DENVER (AP) Authorities all along had the DNA evidence to link a convicted triple-murderer to three additional murders from 1979, and they say he could have been responsible for as many as 20 slayings.

But the process of developing an identifying DNA " fingerprint" was still five years away when authorities say Vincent Groves killed a prostitute, a banker, and a store clerk.

By the time Groves had been let out of prison in 1987 and went on a suspected killing spree that left police discovering a body a month in and around Denver for about a year, authorities were still struggling with how to handle DNA. Colorado was the first state to require DNA but only from sex offenders in 1988 and the FBI's national database was a decade away from becoming fully operational.

On Wednesday, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that through federal grants for a cold case unit in the Denver Police Department and his office, four slayings had been solved though DNA matches.

Groves, who died in prison in 1996 at age 42, was tied by DNA to the 1979 killings of women found strangled and partially nude in an alley, an industrial park and a bathtub in Denver. Police used a DNA profile of Groves they recently found from an old murder investigation and linked it to the four separate crime scenes, authorities said.

"So often times, a serial offender can fly below the DNA radar screen, maybe leaving DNA, but because their criminal history occurred at a time when they weren't eligible to go into the database or there was no database, they stay at large continuing to commit their crimes," Morrissey said.

The 1979 slayings of Emma Jenefor, 25; a store clerk in a tony area of Denver; Joyce Ramey, 23, a suspected prostitute, and Peggy Cuff, 20, a banker, bore strong resemblances to Groves' past killings and the disappearance of a woman that Groves was suspected in, authorities said. Police also linked Groves to the 1988 strangulation death of Pamela Montgomery, 35, a suspected prostitute found dead in an alley.

Groves would target women he knew who were addicted to cocaine or prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue, a street in Denver historically known for prostitution, said Morrissey and Mylous Yearling, cold-case investigator for Denver's police department.

Groves strangled most of his victims; many were found nude or partially clothed, left in the mountains west of Denver, alleys and fields outside the city, police said.

When he died, Groves was serving a life sentence for the 1980s strangling of two young women. He had been released on parole in 1987 after serving five years in prison for killing a third woman in suburban Denver.

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DNA tests link convicted killer to other murders

Authorities all along had the DNA evidence to link a convicted triple-murderer to three additional murders from 1979, and they say he could have been responsible for as many as 20 slayings.

But the process of developing an identifying DNA " fingerprint" was still five years away when authorities say Vincent Groves killed a prostitute, a banker, and a store clerk.

By the time Groves had been let out of prison in 1987 and went on a suspected killing spree that left police discovering a body a month in and around Denver for about a year, authorities were still struggling with how to handle DNA. Colorado was the first state to require DNA but only from sex offenders in 1988 and the FBI's national database was a decade away from becoming fully operational.

On Wednesday, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that through federal grants for a cold case unit in the Denver Police Department and his office, four slayings had been solved though DNA matches.

Groves, who died in prison in 1996 at age 42, was tied by DNA to the 1979 killings of women found strangled and partially nude in an alley, an industrial park and a bathtub in Denver. Police used a DNA profile of Groves they recently found from an old murder investigation and linked it to the four separate crime scenes, authorities said.

AP

"So often times, a serial offender can fly below the DNA radar screen, maybe leaving DNA, but because their criminal history occurred at a time when they weren't eligible to go into the database or there was no database, they stay at large continuing to commit their crimes," Morrissey said.

The 1979 slayings of Emma Jenefor, 25; a store clerk in a tony area of Denver; Joyce Ramey, 23, a suspected prostitute, and Peggy Cuff, 20, a banker, bore strong resemblances to Groves' past killings and the disappearance of a woman that Groves was suspected in, authorities said. Police also linked Groves to the 1988 strangulation death of Pamela Montgomery, 35, a suspected prostitute found dead in an alley.

Groves would target women he knew who were addicted to cocaine or prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue, a street in Denver historically known for prostitution, said Morrissey and Mylous Yearling, cold-case investigator for Denver's police department.

Groves strangled most of his victims; many were found nude or partially clothed, left in the mountains west of Denver, alleys and fields outside the city, police said.

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DNA Tests Link Killer to 4 Denver Deaths

DENVER (AP) Authorities all along had the DNA evidence to link a convicted a triple-murderer to four additional murders, and they say he could have been responsible for as many as 20 slayings.

But the process of developing an identifying DNA " fingerprint" was still five years away when authorities say Vincent Groves killed a prostitute, a banker, and a store clerk in 1979.

By the time Groves had been let out of prison in 1987 and went on a suspected killing spree that left police discovering a body a month in and around Denver for about a year, authorities were still struggling with how to handle DNA. Colorado was the first state to require DNA but only from sex offenders in 1988 and the FBI's national database was a decade away from becoming fully operational.

On Wednesday, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced that through federal grants for a cold case unit in the Denver Police Department and his office, four slayings had been solved though DNA matches.

Groves, who died in prison in 1996 at age 42, was tied by DNA to the 1979 killings of women found strangled and partially nude in an alley, an industrial park and a bathtub in Denver. Police used a DNA profile of Groves they recently found from an old murder investigation and linked it to the four separate crime scenes, authorities said.

