the morning and the Correctional Institute of Women in the afternoon. We are still processing the papers and request forms but we are hoping to make this happen soon. Since the project is really based on the passionate commitment of volunteers and students who want to make a difference, we are actually needing financial assistance for the launch. So best to check the Facebook account for further information.

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DNA evidence could free the innocent-if it were available

Published: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 3:51 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 3:51 p.m.

BRADENTON - DNA evidence has linked a man to a July home invasion robbery, sheriffs officials reported.

Alex Johnson, 20, is being charged with home invasion robbery with a firearm.

The home invasion occurred at a house in the 4100 block of 39th Street West. The victim told deputies two men with pistols barged into her home and asked where Bill was. She told the men she didnt know anyone by that name.

One man, who was wearing a ski mask, pushed her into the bathroom and told her to look at the ground while the other man ransacked her bedroom, according a sheriffs report. After the men left, her cell phone was the only item reported stolen.

At the end of August, the victim saw a story on a news website and reported that she believed a suspect on the website was also one of the men who invaded her home. Johnson had been arrested in a similar case and was already in jail when he was charged with the July home invasion.

Continued here:
DNA links man to Bradenton home invasion

A man allows police to take a DNA sample. Source: AFP

DNA technology now plays a key role in more than half of arrests and reports from crime scenes, as the number of people on the database grows.

Last financial year, DNA from crime scenes contributed to an arrest or a report in 52per cent of cases, up from 48per cent the previous year, reflecting an improvement in forensic science and crime scene investigation practices.

The South Australian Police annual report tabled in Parliament yesterday showed 97,396 suspects or offenders had samples entered on the DNA database, up from 84,629 in 2010-11.

While scientific work increasingly helps solve crimes, so does intelligence work.

During 2011-12 the Crime Gangs Task Force - which deals with organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gangs - arrested or reported 89 motorcycle gang members and 92 associates; seized 1175g of amphetamine, 130 cannabis plants, 5319g of cannabis, 165 ecstasy pills, 927 street deals of other illicit drugs; $139,000 in cash, 29 firearms and issued 42 barring orders.

Police Commissioner Gary Burns said victim-reported crime continued to drop, falling 5.6per cent in the past financial year (to 125,879 incidents) and 40.5per cent since 2000-01.

Other highlights in the report include:

18,534 reports received by Bank SA Crime Stoppers, resulting in 2066 crimes solved, 1166 suspects apprehended and $261,645 worth of property and cash recovered;

563,594 driver screening tests conducted, including 42,312 drivers tested for drug driving, 7779 cars impounded or clamped for hoon driving (compared to 7303 in 2010-11).

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DNA clues catch more criminals

AUSTRALIA'S sheep producers are queuing up to adopt new DNA technology, with the latest Sheep Genomics Pilot Project fully subscribed.

The DNA testing program, conducted by the Co-operative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC), was booked out within days of its opening in August.

The Genomics Pilot Project offers three DNA testing programs: a SNP test for parentage at $17/test; a SNP test for Merino poll/horn for $17/test; and the 50k SNP test for prediction of genomic breeding values for sires at a cost of $50/test. Merinos tested for parentage, or with the 50k SNP, are receiving the poll test results at no additional cost.

The 1500 genotyping tests available as part of Pilot Project III have been fully subscribed, and a further 1500 tests allocated for commercial scale trials has also been over-subscribed, Sheep CRC chief executive James Rowe said.

With the use of DNA analysis and genomic breeding values being a very new technology, R&D is occurring in parallel with the Genomics Pilot Projects in order to define the most effective use of the new technologies in practical breeding programs.

"For this reason, the CRCs genetics research team will be working closely with a group of nine commercial-scale breeders who have submitted expressions of interest.

This is a resounding vote of confidence in the commercial value of genomics technology for sheep breeding programs.

The Sheep CRC has conducted a Genomics Pilot Project yearly since 2010, with the number of rams tested each year increasing dramatically, from approximately 450 rams in 2010, to 860 rams in 2011 and now 3000 rams in 2012.

This years project will build on the earlier trials, which provided genomic predictions for new traits including dressing percentage and lean meat yield, together with traits for meat eating quality such as intramuscular fat and shear force that are difficult and expensive to measure.

It is expected that the accuracy levels of research breeding values (RBVs) and Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) will further improve as a result of the additional data collected during the Genomics Pilot Project and through the Information Nucleus program.

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Producers embrace sheep DNA testing

A retrial is expected in a San Francisco cold case murder in which DNA evidence failed to lead to a conviction Tuesday.

