Category Archives: DNA

George Zimmerman claims self defense in the killing of Trayvon Martin. But there's no DNA evidence that Trayvon Martin ever touched George Zimmerman's gun.

Forensic tests made public Wednesday show that George Zimmerman's was the only DNA that could be identified on the grip of the gun used to fatally shoot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

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The results rule out Martin's DNA from being on the gun's grip. Zimmerman's DNA also was identified on the gun's holster, but no determination could be made as to whether Martin's DNA was on the gun's holster, according to the report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting Martin during a confrontation in a gated community in Sanford in February. Zimmerman is pleading not guilty, claiming self-defense.

A delay in Zimmerman's arrest led to nationwide protests.

RECOMMENDED: How 5 black men view the Trayvon Martin case

The question of whose DNA is on the gun and holster could play a role in Zimmerman's defense.

Zimmerman says Martin had been on top of him, slamming his head against the ground and smothering his mouth and nose with his hand and arm when he grabbed his gun from a holster on his waist before Martin could get it. He shot the teenager once in the chest.

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George Zimmerman: No DNA evidence of a struggle for his gun

Only DNA from George Zimmerman was found on the grip of the gun that was used in the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, according to DNA test results released Wednesday.

The test results were in the latest batch of discovery material released by officials in the notorious murder case, which has become a national flashpoint in race relations and gun laws. Zimmerman, 28, is free on bail awaiting trial on charges of second-degree murder in the killing of Martin, an African American teenager, who was shot to death in a confrontation at a gated community in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26.

The tests on the gun and the holster were performed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. They found Zimmermans DNA on the gun but could not find any of Martin's. No determination could be made as to whether Martin's DNA was on the holster.

PHOTOS: Tense moments from Trayvon Martin case

Zimmerman has acknowledged shooting Martin, but insists he acted in self-defense in the wake of a confrontation that left him injured.

The DNA findings could play a role in the trial, allowing the prosecution to argue against self-defense since it now seems that Martin never touched the weapon. The defense could counter that Zimmerman shot before Martin could get to the gun.

Zimmerman was not arrested the night of the shooting. After weeks of protests about that fact, a special prosecutor charged Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, with second-degree murder.

Among other material released Wednesday was an interview with a clerk of the convenience store where Martin had gone to buy a package of Skittles and a can of iced tea. Martin was returning from the store when the confrontation with Zimmerman took place. The unidentified clerk told authorities he had no recollection of serving Martin.

To be honest, I don't even remember that day, he said.

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George Zimmerman's DNA, not Trayvon Martin's, found on gun

MADISON Anyone arrested for a felony offense and all adults convicted of misdemeanor crimes would be required to provide a DNA sample to law enforcement under a proposal from the state Department of Justice.

Adults arrested for certain misdemeanor crimes such as fourth-degree sexual assault and prostitution also would have to provide DNA samples, which would be entered into a national database used to match DNA evidence collected at crime scenes to suspects.

Currently, state law allows DNA to be collected only from adults and juveniles convicted of felonies, with about 12,000 samples obtained each year.

Brian OKeefe, administrator for the DOJs Division of Law Enforcement Services, said the expected addition of about 68,000 DNA samples a year at least initially under the proposed expansion would help law enforcement solve more cases more quickly and get criminals off the street.

The number of new samples would eventually drop, he said, because DNA profiles of those reoffending would not have to be added to the system.

But Chris Ahmuty of the ACLU of Wisconsin, said, It seems like theyve gone for the nuclear option when it comes to DNA on arrest.

Casting such a wide net raises concerns about cost, management and privacy and turns the presumption of innocence on its head, Ahmuty said. He added that the DOJ proposal is more encompassing and costly than previous legislative proposals.

OKeefe said the proposed expansion of DNA collection would begin in October 2014 and cost about $7 million in its first two years.

To cover those costs including the addition of 26 full-time positions DOJ is asking that everyone convicted of a felony be required to pay a $250 surcharge, and that everyone convicted of a misdemeanor pay a $150 surcharge.

Currently, a DNA surcharge for people convicted of felonies is often waived by a judge.