"So often times, a serial offender can fly below the DNA radar screen, maybe leaving DNA, but because their criminal history occurred at a time when they weren't eligible to go into the database or there was no database, they stay at large continuing to commit their crimes," Morrissey said.

The 1979 slayings of Emma Jenefor, 25; a store clerk in a tony area of Denver; Joyce Ramey, 23, a suspected prostitute, and Peggy Cuff, 20, a banker, bore strong resemblances to Groves' past killings and the disappearance of a woman that Groves was suspected in, authorities said. Police also linked Groves to the 1988 strangulation death of Pamela Montgomery, 35, a suspected prostitute found dead in an alley.

Groves would target women he knew who were addicted to cocaine or prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue, a street in Denver historically known for prostitution, said Morrissey and Mylous Yearling, cold-case investigator for Denver's police department.

Groves strangled most of his victims; many were found nude or partially clothed, left in the mountains west of Denver, alleys and fields outside the city, police said.

When he died, Groves was serving a life sentence for the 1980s strangling of two young women. He had been released on parole in 1987 after serving five years in prison for killing a third woman in suburban Denver.

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DNA tests link convicted killer to 4 Denver deaths

Scientists have decoded the DNA of the western lowland gorilla, a feat that could boost conservation efforts for the endangered apes as well as broaden researchers' understanding of human origins.

The complete sequence of 20,962 genes extracted from the skin cells of Kamilah, a 34-year-old gorilla who lives at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park was compiled by an international team of more than 60 researchers who worked on the project for about five years.

"The gorilla genome is important because gorillas are our second-closest living relatives," said Richard Durbin, senior author of a paper about the discovery published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

By comparing the new gorilla DNA sequence with reference genomes of humans, chimpanzees, orangutans and macaques, scientists have already made a few surprising insights into the crucial periods when we diverged into separate species.

For instance, the new genetic data bolster fossil evidence that gorillas split off as a separate species about 10 million years ago and that humans and chimps parted ways about 6 million years ago. Previous genetic evidence had seemed to point to a more recent split, prompting a contentious debate between genetics experts and fossil scholars, said Durbin, who leads the genome informatics group at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England.

"We're proposing a way to make a consistent story between the genetic evidence and the fossil evidence," Durbin said.

"That's significant," said University of Wisconsin anthropologist John Hawks, who was not involved in the research. "There's an argument about early hominids are they really our ancestors? This helps settle that. It shows it's possible."

The data also show that humans and gorillas differ in only 1.75% of their DNA, much less than previously believed. Humans and chimps, our closest living relatives, differ in only 1.37% of their genomes.

When Durbin and his colleagues matched up the DNA letters of gorillas, chimps and humans, they found that in 15% of cases, gorilla DNA was more like human DNA than was chimp DNA.

This result "tells us that there are individual genes for which, if you want to find the closest sequence to humans, you won't necessarily look at chimpanzees. In a few cases, you'll look at gorillas," said Jeffrey Rogers, a geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and coauthor of an editorial on the research, also published in Nature.

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Gorilla DNA offers clues about humans too

March 7, 2012

Bad news for those who use their genetic makeup as an excuse not to hit the gym: Researchers have found that our DNA can be altered with just a few minutes of strenuous exercise.

Writing in the March issue of Cell Press publication Cell Metabolism, researchers have posted results of a study which prove that strenuous exercise, even as brief as a minute, can immediately change our DNA.

By studying healthy yet inactive men and women, these researchers found that we are more in control of our bodies than we have previously thought.

The changes made to the DNA molecules isnt a complete overhaul, however. The basic genetic code that makes up the DNA remains the same. What modifications are made appear to be the early stages of genetic reprogramming. This reprogramming is the foundation for building muscle strength and ultimately the metabolic benefits of exercise.

In other words, exercise jump starts your DNA to begin to burn fat and build muscle. According to the Cell Metabolism report, even a brief yet brisk 20 minute bicycle ride can make all the difference.

Researcher Juleen Zierath of the Karolinska Institute of Sweden had this to say about their findings: Our muscles are really plastic. We often say that you are what you eat. Well, muscle adapts to what you do. If you dont use it, you lose it and this is one of the mechanisms that allows this to happen.

Along with colleagues from Dublin and Denmark, Professor Zierath conducted 2 experiments with men who did not exercise regularly, yet were relatively healthy. The researchers had the men exercise vigorously on an exercise bike before they took slivers of muscle from the mens thighs. The DNA found in these muscle tissue samples were then analyzed for chemical changes.

A simple walk in the park may not be enough to spark this genetic change, however. According to the research, a person must be out of breath and, while able to speak, must have some difficulty carrying on a conversation.

The results of these tests showed similar results from contracted muscle tissues created in a test-tube from previous research. The muscle tissue also reacted similarly when subjected to the caffeine.

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DNA Altered By Strenuous Exercise And A Strong Cup Of Coffee

LOS ANGELES - Take a trip to the zoo and you can see gorillas are a lot like us. But a new DNA study says we're even more similar than scientists thought.

