Category Archives: DNA

11 April 2013 Last updated at 13:54 ET

The Nobel Prize won by British scientist Francis Crick for his discovery of DNA has sold for $2.27m (1.47m) at auction in New York.

It was bought by Jack Wang, CEO of a Shanghai-based biomedical firm, who had flown in specially for the sale.

Professor Crick won the prize in 1962 for his discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule, making it possible to decode how living beings function.

It was one of 10 lots put up for sale by Crick's heirs.

On Wednesday a letter written by Crick, describing for his 12-year-old son his discovery of the double helix shape of DNA, sold for $5.3m - far exceeding its estimate.

The sales will in part benefit scientific research.

Much of the bidding at Thursday's auction happened remotely, by telephone and internet - but Jack Wang was so determined to buy the Nobel Prize medal that he flew in from California, and was prepared to offer double what he ended up paying, reports the BBC's Barbara Plett from New York.

He said he was looking for ways to encourage research into his own company's technology.

It's all about this excitement around science

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DNA pioneer's Nobel Prize auctioned

French police are collecting DNA samples of detectives and medical staff who worked on the Alp murder of a British-Iraqi family to exclude their DNA from the case after an expert accidentally contaminated crime-scene material, a prosecutor said Saturday.

Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud denied media reports suggesting the DNA could be that of the still unidentified killer, saying it belonged to a ballistic expert who handled material that had already been thoroughly analysed by police.

"No other DNA trace has been found at the moment," he said.

The contamination has, however, prompted police to collect elimination samples from investigators, rescue workers, medical staff and laboratory technicians in case more elements are contaminated.

Police in France have been struggling to solve the case of the shootings last year in the Haute-Savoie department, where Saad al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf were all found dead inside their estate car near Lake Annecy on September 5, along with a French cyclist who investigators believe was an innocent bystander.

The couple's two young daughters survived the attack, which took place in the village of Chevaline, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Daillon.

Link:
French police take elimination DNA in Alps murder case

These are believed to include spent gun cartridges and even parts of the murder weapon which mysteriously broke during the attack.

The DNA does not match any of the people who first arrived at the scene of the killings, including British cyclist Brett Martin an ex RAF Serviceman who raised the alarm and three French hikers.

Now Mr Maillaud has asked for saliva samples of all the police and medics who dealt with the early investigation.

This is to ensure that the scene was not contaminated with their DNA something which the authorities made every effort to avoid.

The DNA is being analysed by scientists at the gendarmes national criminal research institute, the IRCGN, near Paris.

Samples have also been delivered to Christian Doutremepuich, a professor who runs a state-of-the-art laboratory in Bordeaux, in south west France.

Mr Maillaid said the research protocols of the two centres were very different ensuring the best possible chance of linking the DNA with the killer.

"This is a classic procedure," said Mr Maillaud. "It means that we do not put all our eggs in one basket."

Mr Maillaud said that they needed to ensure the DNA was not a result of "pollution at the scene" before making an effort to link it with known hitmen and other criminals who may be living abroad.

The aim is to build up a complete database of everyone who approached the al-Hillis car, and the surrounding areas, said Mr Maillaud, who said that a tight security perimeter had been put in place within hours of the crime.

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Alps murder: DNA found at scene 'could be that of killer'

This story was updated at 12:45 p.m. ET to include the buyer's name and comments from Crick's son and granddaughter.

A Nobel Prize medal honoring the discovery of DNA's twisted ladder shape was sold at auction today (April 11) in New York for more than $2 million.

Francis Crick was one of three men awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for deciphering the DNA molecule's double-helix structure in 1953. Sixty years after the discovery, the CEO of a Chinese biomedical firm paid $2,270,500 for Crick's medal and accompanying diploma at Heritage Auctions.

At a separate sale yesterday, a letter penned by Crick set the world record for any letter ever sold at auction. An anonymous bidder paid just over $6 million for the note Crick wrote to his 12-year-old son that explained the DNA discovery and was signed "lots of love, Daddy." The previous record was set in 2008 when someone paid $3.4 million for an anti-slavery letter written by Abraham Lincoln.

"It's a win for science worldwide," Kindra Crick, granddaughter of the famous researcher, told LiveScience today after the auction.

A chunk of the proceeds from this week's sales are set to benefit research institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom. Crick's family and Heritage Auctions plan to donate a portion of today's earnings to The Francis Crick Institute, a medical research institute, scheduled to open in London in 2015. And some of the proceeds from yesterday's letter auction are set go to the Salk Institute in California, where Crick, who died in 2004, studied consciousness later in his career. [See Photos of Crick's Medal & Other Auction Items]

There was little precedent for today's sale. Heritage Auctions had valued the Nobel medal and diploma at $500,000 a fourth of what it raked in. Nobel medals appear to have changed hands publicly in only a couple of instances and none had been publicly auctioned off before. Crick's medal might be considered particularly valuable as it honored one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

As early as the late 1800s, scientists knew that the DNA molecule existed, but not what it looked like or its true function. The discovery of DNA's double helix structure was key to understanding how the molecule worked as a code for genes.