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Expansion of criminal DNA collection proposed

ScienceDaily (Sep. 18, 2012) Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA positivity alone, particularly when assessed using polymerase chain reaction methods, is a poor biomarker for HPV-driven head and neck cancers, according to two studies published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. These studies identified alternative potential markers including viral load, viral gene expression and the evaluation of HPV DNA in combination with certain HPV assays.

Prior research has established that HPV is a cause of some head and neck cancers, including oropharyngeal cancer, and that patients with HPV-associated disease tend to have a better clinical outcome. Consequently, the proper assessment of the clinical status of individual tumors has become a goal of clinicians treating this disease because HPV at the tumor site does not indicate causal involvement in the cancer.

In the first study, Dana Holzinger, Ph.D., of the division of genome modifications and carcinogenesis at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany, and colleagues analyzed the potential of direct and indirect HPV markers to identify patients with HPV-driven tumors.

They analyzed 199 oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma specimens for HPV DNA, viral load, RNA expression patterns seen in cervical carcinomas and the p16 protein, which is associated with tumor suppression.

Results indicated that the cervical cancer RNA expression pattern and viral load were associated with the lowest risk for death from oropharyngeal cancer. In contrast, a weaker association was found for samples that were HPV DNA-positive or that expressed the p16 protein.

"We showed that high viral load and a cancer-specific pattern of viral gene expression are most suited to identify patients with HPV-driven tumors among patients with oropharyngeal cancer," Holzinger said. "Viral expression pattern is a completely new marker in this field and viral load has hardly been analyzed before."

In a second study, researchers evaluated several biomarkers individually and in combination for overall survival among head and neck cancers including polymerase chain reaction-based and serological HPV DNA testing, and p16 immunohistochemistry.

They found that the expression of two oncoproteins, E6 and E7, was associated with improved survival in oropharyngeal disease. In addition, HPV DNA positivity or p16 expression combined with E6 and E7 expression were also associated with enhanced survival. However, neither HPV DNA positivity nor expression of p16 alone yielded a similar result.

"Assessment of HPV DNA using polymerase chain reaction methods as a biomarker in individual head and neck cancers is a poor predictor of outcome and is also poorly associated with antibody response indicative of exposure and/or infection by HPV," said study author Karl T. Kelsey, M.D., professor in the department of epidemiology and the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at Brown University in Providence, R.I. "We may not be diagnosing these tumors as accurately and precisely as we need to for adjusting treatments."

The next step in this research is further validating the findings of these two studies using head-to-head comparisons and developing assays for direct clinical application of the markers.

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Assessment of HPV DNA Alone Insufficient to Identify HPV-Driven Head and Neck Cancers

It's been the FBI's dream for years -- to do near-instant DNA analysis using mobile equipment in the field -- and now "Rapid DNA" gear is finally here.

The idea is that you simply drop into the system a cotton swab with a person's saliva, for example, and the "Rapid DNA" machine spits out the type of DNA data that's needed to pin down identity. Now that such equipment exists, the FBI is pushing to get it into the hands of law enforcement agencies as soon as possible. [Also see: "FBI building system that blows away fingerprinting"]

"DNA has emerged as the gold standard in forensics analysis," Steven Martinez, executive assistant director of the science and technology branch at the FBI, said in his keynote address to attendees of the Biometric Consortium Conference in Tampa on Tuesday.

RELATED: Biometrics scares people

Though the genetic information contained in an individual's DNA, which is in all human cells, has been used since the late 1980s to solve crime cases, analysis of DNA has remained frustratingly slow because DNA had to be sent to special labs to be analyzed. New "Rapid DNA" devices are now ready to be evaluated and the FBI has received two basic types.

One is called the RapidHIT, which is made by IntegenX, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based company whose CEO Stevan Jovanovich was in the exhibit hall to explain how the Rapid DNA device can spit out an individual's DNA data within 90 minutes.

Another company, NetBio, is also believed to have delivered its Rapid DNA-type equipment to the FBI, Jovanovich says, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is expected to play an important role in helping certify systems and processes for how these boxes will be used by the FBI and local police stations to collect DNA data on suspects.