From the evolutionary family tree, you'd expect our DNA to be the most similar to chimps, our closest relatives. The new work found that's true for the most part, but it also found that a sizable portion of our genome is closer to a gorilla's than to a chimp's.

"The chimpanzee is often cited as 'our closest living relative,' and this is certainly true based on total genome sequence, but the gorilla is nearly as close a relative," Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University, who was not part of the project, said in an email.

That agrees with hints from with some smaller previous

This undated image provided by San Diego Zoo Global shows a female western lowland gorilla named Kamilah at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in San Diego, Calif. Scientists recently published a draft of her DNA and compared it to the genetic blueprints of humans and chimpanzees to better understand how humans evolved. (AP Photo/San Diego Zoo Global)

It reveals "a closer connection between our genome and that of the gorilla than was previously appreciated," Richard Gibbs and Jeffrey Rogers of the Baylor College of Medicine wrote in an editorial accompanying the work published in today's issue of the journal Nature.

With the new research, scientists now have complete genetic blueprints of the living great apes - humans, chimps, gorillas and orangutans - to compare and gain fresh understanding of how humans evolved and developed such key traits as higher brain function and the ability to walk upright.

Humans and chimps evolved separately since splitting

The latest study was led by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a nonprofit British genome research center. Researchers mapped the DNA of a female gorilla and compared it with the genomes of humans and chimps.

As expected, most of the human genome was closer to the chimp's than to the gorilla's. But in about 15 percent of the genome, human and gorilla resemble each other the most. In another 15 percent, chimp and gorilla DNA are closer to each other than chimp is to human.

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DNA study: Gorillas even more similar to us than we thought

Published: March. 7, 2012 at 8:37 AM

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 7 (UPI) -- A rapid DNA analysis system for forensic, homeland security and intelligence community use is being launched by U.S. firms Lockheed Martin and ZyGem Corp.

The system uses advanced microfluidics and ZyGem's proprietary nucleic acid isolation technology to accelerate DNA identification, all integrated into compact laboratory on a single chip that the companies say reduces DNA processing steps.

"With the successful development of our fully integrated cartridge device, this platform now has the potential to transform today's DNA identification process from one that takes a great deal of training, sophisticated equipment and time into a far simpler, more affordable process that can be performed in the lab or field in under 90 minutes," said Joan Bienvenue, Lockheed Martin program manager and chief scientist.

The technology was unveiled during the recent Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and pre-production units will be made available to key customers this summer.

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Rapid DNA analysis system introduced

LOS ANGELES (AP) Take a trip to the zoo and you can see gorillas are a lot like us. But a new DNA study says we're even more similar than scientists thought.

From the evolutionary family tree, you'd expect our DNA to be the most similar to chimps, our closest relatives. The new work found that's true for the most part, but it also found that a sizable portion of our genome is closer to a gorilla's than to a chimp's.

"The chimpanzee is often cited as 'our closest living relative' and this is certainly true based on total genome sequence, but the gorilla is nearly as close a relative," Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University, who was not part of the project, said in an email.

That agrees with hints from with some smaller previous genetic studies. The latest work deciphered the entire genome of the gorilla, which Lovejoy called "a substantial achievement."

It reveals "a closer connection between our genome and that of the gorilla than was previously appreciated," Richard Gibbs and Jeffrey Rogers of the Baylor College of Medicine wrote in an editorial accompanying the work published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

With the new research, scientists now have complete genetic blueprints of the living great apes humans, chimps, gorillas and orangutans to compare and gain fresh understanding of how humans evolved and developed key traits such as higher brain function and the ability to walk upright.

Humans and chimps evolved separately since splitting from a common ancestor about 6 million years ago.

The latest study was led by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a nonprofit British genome research center. Researchers mapped the DNA of a female gorilla and compared it to the genomes of humans and chimps.

As expected, most of the human genome was closer to the chimp's than to the gorilla's. But in about 15 percent of the genome, human and gorilla resemble each other the most. In another 15 percent, chimp and gorilla DNA are closer to each other than chimp is to human. Both those situations clash with what you'd expect from the evolutionary tree, which says humans and chimps should always be the most similar, the researchers said.

The analysis also found gene variants in gorillas that are harmless to them but are linked to dementia and heart failure in people.

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Genome study finds some gorilla DNA aping our own

ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2012) In recent years, scientists have begun to harness DNA's powerful molecular machinery to build artificial structures at the nanoscale using the natural ability of pairs of DNA molecules to assemble into complex structures. Such "DNA origami," first developed at the California Institute of Technology, could provide a means of assembling complex nanostructures such as semiconductor devices, sensors and drug delivery systems, from the bottom up.

While most researchers in the field are working to demonstrate what's possible, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are seeking to determine what's practical.

According to NIST researcher Alex Liddle, it's a lot like building with LEGOs -- some patterns enable the blocks to fit together snugly and stick together strongly and some don't.

"If the technology is actually going to be useful, you have to figure out how well it works," says Liddle. "We have determined what a number of the critical factors are for the specific case of assembling nanostructures using a DNA-origami template and have shown how proper design of the desired nanostructures is essential to achieving good yield, moving, we hope, the technology a step forward."

