Category Archives: DNA

On a January afternoon in 1975, a boy sleigh riding in a Milwaukee suburb spotted what he thought was a doll lying face up in a storm drain along a sidewalk where children rode their bikes and waited for the school bus.

The discovery led police to the body of a newborn girl -- her umbilicalcord still attached and her identity unknown.

FBI SEARCHES HOME LINKED TO MURDER OF INDIANA TEENS, BUT NOTHING FOUND

Now, 42 years later, police have exhumed the remains of the child -- named "Baby Sarah" -- to create a DNA profile that might solve a mystery haunting the town of Waukesha for decades: Who are Sarah's parents, and what led to her death inside a sewer hours after her birth?

"Were working diligently to give Sarah a voice and were asking the public to share this story," Detective Tim Probst of the Waukesha Police Department said Monday.

"This child deserves justice," Probst told Fox News.

MAN WOUNDED IN KANSAS BAR SHOOTING SPEAKS AT VIGIL: 'I WISH IT WAS A DREAM'

Sarah, a 9-pound, full-term girl was born alive and breathing, according to the medical examiner, who said her death was caused by a lack of postnatal care and exposure to the elements. The baby had been dead anywhere from a week to a month when she was discovered.

Retired Waukesha police officer John Bacskai, who was first on the scene, described how his 9-year-old son, Jeff, came running home to report what he had seen in the sewer.

Bacskai, now 73, lived yards away from the storm drain at the corner of Birch and Irving Streets and was off duty on the day the girl was found.

"My son said, 'Dad, I think theres a baby in that storm sewer,'" Bacskai recalled. "I couldnt believe it at the time. Then I looked into the drain and I knew it wasn't a doll."

"I can still see that childs eyes -- glazed over -- when they took her from the storm sewer," Bacskai said. "I can't believe how someone could be that cruel to a baby."

Investigators believe the child was born in a home not far from where she was found. At the time, detectives canvassed the neighborhood, interviewing anyone who might know the identity of the girl, known first as Waukesha County Coroner's case No. 7090. Their pursuit led nowhere.

The community raised money to give the girl a proper burial and three Waukesha clergyman named the girl "Sarah," a Hebrew word meaning "princess" that was the name of the wife of the biblical patriarch Abraham.

"The saddest thing in life is an unwanted child, and the most beautiful is a loved child," the Rev. Howard Kusler of the E & R United Church of Christ told mourners at the girl's funeral.

Probst said authorities have considered several theories over the years that might explain the child's death.

"Did the girl's parents panic and place her in the storm drain after she stopped breathing?" Probst said. "Or were the circumstances more sinister, like the cover-up of an extramarital or incestuous affair?"

He said he believes the child's parents lived in the area.

In August, police obtained court documents allowing them to exhume the girl's remains and create a DNA profile. A forensics team at the University of North Texas is working on the profile, whichProbst said should be completed by April.

The renewed investigation has led police to northern Wisconsin and Ohio to interview individuals with possible knowledge of the girl's identity, including a man who once lived in the neighborhood and who was later convicted of sexually assaulting a minor.

Probst said the department has questioned about 50 people over the last several months and continues to receive leads. One such tip came from a man who claims he saw a girl kick what he thought was a doll into the sewer in the fall of 1974.

Probst said a DNA profile -- a tool not available in 1975 -- could be key in solving the case.

"This was a very traumatic event back then and we want to see it solved," Probst told Fox News.

"Someone, somewhere is living a 42-year-old lie," he said.

Anyone with information on the identity of Baby Sarah is urged to call theWaukesha Police Department at262-524-3814.

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Who is 'Baby Sarah'? Police use DNA to help solve 42-year-old cold case - Fox News

Pueblo Bonito, one of the biggest archaeological sites at Chaco Culture National Historic Park, is seen from a cliff. (Credit: Brad Branan/Sacramento Bee/Getty Images)

More than a century after the discovery of an ancient crypt loaded with turquoise and other riches in New Mexicos Chaco Canyon, scientists have analyzed DNA from the remains of 14 people buried there. What they found is surprising evidence of a matrilineal society, where power and influence appear to have been passed down through the female line.

Archaeologists stumbled on Pueblo Bonito, the multi-story stone complex of 650 rooms located in what is now Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, back in the 1890s. Inside a small room they marked as Room 33, they found 14 sets of skeletal remains buried with a dazzling horde of treasures. The cache included more than 11,000 turquoise necklaces and beads and more than 3,000 pieces of shell jewelry, along with wooden flutes and the remains of several scarlet macaws, a type of bird that is not native to the region but to South America, thousands of miles away.