Jovanovich notes that the networked IntegenX RapidHIT box, which is based on a hardened version of Windows and measures about 27-by-24-by-16 inches, costs about $245,000. RapidHIT boxes are already in use with intelligence agencies, says Jovanovich, who adds he's not at liberty to say which ones or what they're doing with them.

The FBI, which is believed to have upwards of 10 million DNA records on individuals already stored in databases, anticipates a significant expansion of DNA collection by means of Rapid DNA equipment.

The FBI has been known for pioneering a massive collection of fingerprint images and an online matching system that can be accessed remotely to help local law enforcement, as well as the Department of Defense and other law-enforcement agencies, nail down the identities of criminals and terrorists. Today, Dr. Alice Isenberg, chief of the biometrics analysis section at the FBI laboratory, explained in her presentation how the FBI hopes to expand the national DNA database used to investigate crime for DNA matches online as well.

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FBI eager to embrace mobile 'Rapid DNA' testing

18 September 2012 Last updated at 09:26 ET

A double rapist caught by chance years later through a DNA sample has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

Peter Hendry, 41, from Springburn in Glasgow, attacked the two women, who were working as prostitutes, in Rutherglen in 2004 and 2007.

He avoided capture until a former partner accused him of domestic abuse in 2011. DNA samples were taken which matched with both attacks.

Hendry, who denied the charges, was found guilty on a unanimous verdict.

Solicitor advocate Murray Macara QC, who represented the fork-lift truck driver, told the court that his client had "constantly and consistently maintained that he did not rape these two women".

Both women had told how Hendry picked them up and drove them to a deserted industrial estate.

A 33-year-old woman told the trial that he took her there in September 2004, pinned her down and raped her, before leaving her "like a bit of trash".

The woman reported the incident to police, but Hendry remained at large.

He carried out a similar attack on a 29-year-old woman in July 2007.

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Rapist caught by DNA test jailed

STONY BROOK, NY--(Marketwire - Sep 17, 2012) - The Textile Center of Excellence at Huddersfield, United Kingdom (TCOE), and Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. ( OTCBB : APDN ) (Twitter: @APDN), a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting technology and product authentication solutions, announced today the roll out of a new platform for protecting textile brands, under the SigNature DNA brand. The services, which the two organizations call "revolutionary," aim to protect textiles from a wave of counterfeiting which has struck the industry.

The platform includes applications which protect a wide range of textile, apparel and accessory products, including impregnation and authentication of DNA-marked:

The platform will be unveiled at the world-famous Premire Vision Pluriel, opening at Paris Nord Villepinte Parc d'Expositions (exhibition center) at Booth #5C18, from September 19-21, 2012. At the show, APDN and TCOE will feature demonstrations, samples, and technical experts, all showing the "unique, uncopyable, and uncompromising" abilities of the technology in protecting brands from counterfeiting.

In a joint statement, the two organizations said that their technology "offers our industry a unique and powerful means to mark and authenticate original items marked with DNA."

The two organizations described SigNature DNA as "a leading anti-counterfeiting technology that can be incorporated at any point in the textile supply chain as a means to link a genuine product to its original source of manufacture." Botanical SigNature DNA markers are authenticated in a laboratory and help to provide forensic evidence that can be used in a court of law.

The Textile Centre of Excellence has partnered with some of the most prestigious mills in the United Kingdom, including Bower Roebuck, Dormeuil, Holland and Sherry, Taylor and Lodge, and John Foster. Collectively, these fabric designers and weavers supply fabric to many of the most famous designer lines of Europe and America. Its botanical SigNature DNA-based technology protects historic and high-value Yorkshire Wool. APDN has separately partnered with Supima, a promotional organization of American growers of American Pima cotton.

Bill Macbeth, Managing Director of the Textile Centre of Excellence, commented: "SigNature DNA technology offers textile and clothing manufacturers a fool-proof and affordable solution to the growing menace of product counterfeiting. We are ready and willing to help brand owners and manufacturers to boost their brand values and revenues by incorporating this unique protection into their products."

Said Dr. James A Hayward, President and CEO, Applied DNA Sciences: "We believe that the Textile Centre's new platform is a powerful demonstration of the versatility and effectiveness of our SigNature DNA product. We urge visitors to Premiere Vision to visit the TCOE booth and see for themselves how DNA marking and authentication can add great value to their product lines."