In DNA origami, researchers lay down a long thread of DNA and attach "staples" composed of complementary strands that bind to make the DNA fold up into various shapes, including rectangles, squares and triangles. The shapes serve as a template onto which nanoscale objects such as nanoparticles and quantum dots can be attached using strings of linker molecules.

The NIST researchers measured how quickly nanoscale structures can be assembled using this technique, how precise the assembly process is, how closely they can be spaced, and the strength of the bonds between the nanoparticles and the DNA origami template.

What they found is that a simple structure, four quantum dots at the corners of a 70-nanometer by 100-nanometer origami rectangle, takes up to 24 hours to self-assemble with an error rate of about 5 percent.

Other patterns that placed three and four dots in a line through the middle of the origami template were increasingly error prone. Sheathing the dots in biomaterials, a necessity for attaching them to the template, increases their effective diameter. A wider effective diameter (about 20 nanometers) limits how closely the dots can be positioned and also increases their tendency to interfere with one another during self-assembly, leading to higher error rates and lower bonding strength. This trend was especially pronounced for the four-dot patterns.

"Overall, we think that this process is good for building structures for biological applications like sensors and drug delivery, but it might be a bit of a stretch when applied to semiconductor device manufacturing -- the distances can't be made small enough and the error rate is just too high," says Liddle.

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Nanomanufacturing using DNA origami

DENVER (Reuters) - Cold-case detectives have positively matched a deceased serial killer's DNA to the decades-old murders of four women in Denver, and they suspect that he may be responsible for as many as 26 unsolved homicides, authorities said on Wednesday.

Vincent Groves, who was convicted of three slayings and died in prison of natural causes in 1996, has now been tied conclusively to the slayings of three other women in 1979 and one more in 1988, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said in an interview.

"I fully expect we will tie him to at least one, and possibly three or four other unsolved cases" through DNA, Morrissey said.

Morrissey said investigators were examining possible connections between Groves and 26 unsolved murders but may not be able to positively link him to the entire batch of homicides for which he is a suspect.

Groves was sentenced to life in prison in 1990 for two murders he committed while on parole for a 1982 second-degree murder conviction.

The women Groves killed or is suspected of killing ranged from prostitutes and drug addicts to women he knew from church or in business, Morrissey said.

The victims were typically strangled and sexually assaulted before their bodies were dumped in alleys, rural areas or in the mountains west of Denver, the prosecutor said.

The latest cases positively tied to Groves were closed with the help of a U.S. Justice Department grant that paid for Denver police to use DNA analysis in examining some 250 unsolved murders between 1970 and 1984.

Once detectives learned Groves had a terminal illness, they went to interview him in person seeking confessions to any additional murders he had been suspected of committing.

"He would toy with the detectives and admit he knew the victims or that he was the last person to be seen with them but never confessed to the killings," Morrissey said.

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DNA may link dead killer to as many as 26 murders

The trial of David Butler, which ended last month, provided a near-perfect stage for airing these new doubts. When the police first investigated Foys murder in 2005 they failed to produce a suspect. But then, as part of a cold case review last year, officers rechecked whether the DNA discovered under Anne Marie Foys nails had any matches on the national DNA database.

For some reason, first time around, no matches were found. This time, however, one turned up: a sample recovered from a cigarette butt found in 1998 after a burglary at the defendants mothers house. The police originally believed the butt had been left by the burglar. Instead it led them to Mr Butler who had apparently dropped it during a visit to comfort his mother. After the taking of a full DNA profile, which, again, matched the DNA under the finger nails, the cabbie was charged with murder. This was at the heart of the prosecutions case.

But Michael Wolkind, Butlers QC, took the science apart. The testing procedures were unreliable, he told the jury. The analysis of the DNA under Foys nails had been done at a time before higher-quality standards for handling samples were established. And, he said, even if the DNA was the defendants, there could be a perfectly innocent explanation for how it got there.

Butler suffers from a dry skin condition so severe that his nickname in the local cab trade is flaky. He could have taken a passenger to the Red Light district, handed over some notes in change and passed on his DNA to the passenger who then met with Foy and later handed the notes, complete with Butlers DNA, to her.

The idea that Mr Butler violently attacked her is beyond belief, Wolkind told the jury. Mr Butler never met the deceased, and unsafe science cannot change that fact. Waiting to face-off in court on the day I visited were two of the current luminaries of the DNA-forensics field: Prof David Balding of Imperial College, London and Prof Allan Jamieson, head of the Glasgow-based Forensic Institute, who has become a familiar thorn in the side of prosecutors seeking to rely on DNA evidence.

Prof Balding, a dapper Australian, is one of the worlds leading DNA statisticians. That is to say his speciality is calculating the likelihood of a sample coming from a particular source. He is a firm believer in the power of DNA as a forensic tool.