The Chacoans were believed to have constructed at least a dozen elaborate buildings like Pueblo Bonito in their heyday. But they left no written records, leaving scholars to puzzle over the organization of a society that most agree was among the most highly developed cultures in pre-Columbian North America. Some experts suggested a single chief acted as ruler, while others argued the civilization was likely more egalitarian. In any case, it seemed clear that the remains of the 14 individuals in Room 33whose rich burial chamber marked them as among the most elite members of Chacoan societylikely held the key to unlocking the mystery.

In a new study, a team of scientists led by the archaeologist Douglas Kennett of Pennsylvania State University carbon-dated those remains, which had been preserved at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and analyzed their DNA. According to the teams findings, published last week in the journal Nature Communications, no fewer than nine of the individuals shared the exact same matrilineal DNA, which is passed only from mother to child. When the scientists dug deeper into the DNA analysis, they also found distinct relationships between two different pairs of remains: a mother-daughter and a grandmother-grandson.

Based on these results, the researchers argue that the Chacoan society was likely hierarchal, with leadership or high social status passing down through the female line. Just as Jewish heritage is passed down from mother to child in some denominations, Chacoan mothers seem to have handed down power and influence to their children. That doesnt mean that women ruled in the Chacoan civilizationsonly that they had an important role in continuing the family line.

Carbon dating of the remains revealed something else striking about the Chacoans. The scientists found the skeletons were interred at regular intervals between A.D. 800 and 1130, the same 330 years that spanned the known existence of the Chacoan society. Previously, scholars had believed the society only developed its complex social structure in its later years, during the 11th and early 12th centuries, but the new findings suggest the process happened a lot earlier.

These revelations do not come without controversy. As reported in Scientific American, some critics have questioned the ethics of the new research, saying DNA analysis of indigenous peoples should not be done without consulting with the tribes themselves. Both the Pueblo peoples and the Navajo (on whose land Chaco Canyon is now located) claim to be directly descended from the Chacoans. In some modern Pueblo groups, including the Hopi of Arizona and the Zuni of New Mexico, membership in a maternal clan determines inheritance, a cultural arrangement thatas it turns outmay have been handed down by their Chacoan ancestors.

In response to such criticisms, one of the team members who conducted the new study said he is now working diligently to engage with multiple groups in the Southwest to present and discuss the results of the research. Meanwhile, scientists are eager to study the other burials found at Pueblo Bonito and other Chacoan sites, in hopes of finally solving the longstanding mysteries of this ancient American civilization.

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DNA Suggests A Maternal Dynasty In Ancient Southwest Society ... - History

Science Daily

Electrons use DNA like a wire for signaling DNA replication Science Daily "The electron transfer process in DNA occurs very quickly," says O'Brien, lead author of the study, appearing in the February 24 issue of Science. "It makes sense that the cell would utilize this quick-acting pathway to regulate DNA replication, which ...

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Electrons use DNA like a wire for signaling DNA replication - Science Daily

WEST PALM BEACH (CBS12)

DNA evidence took center stage Monday in a familys efforts to hold the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office accountable in a fatal shooting.

Sergeant Michael Custer says before he shot Seth Adams, the young man grabbed him by the neck and tried to choke him.

But there was no Adams DNA on the deputys shirt collar, and only after "amplification" does Adams DNA show up on the sergeants neck.

This came out during the testimony of Sheriff's crime lab forensic scientist Tara Sessa.

The tragedy unfolded outside Seth Adams' brothers nursery in Loxahatchee Groves in 2012.

Sgt. Custer, working undercover, said he shot Adams, out of fear for his life. Custer says a confrontational Adams choked him. The deputy says he thought the young man then reached for a gun from his truck.

Adams parents, Lydia and Richard Adams are suing Sgt. Custer and the Sheriff's Office, seeking millions.

Sessa, the crime lab scientist, said Seth Adams was excluded as a DNA source on Sgt. Custers t-shirt, and more important, inside the collar of Custers outside shirt.

The scientist testified the first time she tested DNA swabs of Sgt. Custers neck, Seth Adams was not identified as a source. But after she increased the amplification, she reached calculations showing Adams DNA was probable.

Also jurors heard about mystery DNA on Sgt. Custers pants, suggesting potentially another person was present.

On Tuesday, the Adams family is expected to call its own DNA expert.

DNA technology, and understanding it, is extremely complex," said Palm Beach Gardens attorney Carissa Kranz.

The key here is going to be having a clear analysis, and then breaking it down for a jury to even understand it," Kranz said.

Jurors also heard on Monday, about Custers missing cell phone, which the Adams family believes could have contained evidence.