Just three of the 12 jurors believed there was enough evidence even after matching DNA samples to convict 48-year-old William Payne of strangling to death 41-year-old Nikolaus Crumbley while raping him in a car in John McLaren Park on Nov. 16, 1983.

On Wednesday, Deputy Public Defender Kwixuan Maloof, who represents Payne, said the hung jury proves that despite what we see on television, the presence of DNA does not prove a person is guilty of a crime.

But prosecutors appear determined to prove otherwise. Motions in Paynes retrial begin today, the Public Defenders Office said, with opening arguments scheduled for Oct. 22.

DNA evidence and independent corroborating testimony linked the defendant to the brutal rape and murder of Mr. Crumbely, District Attorney George Gascn said following Tuesdays outcome.

Payne was 19 years old when Crumbleys body was found facedown at the intersection of John Shelley Drive and Mansell Street. Prosecutors said Crumbleys pants and underwear were pulled down to his ankles.

Prosecutors believe Payne killed Crumbley while the two were having sex in Crumbleys rental car, which was later found in Oaklands Lake Merritt.

Three years ago, cold case investigators tied DNA found in Crumbleys rectum to Payne, whose DNA had been entered in a criminal database after he assaulted a woman in 1984.

In January, Payne was charged with first-degree murder during the course of sodomy.

But the DNA evidence wasnt enough to convince nine jurors of Paynes guilt.

Excerpt from:
DNA evidence fails to convince jury of man’s guilt in 1983 killing

LEXINGTON, Mass. & CORALVILLE, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

RainDance Technologies, Inc., the Digital Biology Company, and Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) Inc., the world leader in oligonucleotide synthesis, today announced a collaboration focused on consumables specifically tailored to perform the fast-growing application of digital PCR. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will work together on the development of reagents compatible with the RainDrop Digital PCR System. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The RainDrop Digital PCR System is a breakthrough research platform that is transforming the performance of molecular assays by enabling digital answers across a number of important applications including low-frequency tumor allele detection, gene expression, copy number variation, and SNP measurement. Built using RainDances proven RainStorm picodroplet technology, the RainDrop System generates up to 10 million picoliter-sized droplets per sample. Since each droplet encapsulates no more than a single molecule, researchers can quickly determine the absolute number of droplets containing specific target DNA and compare that to the number of droplets with background, wild-type DNA.

We have achieved a new gold standard in sensitivity, quantitation and multiplexing through enhancements in every aspect of system and reagent refinement, said Rena McClory, Ph.D., Marketing Director for Digital PCR at RainDance Technologies. We are pleased to be working with market leaders such as IDT on the development and broad availability of best-in-class reagents in support of our new RainDrop Digital PCR System.

IDT is a leader in manufacturing and developing custom oligonucleotideproductsfor use in the research and diagnostic life science markets.This includesdesign and synthesis ofdual-labeled probes for gene expression and genotyping as part of the PrimeTime qPCR product family. Founded by Dr. Joseph Walder in 1987, IDTs development has been guided by an uncompromising approach to quality, a belief in the value of good service, and a determination to minimize consumer costs.

We are pleased to be working with RainDance in supporting scientists who are seeking to apply the powerful attributes of digital PCR to their research projects, said Stephen Gunstream, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategy at IDT. Digital PCR is redefining the science of directly quantifying and amplifying nucleic acids and will open the doors to an exciting era of new discoveries.

For more information about the RainDrop Digital PCR System, please visit http://www.RainDanceTech.com.

About RainDance Technologies

RainDance Technologies, the Digital Biology Company, is pioneering the use of high-throughput picodroplet-based analysis in human health and life science research. The company's core RainStorm technology generates millions of discrete droplets that can encapsulate a single molecule, cell or reaction and be digitally analyzed and sorted one at a time. The power, precision and simplicity of picodroplets enable researchers to answer complex questions with unprecedented sensitivity and quantitation. The complete RainDance solution includes automated instrumentation, customizable bioinformatics and high-value consumables and reagents for applications including targeted next-generation DNA sequencing, methylation, digital PCR. Based in Lexington, Massachusetts, the company supports scientists around the world through its international sales and support operations and a global network of distributors and service providers. For more information, please visitwww.RainDanceTech.com.

For research use only. Not for use in diagnostics procedures.

Read the original here:
RainDance Technologies and Integrated DNA Technologies to Develop Reagents and Consumables for Digital PCR

Using tools he often had made himself, Leonard Lerman took great care in making precise measurements during experiments he performed to further the understanding of DNA.