Prof Jamiesons approach is more combative. He has appeared as an expert witness for the defence in several important DNA-centred trials, most notably that of Sean Hoey, who was cleared of carrying out the 1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 people. Jamiesons main concern about the growing use of DNA in court cases is that a number of important factors human error, contamination, simple accident can suggest guilt where there is none. Police and prosecutors, he alleges, have come to see DNA evidence as a shortcut to convictions, and juries are ill-equipped to understand the complex scientific data.

Wherever you have humans involved, youll have the potential for mistakes, he tells me. Theres a growing realisation that the system is not foolproof. In particular, he worries about the tiny amounts of DNA (known as Low Count DNA) that can now be used as the basis of a trial. Modern technology allows forensic teams to capture DNA from two or three cells, as opposed to hundreds or thousands of cells, as used to be the case, and Jamieson believes these sort of minuscule samples are unreliable.

Does anyone realise how easy it is to leave a couple of cells of your DNA somewhere? he asks rhetorically. You could shake my hand and I could put that hand down hundreds of miles away and leave your cells behind. In many cases, the question is not Is it my DNA?, but How did it get there? On February 10, after 11 hours of jury deliberation, Butler was cleared.

Afterwards, at his home in Wavertree, he accused the police of being fixated on the DNA and failing to provide any other evidence. If theyd been a bit more robust with their investigations over five-and-a-half years it would not have got to this stage, he said. The DNA stopped good policemen doing a good policemans job. It was like that was all [the evidence] they needed. They could never say it was my DNA. They talked in probabilities but you cannot put a probability on a mans life.

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The case against DNA

Once more DNA tests on evidence more than 30 years old has raised doubts about convicted Stocking Strangler Carlton Garys guilt.

This time its a partial DNA profile derived from semen found on a gown then 64-year-old Gertrude Miller wore to St. Francis Hospital after she was raped and beaten Sept. 11, 1977, in her 2703 Hood St. home. While the testing conducted by the Bode Technology Group in Lorton, Va., did not yield a complete DNA profile, it was enough to exclude Gary as a possible source of the sperm found on Millers clothing, said Greg Hampikian, a DNA expert for the defense.

Testing in 2010 on evidence from a vaginal wash of strangling victim Martha Thurmond yielded a complete DNA profile that matched neither Carlton Gary nor any other convict on file, Hampikian said. The results matched Gary only to the Sept. 24, 1977, rape and strangling of Jean Dimenstein, 71, of 3027 21st St. Gary was not convicted of her murder.

Hampikian said Tuesday that he has not yet compared the partial DNA from the Miller evidence to the profile derived from the Thurmond case, to see whether the two align.

Gary was convicted of murdering Thurmond, 69, who was found beaten, raped and strangled Oct. 25, 1977, in her 2614 Marion St. home. He was not charged in Millers assault, but in illustrating Garys pattern of breaking into homes and raping older women, prosecutors spotlighted Millers testimony during Garys 1986 trial, having her come to court to point him out as her assailant. She has died since then.

Millers case is distinct not only because she survived and identified Gary, but also because she insisted a single intruder attacked her, offering no evidence a second assailant was there to leave the semen that doesnt match Gary. Though prosecutors did not seek convictions on all seven stranglings or in the Miller rape, they maintained that Gary alone committed the crimes.

Lead defense attorney Jack Martin of Atlanta said these new test results bolster his contention that Gary deserves a new trial. He anticipates the next step will be a hearing before Muscogee County Superior Court Judge Frank Jordan Jr. to discuss the test results.

Declining an interview on Tuesday, District Attorney Julia Slater issued this written statement:

Nearly 35 years after Ms. Gertrude Miller was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted, results of DNA testing of clothing Ms. Miller possibly wore around the time of her attack are now complete. It is the states understanding that the defense has now concluded their requests for testing in this case. Presumably, Mr. Gary will request a hearing regarding the completed DNA testing. The state is limited in its ability to comment about this testing and other evidence. However, on behalf of the victims and their families, the state eagerly anticipates discussing in court the results of DNA testing, responding to the rhetoric from Mr. Garys defense team, and again showing why the jurys decision in this case must be upheld.

Arrested in 1984, Gary two years later was convicted in three of the seven brutal rapes and stranglings that terrorized Columbus in 1977 and 78. He was to die by lethal injection Dec. 16, 2009, when Martin made a last-minute appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, which stayed the execution and ordered a Muscogee Superior Court judge to consider DNA testing. On Feb. 19, 2010, the defense and prosecution came to a consent agreement to DNA-test four items of evidence from the stranglings.

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Stocking Strangler case: DNA results from 1977 rape exclude Carlton Gary

Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Elisabeth (Lisa) Lyons elyons@cell.com 617-386-2121 Cell Press

You might think that the DNA you inherited is one thing that you absolutely can't do anything about, but in one sense you'd be wrong. Researchers reporting in the March issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, have found that when healthy but inactive men and women exercise for a matter of minutes, it produces a rather immediate change to their DNA. Perhaps even more tantalizing, the study suggests that the caffeine in your morning coffee might also influence muscle in essentially the same way.

The underlying genetic code in human muscle isn't changed with exercise, but the DNA molecules within those muscles are chemically and structurally altered in very important ways. Those modifications to the DNA at precise locations appear to be early events in the genetic reprogramming of muscle for strength and, ultimately, in the structural and metabolic benefits of exercise.