The trial could potentially go another two weeks.

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Jurors hear DNA evidence in fatal deputy shooting | WPEC - WPEC

Published time: 28 Feb, 2017 05:12

Chicken may sound like a healthier fast food option, but customers who make that choice at Subway might be in for a surprise. DNA tests have found their chicken was actually half soy, and now the company is saying that isnt the way a sandwich should be.

Sub isnt supposed to stand for substitute in the name Subway, butTrent University and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) recently revealed that, on average, Subways chicken fillets contained just 53.6 percent chicken DNA and even worse, their chicken strips had only 42.8 percent chicken DNA.

The DNA tests prompted the restaurant chain to issue a statement expressing concern over the findings.

SUBWAY Canada cannot confirm the veracity of the results of the lab testing you had conducted, the company said, adding, Our chicken strips and oven roasted chicken contain 1% or less of soy protein. We use this ingredient in these products as a means to help stabilize the texture and moisture. All of our chicken items are made from 100% white meat chicken which is marinated, oven roasted and grilled.

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The chain even claimed to have tested its chicken recently and found no problems. But they also promise to investigate further, starting with their supplier.

The DNA tests conducted by the CBC and Trent University included other fast food chains, including A&W, McDonalds, Tim Hortons and Wendys. Those establishments offered chicken that contained 84.9 to 90 percent chicken DNA. Subways results were so off the charts that the researchers tested their ingredients again before coming to a conclusion.

The Subway products tested were the fillets found in the Oven Roasted Chicken sandwich and the strips in the Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich.

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Subway 'concerned' DNA tests show its chicken is more than 50% soy - RT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) A local apartment complex is dealing with a stinky situation. Now, its taking a creative approach to pick up the mess. They say dog owners who dont, could find themselves in deep doo-doo.

I think owners should pick up after their dogs, its not that hard to do, Vincent Perez, dog owner, said.

But for those who simply refuse, theres DNA evidence.

Residents at one Westside apartment complex recently got a letter, reading pet owners are not picking up after their pets, we have implemented a doggy DNA program.

Its through PooPrints, a national company that tests dog poop.

The program works because of the denial factor, nobody will own up to the fact that they didnt pick up their dogs poo, Ernie Jones, PooPrints Representative, said.

Its a fast growing industry, but this is the first community to use their service in Albuquerque.

I think for repeat offenders, I think that would be a good thing if you could start tracking people down, Ann Tomasi, dog owner, said.

So how does it work? Residents are asked to bring in their pup to get swabbed.

The poochs DNA sample is sent to PooPrints.

When new evidence pops up, it tries to match it with a dog in its database.

This is a way though that people have become responsible, they cant deny it anymore, Jones said.

The culprits will face fines, anywhere between $75 and $300 for the foul offense.

But, the program isnt cheap, around $50 for the initial swab and more fees to find the match.

PooPrints says their clients see an 80 to 90 percent drop in dog owners leaving behind their pets waste by simply implementing the program.

They say not only is the dog waste an annoyance, its also a health concern since it can spread disease and contaminate the water.

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Albuquerque apartment complex implementing doggy DNA program ... - KRQE News 13

You may have heard of DNA being extracted from fossils such as woolly mammoths, cave lionsor ancient humans.These remains are all uncovered during expeditions in cold northern landscapes, but a new study has found something totally different: ancient DNA from a 1,000-year-old giant tortoise that fell into a sunkensinkhole on a warm, sunny Caribbean island.

The Bahamas might not sound like the kind of place you'd go for fossils but prehistoric leftovers are there if you know where to look.

Sawmill Sink is the name of a blue hole a large, water-filled sinkhole on Great Abaco Island. There, fossil-hunting scuba divers swim down through the cloudy, toxic water, as deep as 33 metres (100 feet), to reach thebones of ancient island denizens, including a long-gone species of tortoise named Chelonoidis alburyorum.

Divers explore deep inside a blue hole in the Bahamas. Image:Brian Kakuk

These tortoises went extinct along with all the other Caribbean giant tortoises around 780 years ago, not long after humans arrivedin the region. But in Sawmill Sink, one beautifully preserved skeleton offers clues to the reptiles' past. On the outside, its shell is marred by the bite marks of crocs, but on the inside of its bones linger theremains of collagen protein (which allowed scientists to carbon-date the skeleton) and DNA.

Finding ancient DNA in a tropical tortoise was quite a happy surprise. "The two things that are really good for the long-term preservation of DNA are coldness and dryness," says David Steadman of the Florida Museum of Natural History in a news release. "And the tropics typically provide neither one."