The medal and diploma were bought by Jack Wang, the CEO of Biomobie, a biomedical company based in Shanghai. Wang flew to New York for the auction and said in a statement that he hopes the objects will inspire discoveries that "recover damaged human organs and retard the aging process, achieving the goal of self recovering from disease and poor health conditions."

Kindra Crick said she was confident the buyer would carry on her grandfather's "vision of going after profound discovery" and said he was interested in displaying the medal publicly.

Excerpt from:
Crick DNA Nobel Medal Auctioned for $2 Million

MYSTERY DNA found at the scene where a British family were gunned down in the Alps, could be the killer's, cops say.

The possible breakthrough comes more than seven months after the shootings in an isolated beauty spot close to Lake Annecy.

Saad Al-Hilli, 50, died alongside his wife Ikbal, 47, and his mother-in-law Suhalia Al-Allaf, 74, in their BMW car on September 5.

The family, from Claygate, Surrey, were on a camping holiday when the tragedy happened.

Sylvain Mollier, a 45-year-old French cyclist was also killed in the bloodbath, which is believed to have been carried out by at least one gunman brandishing a pistol.

Scene ... family were gunned down at isolated spot

Now Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud has confirmed that "unidentified DNA" was found on "elements at the scene".

These are believed to include spent gun cartridges and even parts of the murder weapon which mysteriously broke during the attack.

The DNA does not match any of the people who first arrived at the scene of the killings, including British cyclist Brett Martin - an ex RAF Serviceman who raised the alarm - and three French hikers.

It is being analysed at two laboratories in France and will enable detectives to step up their international manhunt for the murderer.

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DNA pulled from the scene where Brit family shot in Alps

Panasonic Develops Chip That Sequences DNA in an Hour
It can take up to a week to sequence DNA but a new chip developed by Panasonic can do it in a fraction of the time.

By: NewsyScience

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Panasonic Develops Chip That Sequences DNA in an Hour - Video

DNA Vergadering 08-04-2013

By: dnasuriname

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DNA Vergadering 08-04-2013 - Video

Ancient DNA Analysis Affirms the Canid from Altai as a Primitive Dog
Shannon O #39;Grady Applied Animal Biology Video Presentation.

By: Shannon O #39;Grady

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Ancient DNA Analysis Affirms the Canid from Altai as a Primitive Dog - Video

DNA Proof of 6" Tall Extraterrestrial: 2013
( HELP get this out on Twitter and Facebook ))) Six inch Tall Alien believed to be 5 to 7 years old was found in the Atacama Desert in Chile a few years ag...

By: goforitrandy

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DNA Proof of 6" Tall Extraterrestrial: 2013 - Video

Whether it's an assault or a relatively minor offense such as destroying a library book, Coloradans convicted of a misdemeanor would have to open wide and say "aaagh," should lawmakers pass a requirement that the state collect from them an oral DNA sample.

In what's billed as an ambitious effort to solve cold cases, exonerate those wrongfully convicted and quell future crimes, a Democratic state lawmaker wants to require that individuals convicted of Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3 misdemeanors must submit a DNA sample to be stored in a statewide database system.

But this effort to expand DNA collection to misdemeanor convictions has raised concerns about privacy issues and the rationale behind such a requirement.

"DNA is the 21st century fingerprint," said Rep. Dan Pabon, a Denver Democrat, who is the sponsor of the legislation that's set to be heard before a House committee Thursday. " We have become so sophisticated in our technology and science, we can without a shadow of a doubt link someone physically to a crime."

Already in Colorado, individuals arrested on a felony charge and some misdemeanors involving unlawful sexual conduct are required to provide the state with a DNA sample. And those convicted of a misdemeanor under the proposed legislation would have to pay a $128 fee to cover the costs of the sample.

Late Wednesday afternoon, after The Denver Post reported about Pabon's bill online, the sponsor said he would offer an amendment to the measure that would only require Class 1 misdemeanors be swabbed.

However, though Pabon is targeting most misdemeanor offenses, his legislation does not require those convicted of misdemeanor traffic offenses such as DUIs to submit oral samples.

"We don't have the statistics that demonstrate just because you're drinking and driving that you have a propensity to commit more serious crimes," Pabon said. "With respect to theft crimes, assault crimes, those involving the objectification of a person ... those types of crimes indicate that you're going to commit more serious crimes."

Denise Maes, public policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said it's a false assumption to conclude that any person who commits a low-level misdemeanor will commit more serious crimes in the future.

"This encroaches on an individual's privacy," said Maes, who will offer testimony on Thursday in opposition to the bill. "Further, listen carefully to the rationale supporting this bill: 'Collecting DNA helps solve crime.' There is no end to this mission. One may facetiously say 'just chip us at birth,' but in reality this is precisely where the rationale of the proponents naturally leads us to."

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Misdemeanor convictions in Colorado could call for DNA swab