"Our muscles are really plastic," says Juleen Zierath of Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. "We often say "You are what you eat." Well, muscle adapts to what you do. If you don't use it, you lose it, and this is one of the mechanisms that allows that to happen."

The DNA changes in question are known as epigenetic modifications and involve the gain or loss of chemical marks on DNA over and above the familiar sequence of As, Gs, Ts, and Cs. The new study shows that the DNA within skeletal muscle taken from people after a burst of exercise bears fewer chemical marks (specifically methyl groups) than it did before exercise. Those changes take place in stretches of DNA that are involved in turning "on" genes important for muscles' adaptation to exercise.

When the researchers made muscles contract in lab dishes, they saw a similar loss of DNA methyl groups. Exposure of isolated muscle to caffeine had the same effect.

Zierath explained that caffeine does mimic the muscle contraction that comes with exercise in other ways, too. She doesn't necessarily recommend anyone drink a cup of joe in place of exercise. It's nevertheless tempting to think that athletes who enjoy a coffee with their workout might just be on to something.

Broadly speaking, the findings offer more evidence that our genomes are much more dynamic than they are often given credit for. Epigenetic modifications that turn genes on and back off again can be incredibly flexible events. They allow the DNA in our cells to adjust as the environment shifts.

"Exercise is medicine," Zierath says, and it seems the means to alter our genomes for better health may be only a jog away. And for those who can't exercise, the new findings might point the way to medicines (caffeinated ones, perhaps?) with similar benefits.

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Exercise changes your DNA

As growing numbers of DIY biohackers can attest, extracting DNA from cells is an easy process. And you dont need anything special to do it: various household products, like soap and isopropyl alcohol, have the chemical properties required. For NOVAs upcoming program Cracking Your Genetic Code, PBS has made a short promotional video demonstrating how you can draw your DNA out from a sample of cheek cells, and, with the help of a little food coloring, actually see it yourself.

The three steps are pretty much exactly what scientists do when extracting DNA in the lab. First, you collect cells in salt water, which is similar to buffer solutions used in labs. Then, break them open with soap (in the lab, a detergent like Triton-X), which disturbs the molecules of the cell and nuclear membranes so the DNA can leak out. Lastly, use alcohol to separate the DNA from the salt water: Once in the alcohol, which is less polar than water, the DNA will form clumps and precipitate out, becoming visible as clusters of white strings.

The video is a neat reminder that what happens in labs isnt magic: its just basic chemistry.

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Extract Your Own DNA in Three Easy Steps | 80beats

Denver detectives, laboratory analysts and prosecutors have linked a deceased serial killer to four unsolved murders from 1979 and 1988, using DNA and circumstantial evidence.

Vincent Groves, who died in prison in 1996 while serving sentences for two other murders, may have committed as many as 20 murders altogether, according to Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey.

"It's a proud day for us," Morrissey said Tuesday. "We now know that he killed these four women. That's really important to the families of the victims. This gives them an answer."

Denver police obtained DNA from an earlier murder committed by Groves. Then crime analysts used the DNA to link Groves to the murders of Emma Jenefor, 25, Joyce Ramey, 23, and Peggy Cuff, 20, all strangled in 1979. Cold-case Detective Mylous Yearling said strong circumstantial evidence also tied Groves to the murder in August 1988 of Pamela Montgomery, 35.

Yearling said it was very gratifying to call family members of the victims who have gone so many years without knowing who killed their loved ones and tell them the cases were solved.

"They were very surprised. They thought their cases had been forgotten," Yearling said. "I was ecstatic we were able to give them closure."

Jenefor's body was found in a bathtub of her home on the 100 block of Garfield Street in March 1979, according to Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for Morrissey's office. Ramey's body was found in an industrial park near East 56th Avenue and Havana Street in July 1979, Kimbrough said. Cuff's body was found in an alley in the 1500 block of South Ogden Street in November 1979, she said.

Nine years later, a witness last saw Montgomery with a man matching Groves' description driving a very loud, beat-up car that looked and sounded identical to his car, Yearling said. Montgomery's body was found in an alley in the 1700 block between Locust and Leyden streets.

Yearling said that, as part of a cold-case project funded with federal grants for police and prosecutors, he was reviewing unsolved murders when he had an "aha moment." "These were more than coincidences," he said. Yearling tracked down DNA that could be used to compare with the cases.

Groves was an active killer who stalked the Colfax Avenue corridor. Different jobs also brought him to locations throughout the Denver area, Yearling said.

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DNA, other evidence links serial killer Groves to 4 cold cases

Posted at: 03/05/2012 5:51 PM By: Mark Mulholland

FORT EDWARD -Testimony in the Matthew Slocum murder trial onMonday revolved mostly around blood and DNA recovered from evidence.

State Police DNA expert Daniel Myers testified about the presence of DNA on Loretta Colegrove's blood spattered tank top. Myers told the jury that the blood belonged to murder victim, Lisa Harrington.