The secret lies in the waters deep within the sinkhole, which arefairly still and mostly devoid of oxygenonce you reach below 21 metres (70 feet) or so. Not a place you'd want to live, but a great place to die: these conditions allow for some fantastic fossil preservation, including DNA.

Ancient DNA has taught us a ton about cold-climate species of the late Ice Age, but tropical creatures from that time period are a big genetic blind spot. Steadman and other researchers are especially interested in the history of reptiles from the area: these animals are a major part of local islandecosystems,and used to be much more diverse than they are today.

The fossil skull of theChelonoidis alburyorumtortoise that yielded the ancient DNA. Image: Nancy Albury

As with all fossil DNA, the mitochondrial genetic material retrieved from the tortoise's arm bone was degraded and contaminated. Despite this, experts were able to tease out useful material and gain some insights into the reptile's ancestry:C. alburyorum was a close relative of the Chaco tortoise of South America and the giant tortoises of the Galpagos.

"This is the first time anyone has been able to put a tropical species into an evolutionary context with [genetic] data," Steadman says. "And being able to fit together the tortoise's evolutionary history will help us better understand today's tropical species, many of which are endangered."

We know from fossil evidence that tortoises of the Galpagos and Caribbean islands were once thriving in the tropics but when humans begin to show up in the fossil record, the reptiles start to disappear. "It's probably a blend of direct hunting and habitat loss as the humans started burning the forests in the dry season," Steadman says. The Caribbean giant tortoises are completely gone today, and those of the Galpagos continue to struggle.

Sawmill Sink's fossils were first discovered in 2004, when Bahamas Caves Research Foundationdirector Brian Kakuk found a submerged crocodile skull and tortoise shell. Since then, excavations have taught us that these big reptiles lived within a diverse ecosystem of prehistoric lizards, snakes, birds, bats and more. The sinkhole has even produced human remains from the Lucayan people, the original inhabitants of the Bahamas before Europeans arrived.

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Top header image:Nancy Albury

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Rare sinkhole find: Ancient DNA in a tropical island tortoise fossil - Earth Touch

A little more than a year ago, a San Diego judge granted a womans request to have evidence from her high-profile murder case tested for DNA, a move the defense hoped would point to someone else as the killer.

The woman was Jane Dorotik, who was convicted in 2001of first-degree murder in the slaying of her husband, Robert. He was strangled at the couples Valley Center home.

Jane Dorotik, now 70, is serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

According to the District Attorneys Office, the items in question a rope used to strangle the husband and fingernail clippings or scrapings from his body were tested by the San Diego County Sheriffs Department Crime Lablate last year.

The results of those tests revealed that DNA found on those items belonged to the victim. Its unclear whether any other contributors were identified.

Whats also unclear is whether this means Dorotiks quest for exoneration has come to an end. She is now represented by attorneys from Loyola Law Schools Project for the Innocent, which is based in Los Angeles.

Reached by phone last week, the attorneys declined to confirm the results of the DNA tests or to discuss the status of Dorotiks case.

No further court hearings have been scheduled in San Diego Superior Court.

Nothing has been filedsince the (DNA) results have come back, said Deputy District Attorney Jill Lindberg, the prosecutor most recently assigned to the case. She said she did not know whether any hearings would be scheduled in the near future.

At the time of the killing, Dorotik wasa high-level executive for a mental health services company. She also raised and trained horses. She and her husband had three adult children.

Dorotik reported her husband missing the evening of Feb. 13, 2000. The last time she saw him, she told authorities, was earlier that daywhen he was getting ready to go jogging.

Robert Dorotiks body was found early the next day, Valentines Day, in a wooded area about two miles from the ranch where the family lived. The body, dressed in running clothes,had been strangled and beaten, authorities said.He was 55.

Jane Dorotikwas arrested a few days later. Detectives found a bloodstained mattress and specks of his blood on the floor, walls and ceiling of the master bedroom, which they said indicated her husband was killed in the house.

After examining the clothing on the body, investigators determined he was likely dressed in the running clothes after he was killed, according to court documents. There were bloodtransfer stains but no spatter stains on his T-shirt. No blood was found on his sweatpants or on his shoes.

Prosecutors relied heavily on circumstantial evidence to provetheir case.Dorotik and her husband were home alone when he was most likely killed. There had also been some discord between the husband and wife, which pointed to a possible motive.

Deputy District Attorney Bonnie Howard-Regan argued to the jury in North Countythat Dorotik killed her husband because she was afraid of losing part of her $118,000 annual salary in a divorce. Robert Dorotik had quit his job as an aerospace engineer to start a business making horse jumps, but it wasnt going well.