About The Textile Centre of Excellence, and the Huddersfield and District Textile Training Company

The Huddersfield and District Textile Training Company was established in 1976 to unite the local textile industry in a shared approach to professional, equitable and high-quality training. In 1999 the company established the Textile Centre of Excellence, a 2 million development located in Leeds Road Huddersfield, providing a wide range of 'state of the art' textile and clothing research and development, training and production facilities including:

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Applied DNA Sciences, Textile Centre of Excellence Unveil Textiles Anti-Counterfeiting Platform

STONY BROOK, NY--(Marketwire - Sep 18, 2012) - Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. ( OTCBB : APDN ), (Twitter: @APDN), a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting technology and product authentication solutions, announced today that it has entered into a Development Agreement with Inventionland Corporation.The two companies will collaborate on the development of innovative loss-prevention products, based upon APDN's botanical DNA-marking platform. Inventionland will participate in product development with APDN and take the resultant new products and applications to its customers.

The agreement between APDN and Inventionland follows closely the launch by APDN of smartDNA, a system designed to mark offenders and to prevent theft. The system has been deployed internationally to protect banks, retailers, jewelers and pharmacies. APDN also launched its digitalDNA platform this year that combines DNA-based security with secure-cloud technology, mobile computing and authentication on-the-fly.

Inventionland Corporation (www.Inventionland.com) is America's largest invention factory.Over 1,000 different retailers and on-line stores have sold its innovations.Inventionland builds 2,000-2,400 new product samples for corporations and retailers to review for their shelves each year.With some retailers facing large asset loss from their stores, Inventionland was asked to invent new products to help eliminate loss in a more innovative and effective manner.Inventionland's founder, George Davison, is an APDN stockholder.After Mr. Davison contacted APDN, both organizations began collaborating to offer a retailer solution that would help eliminate asset loss.

Mr. Davison, renowned for his novel approaches to product development, and himself the subject of a profile on the U.S. cable TV channel History (formerly The History Channel), stated: "I was a long-standing fan of Applied DNA Sciences' novel technology and enormous breadth of application, as well as Dr. Hayward's already-validated approach to managing biotechnology development.Inventionland is now pleased to be able to take this platform to our market-leading retailers."

Dr. Hayward commented: "Biotech companies can benefit from Inventionland's innovative approach and unmatchable speed-to-market. We are thrilled to partner with Inventionland on some very original and unique applications for DNA marking."

About Applied DNA Sciences

APDN is a provider of botanical-DNA based security and authentication solutions that can help protect products, brands and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion. SigNature DNA and smartDNA, our principal anti-counterfeiting and product authentication solutions that essentially cannot be copied, provide a forensic chain of evidence and can be used to prosecute perpetrators.

The statements made by APDN may be forward-looking in nature.Forward-looking statements describe APDN's future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of APDN. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to our short operating history, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, market competition and various other factors detailed from time to time in APDN's SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed on December 8, 2011 and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.APDN undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

About Inventionland Inventionland (http://www.inventionland.com) is America's largest invention factory, Inventionland, turns out 2,000-2,400 new inventions each year. Employees at Inventionland work in 16 unique themed sets, such as a shipwrecked pirate ship, a faux cave, a giant robot and a castle complete with turrets and drawbridge. The inspiring setting includes three running waterfalls, life-like trees and butterflies and chirping birds. In the rear of Inventionland is a red carpet that leads to a state-of-the art audio, video, and animation studio complete with sound room and one of the largest green screens in the tri-state area. Metalworking, woodworking, molding, laser cutting, prototyping, circuit board construction, and more take place in a state-of-the-art product sample construction facility. Hundreds of new ideas come to life every month at Inventionland, where Davison's award-winning team sets an example of America's can-do spirit and ingenuity.

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Applied DNA Sciences Contracts With Inventionland

SAN FRANCISCO -- On a March day three years ago in San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza, Elizabeth "Lily" Haskell was arrested during a rally against the Iraq War, cuffed on a felony allegation that she tried to spring another protester who had been taken into custody.