A simple way to state it is that he was a deeply quantitative man, said Tom Maniatis, chairman of the biochemistry and molecular biophysics department at Columbia University, who had worked with Dr. Lerman as a graduate student at Vanderbilt University.

Discoveries he made about what can unwind the strands of DNA, and other research throughout his career, helped Dr. Lerman become a key figure in the field of molecular biology.

He was both a deep and brilliant man, and also a clever man, in the sense that he always had great ideas and techniques, Maniatis said.

Dr. Lerman, formerly a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died Sept. 19 in his Cambridge home of a chronic neurological disease. He was 87.

He did lots of things that served for the increased understanding of the structure of DNA and the things that interacted with DNA, said Maurice Fox, a professor emeritus of molecular biology at MIT.

Dr. Lerman, Maniatis said, saw the world through mathematics and could use mathematical and physical properties of molecules to predict what would occur.

As a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, Dr. Lerman worked with Linus Pauling, who in 1954 was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry and has often been referred to as one of the founders of molecular biology.

Dr. Lerman set out to prove his hunch that antibodies have two binding sites to bond with antigens, which are any foreign substances that prompt an immune response. After achieving that goal, he graduated from Cal Tech with a doctorate in chemistry in 1950 and went on to join the faculty of the University of Colorado.

The 1950s were an active time for DNA research. Dr. Lerman was determined to find out more about chemicals that attach to DNA strands and make them unwind, often causing mutations. The way certain chemicals attach to the strands is called intercalation, and it occurs between adjacent base pairs in double-stranded DNA.

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Leonard Lerman, 87; senior lecturer at MIT researched DNA

Up until now, the money Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN) , Roche, Life Technologies (Nasdaq: LIFE) , and Pacific Biosciences of California (Nasdaq: PACB) have made selling DNA sequencers has come from research labs. Academics need DNA sequencers to do basic research to understand how genetic variation affects biologic processes.

That basic research has translated into the clinic at an alarming rate, producing the next generation of DNA sequencing demand.

You can see it in the acquisitions Roche's bid for Illumina appeared to be mostly driven by bringing sequencing to the clinic. Roche has a strong hold in diagnostic testing, and Illumina's sequencing technology is superior to Roche's. But Roche played hardball and didn't want to overpay for the technology.

Last month, Illumina decided it could fill some of the gap on its own, purchasing BlueGenome, a leader in cytogenetics. The company sells tests that look at the DNA to identify genetic abnormalities that lead to cancer and other issues. Currently, those abnormalities are identified by binding probes to the DNA to identify duplications and fusion of chromosomes, but we're not too far off from where cancer patients just routinely get their DNA sequenced to identify the abnormalities.

Blue Genome also has a test to look for abnormalities before in vitro fertilization. Sequencing might be harder there, because of less DNA, but these issues are often overcome eventually.

It sure looks to me like Illumina bought BlueGenome more for its ability to sell and run the clinical test than for the test themselves, which may be obsolete in a few years given the rapid decrease in the cost of sequencing. We will get to the point where running individual tests like Sequenom's (Nasdaq: SQNM) MaterniT21 PLUS will be silly because the entire genome can be analyzed for the same cost.

Diagnosing Earlier this month, Life Technologies hooked up with CollabRx (Nasdaq: CLRX) to use the company's interpretive analytics to help develop tests for cancer diagnostics. CollabRx combines a patient's data from multiple sources to help the doctor develop a treatment plan. The genotype of a tumor tells you a lot about what drugs might be able to kill the tumor, but the genetic variation still needs to be taken in context with other pieces of information.

Getting the sequence and knowing what to do with it are two different things. One startup sequencing company, Knome, has begun selling a $125,000 supercomputer, so hospitals can analyze patients' DNA sequences directly. Having the process in-house might speed up diagnosis, but the appeal seems to also be about avoiding confidentiality issues for the patients when the data is shared externally. Either way, the fact that hospitals are buying the station is a sign that they see a future in using patients DNA sequences when diagnosing patients.

On the cusp (still) We've been on the verge of pushing genomics into diagnostics for years. Illumina added a new division for diagnostics back in 2008. Four years later, we're further along, but we're still a ways away from where DNA sequencing is a mainstream test done by most doctors.

The limiting factor is a combination of usefulness and cost, both of which are headed in the right direction. We're learning more about how genetic variations affect patients' physiologies. And the discoveries are accelerated as more people get their genomes sequenced.

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The Future of DNA Sequencing Isn't in the Lab