Dorotik maintained throughout the trial and afterward that she was innocent, but she didnt know who the real killer was.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Joan Weber, who presided over the trial, has said repeatedly that the most incriminating piece of evidence was Jane Dorotiks bloody thumbprint on a syringe filled with animal tranquilizer that was found in a bathroom next to the master bedroom.

Itwas also Weberwho in November 2015 granted a request filed on Dorotiks behalf to allow post-convictionDNA testing of the rope and fingernail scrapings. Neither of those items had been tested previously.

The judge directed lawyers on both sides of the case to try to agree on which lab wouldperform the tests. But that might have been a task easier said than done.

Last April, Weber ordered the Sheriffs Crime Lab to do the testing, but a month later Dorotik, who by then was representing herself, asked the judge to order the lab to test only half the evidence so the rest could be saved for future testing.

Thatrequest was denied.

Later, after Loyolas Project for the Innocent took over the case, the attorneys clarified her request, saying Dorotik did not want the Sheriffs Crime Lab the same one that conducted the testson all of the evidence used to convict her to be the only lab to test the rope and fingernail evidence.

They said Dorotik was concerned about confirmation bias.

What the Defendant would actually like to request is not that half the sample be shelved for later testing but that an independent lab (unrelated to the criminal investigation of her case and one that is not directly affiliated with law enforcement) conduct independent testing on these important pieces of evidence right away, the attorneys wrote in court documents.

Weber denied the defense motion and confirmed in August that the Sheriffs Crime Lab would do the DNA analysis.

dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @danalittlefield

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DNA tests completed in 2000 Valley Center murder case; wife had hoped they would exonerate her - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Tech Times

Novel DNA vaccine design improves chances of inducing anti-tumor ... Science Daily Scientists have devised a novel DNA vaccine approach through molecular design to improve the immune responses elicited against one of the most important ... New DNA Vaccine Designed To Boost Immunity And Fight Off ...Tech Times all 2 news articles »

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Novel DNA vaccine design improves chances of inducing anti-tumor ... - Science Daily

February 26, 2017 12:39 AM By Andria Borba

LIVERMORE (KPIX 5) On the crime show NCIS, one hair leads to a killer. That was once the stuff of fantasy, but no more.

Hair is your crowning glory and soon, thanks to scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Lab, it will provide the evidence necessary to tie you definitively to a crime.

Weve leveraged the fact that protein in your body is essentially an echo of your DNA, says Brad Hart, director of the labs Forensic Science Center. Your DNA is a blueprint for the proteins produced by your body.

In the past, hair evidence was collected at crime scenes but could only be used to identify a suspect with a microscope and an expert opinion comparing samples.

Instead of relying on someones opinion about whether something matches, you can make a measurement, says chemist Deon Anex.

Using only an inch of hair, Hart and Anex can identify the amino acids and peptides that make up your hair. So far, the degree of accuracy is one in a million after the hair is broken down into its parts.

We hope in the future of course, to make that even better, says Anex. If we had a hundred of these identification markers in say an identification panel you might say for hair identification, this would be sufficient to get a unique pattern for a person out of the entire worlds population.

The data that comes out when we do the analysis of a particular hair sample you get peaks and valleys that are displayed here that focuses on each individual peptide that comes out of the mass spectrometer, he says.

The advantage of hair over DNA is how robust it is. Think of the hair balls that live under your bed.

DNA in comparison is very fragile and easily mixed up at a messy crime scene.

You come across a crime scene, you may have a pool of blood, but it may not just be one persons blood the more contributors to that mixture of DNA, the more difficult to figure out whos DNA it was. The nice thing about hair, is that if you find a hair, it only came from one person, says Hart.

Scientists at the lab have been able to test a piece of hair for its markers that is over 250 years old.

Breaking the hair down and getting a profile is almost as quick as Abby on NCIS just 24 to 48 hours with about the same cost as DNA.

It comes into play with connecting suspects to a crime scene, but it would also be very, very important in exonerating people, says Anex.

Up next at the lab will be finding out what treating your hair to the Clairol color wheel means for its genetic breakdown.

Is blonde hair different from brunette hair? If someone had dyed their hair or permed their hair, how do those things affect our abilities to recover these profiles? says Hart.

Andria Borba joined KPIX 5 in October 2013. Born in Modesto, raised in the Central Valley city of Gustine, Andria has a large extended family that stretches from Tomales Bay to the Monterey Bay and all over the San Francisco Bay Area.Andrias last...

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Scientists Zero In On DNA In Hair Samples With Extraordinary ... - CBS Local