But once hauled off to jail, Haskell found herself in the legal cross hairs for more than just civic rabble-rousing. Sheriff's deputies ordered her to submit to DNA testing under a then-new provision of California law, giving her the choice of letting them swab the inside of her cheek or face an additional misdemeanor charge and sit in a jail cell for two days.

Haskell relented and took the DNA test. But now the Oakland woman is at the center of an American Civil Liberties Union legal challenge to a state law that allows law enforcement to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony, regardless of whether they are later charged or convicted. In Haskell's case, prosecutors never followed up the 2009 arrest with a criminal charge.

"My DNA was taken without any kind of due process," Haskell said last week. "I believe people should have the right to refuse to give their DNA."

On Wednesday, a special 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the latest round in the case, which has highlighted a legal issue that appears bound for the U.S. Supreme Court. In fact, in a brief order earlier this year, Chief Justice John Roberts said

At the request of civil liberties lawyers, the 9th Circuit agreed to take a second look at the Haskell case after a three-judge panel, in a 2-1 ruling, earlier this year upheld a voter-approved 2004 California law allowing DNA collection. The 9th Circuit rejected arguments that the law, which went into effect in 2009, tramples on the constitutional rights of those arrested for felonies, saying "government's compelling interests far outweigh arrestees' privacy concerns."

In court papers, lawyers for Haskell and others arrested but never charged with felonies argue that the California law "is an unprecedented expansion of the government's power to collect DNA evidence and to DNA profile individuals who have never been convicted of any crime."

To the ACLU, there is no reason someone's DNA should wind up in the state's DNA database if the person has never appeared in court, much less in front of a jury.

"People who haven't been convicted of anything shouldn't be treated like criminals," ACLU attorney Michael Risher said.

Law enforcement officials argue that the DNA collection law is a crucial tool in solving crimes. They liken taking a DNA swab at the time of arrest to fingerprinting.

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Federal appeals court to hear challenge to California DNA collection law

An Alabama man was charged this month with the 1980 murder of an Oxnard teen. A Placerville man was arrested last month for a 1986 rape and murder of a San Mateo teen. A San Francisco man is currently on trial for the murder and robbery of a tourist two decades ago.

Technological advances in genetic research and computers in recent years have turned solving "cold cases" into near-routine police work. The California Attorney General reports that the state's DNA database of close to 2 million samples spits outs more than 425 "hits" a month, more than double the average monthly rate of 183 in 2008. More than 10,000 suspects have been identified in the last five years.

But on Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union will argue before a federal appellate court in San Francisco that California's DNA collection efforts have become unconstitutionally aggressive and that the spike in hits comes at the expense of civil liberties.

The ACLU is asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down California's Proposition 69, which authorized police to obtain a genetic sample from every person arrested on felony charges, not just those convicted. Some 25 other states have enacted similar laws since 62 percent of the California electorate passed the measure in 2004.

The issue of the warrantless swabbing of the cheek with a Q-tip of everyone arrested for a felony has sparked one of the hottest "search and seizure" debates in state and federal courts in decades.

The U.S. Supreme Court has already signaled its willingness to review Maryland's DNA collection law after a federal appeals court there ruled it unconstitutional in April. The California Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court's overturning of the California law. Several other state and federal courts have already ruled or are weighing the issue throughout the country.

While the courts are sorting out the issue, California law enforcement officials are collecting more than 11,000 samples a month.

"Cold hit DNA is integral to bringing criminals to justice," said San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, whose office is prosecuting William Payne for the 1983 strangulation murder of Nikolaus Crumbley. Crumbley's body was found in the city's McLaren Park along with DNA that was finally matched to Payne earlier this year. Payne denies killing Crumbley, saying his DNA was found at the scene because the two had had consensual sex. The match was made after Payne submitted a DNA sample after an unrelated assault conviction.

"Almost three decades later, we have charged the person responsible for this horrific murder," Gascon said.

The 9th Circuit itself has previously upheld the California law, which went into full effect in 2009. But underscoring the importance of the debate, a majority of the court's 24 judges voted to reconsider that divided ruling of three-judge panel. The matter now goes before a special "en banc" court of 11 judges.

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Calif. DNA Collection From Arrestees Challenged