Myers was also asked about the presence of DNA on the suspected murder weapon, a 12-gauge shotgun. He testified that it had Lisa and Dan Harrington's DNA, and someone else's, but tests couldn't determine whose it was.

According to Myers, only one piece of evidence had Slocum's genetic material: a cellphone that belonged to murder victim Josh O'Brien.

The phone was found under the porch in New Hampshire where Slocum was allegedly hiding out after the July 13th murders and arson.

A New Hampshire state trooper testified to finding the phone and other items, including several knives, prosecutors say were taken from the Turnpike Road home by Slocum.

A New York State Police investigator testified about the location along Massachusetts State Route 2 where some of Dan and Lisa Harrington's guns were found.

Inv. Tim Northrup identified nine weapons that were recovered from the woods in the Town of Florida, allegedly dumped there by Slocum and Colegrove.

Testimony ended when a CPS caseworker told the jury that Slocum told her Colegrove had nothing to do with the murders.

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DNA found on shotgun belonged to murder victims

A 60-year-old man pleaded guilty today to a 1986 rape he had already been acquitted of after conclusive DNA evidence was discovered.

Alexander McGuire admitted the offence at Reading Crown Court after a re-investigation by Thames Valley Police's major crime review team.

He had stood trial for the Berkshire rape more than 25 years ago but was acquitted by a jury even though the victim, then 29, had given evidence and picked him out of an identity parade.

Thames Valley Police said today that forensic evidence secured during the medical examination of the victim from 1986 was re-examined using new DNA techniques not available to the original investigation team. This identified a DNA profile which matched McGuire's DNA, with a one-in-a-billion chance it was not his DNA.

The victim was working at the McDonald's restaurant in Thames Street, Windsor on a late shift in November 1986 when she went down to the lower area of the restaurant to go to the toilet.

As she emerged from the cubicle she was confronted by McGuire who pushed her back into the toilet cubicle, told her that he had a knife and raped her.

McGuire was arrested some months later, charged and tried but he was found not guilty.

Due to McGuire having been previously acquitted, the police applied to the Director of Public Prosecutions for consent for the case to be reinvestigated under double jeopardy legislation contained within the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

McGuire was arrested at his home in Greyhound View, Sandy Lane, Bedfordshire in July 2011 and the original trial verdict was quashed in December 2011, leading to the verdict today.

Detective Constable Alison Brown said: "McGuire thought he had got away with his horrendous crime when he was originally acquitted over 25 years ago. However, due to the advance in forensic technology and new legislation under double jeopardy, we were able to prosecute him and he has finally been punished for his crime.

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DNA advances capture 1986 rapist

SAN DIEGO, March 5, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq:VICL - News) today announced that the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) has initiated a Phase 1 human clinical trial of a tetravalent dengue DNA vaccine formulated with the company's Vaxfectin(R) adjuvant. The trial is based on exciting efficacy data from a nonhuman primate study recently published in the journal Vaccine1. Vical manufactured the vaccine and the adjuvant for both the preclinical and clinical studies, and is providing regulatory and clinical expertise to NMRC for the dengue program.

Vical completed three prior Phase 1 trials, with no safety issues and no dose-limiting toxicity, of Vaxfectin(R)-formulated DNA vaccines against H5N1 and H1N1 pandemic influenza.

Under a prior Collaborative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Vical, NMRC developed a tetravalent DNA vaccine (TVDV) containing genes encoding the pre-membrane (prM) and envelope (E) proteins for all four serotypes of dengue virus, and formulated with Vical's Vaxfectin(R) adjuvant. Both Vaxfectin(R)-formulated and unformulated vaccines are now being evaluated in Phase 1 human testing. A total of 40 subjects will be assigned to three dose groups: a low dose TVDV without adjuvant, a low dose TVDV with Vaxfectin(R) adjuvant, or a high dose TVDV with Vaxfectin(R) adjuvant. Vaccines will be administered by intramuscular injections on days 0, 30 and 90, with follow-up through approximately one year. Key endpoints in the trial will be safety and immunogenicity.

The recently published preclinical TVDV immunogenicity and challenge data indicated that Vaxfectin(R) significantly improved neutralizing antibody responses and significantly enhanced protection against challenge. Nonhuman primates received the tetravalent DNA vaccine, formulated with or without the Vaxfectin(R) adjuvant, or a blank DNA control, on days 0, 28, and 84. All four (100%) rhesus macaques receiving the Vaxfectin(R)-formulated vaccine developed neutralizing antibodies to all four serotypes of dengue by one month after the second injection, compared with none of the four (0%) macaques receiving the unformulated vaccine and none of the three (0%) unvaccinated control animals. By one month after the third injection, all (100%) macaques in both vaccine groups (Vaxfectin(R)-formulated and unformulated) developed neutralizing antibodies to all four serotypes of dengue, compared with none (0%) of the unvaccinated control animals.

Macaques receiving the Vaxfectin(R)-formulated vaccine were highly protected against challenge with DEN-2, exhibiting very limited viremia (group mean 0.75 days). Macaques receiving unformulated vaccine were only partially protected against challenge (group mean 2.00 days). Unvaccinated control macaques were unprotected against challenge, exhibiting typical viremia (group mean 3.33 days).

About Dengue

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 2.5 billion people across the world are at risk for dengue infections. Dengue virus infects up to 100 million and results in over 500,000 hospitalizations and 12,500 deaths each year. Its impact is magnified by the lack of effective antiviral drugs and vaccines.

Dengue fever can be caused by any one of four serotypes of dengue virus: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4. These viruses are part of the Flavivirus family, which includes West Nile virus and yellow fever virus. Dengue virus is spread by mosquitoes, and is most common during the rainy seasons throughout the world's tropical and subtropical regions. Dengue does not spread directly from person to person. An individual infected by one serotype of dengue virus develops lifelong immunity against that serotype, but not against other serotypes.

Symptoms of classic dengue fever include high fever, severe headache and/or pain behind the eyes, severe joint and muscle pain, nausea and vomiting. A few days after fever onset, a rash often develops over most of the body and lasts for one to two days. The rash can reappear several days later. These symptoms typically begin within a week after infection, and usually resolve without treatment.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a more serious form of disease which can include all of the symptoms of classic dengue fever plus leakage of blood plasma into tissues caused by noticeable damage to blood vessels and lymph vessels, bleeding from the nose and gums, and conspicuous bruising under the skin. Dengue hemorrhagic fever can lead to death. The most severe form of dengue disease is dengue shock syndrome, which includes all of the symptoms of classic dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever, plus massive leaking of blood plasma outside of blood vessels, extensive bleeding, and shock caused by extremely low blood pressure. Dengue shock syndrome most often occurs in children infected for a second time (with a different serotype of dengue), and can be fatal.

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U.S. Navy Advances Dengue DNA Vaccine Using Vical's Vaxfectin(R) Adjuvant

Public release date: 5-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Emma Thorne emma.thorne@nottingham.ac.uk 44-115-951-5793 University of Nottingham

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have used a revolutionary new DNA-reading technology for a research project that could lead to correct genetic diagnosis for muscle-wasting diseases.

The technique could be used to offer people with muscular dystrophy, or a related neuromuscular condition, a more accurate prognosis, which would enable them to make more informed choices on life decisions, including family planning.

The researchers used a next-generation DNA sequencing machine to investigate the condition of a patient who had previously been misdiagnosed with the wrong type of muscular dystrophy.

The research, led by Professor Jane Hewitt in the University's School of Biology, was funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign through a PhD studentship for Andreas Leidenroth.

Andreas said: "Our case study demonstrates how genetic diagnostics will be done in the future. New DNA sequencing machines will be cheap to run, easy to use, fit on a desk and decode an entire human genome in minutes. High-throughout DNA sequencing in the NHS is no longer a question of 'if', but of 'when'. The biggest challenge will be to develop standardised filtering guidelines so that we can easily extract medically relevant information from these large DNA datasets."

The study, published in the European Journal of Human Genetics, focused on a person who had previously been diagnosed with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) a type of muscular dystrophy that predominantly affects muscles of the face, shoulder and upper arm. However, when the researchers studied her DNA more closely they found several inconsistencies and realised that she was highly unlikely to have FSHD.

To gain a genetic diagnosis for this, traditionally genes known to be involved in muscular dystrophies would have to be tested one by one, which can be a laborious and time consuming process. This would also have limited the search to a small number of genes and risked missing the mutation.

Instead, the Nottingham team used whole genome sequencing which, rather than reading the code of a single gene at a time, can simultaneously decipher the more than 25,000 genes of the human genome. This had the advantage of almost guaranteeing to examine the mutated gene but also poses a serious challenge: human DNA can vary from one person to the next so how could they tell which was a harmful genetic mutation rather than a harmless 'spelling difference' unique to that person?

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Next-generation DNA sequencing to improve diagnosis for muscular dystrophy

FORT EDWARD -- A State Police forensic scientist testified Monday that DNA from Matthew Slocum was on a cellphone that prosecutors have said was owned by murder victim Joshua O'Brien.

The scientist, Daniel Myers, also testified that blood from murder victim Lisa Harrington was found on a pair of black shorts submitted for testimony.

However, Harrington's DNA was also found on a tank top shirt that was worn that day by Slocum's girlfriend, Loretta Colegrove, who the defense has blamed for the killings.

Washington County prosecutors have said those shorts were worn by Slocum the day of the triple homicide.

Myers also testified about DNA found on the shotgun that was believed to have been used to kill the three victims belonged to Lisa Harrington, but that an unknown donor's DNA was also found on parts of the gun.

A portion of that DNA profile matched Slocum's profile, Myers said.

But he said separating Slocum's DNA from Lisa Harrington's DNA was "very difficult" because they share DNA in light of the fact Harrington was Slocum's mother.

"Half of his alleles (DNA markers) will be there," Myers testified of the samples where Lisa Harrington's blood was found.

Myers is to be cross-examined after lunch.

The prosecution's first witness of the day was a blood spatter expert, who testified about blood stains.

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DNA expert: Slocum DNA on victim's phone