Category Archives: Transhuman News

(LONDON) Britain's Newcastle University says its scientists have received a license to create babies using DNA from three people to prevent women from passing on potentially fatal genetic diseases to their children the first time such approval has been granted.

The license was granted Thursday by the country's fertility regulator, according to the university.

In December, British officials approved the "cautious use" of the techniques, which aim to fix problems linked to mitochondria, the energy-producing structures outside a cell's nucleus. Faulty mitochondria can result in conditions including muscular dystrophy and major organ failure.

"Mitochondria diseases can be devastating for families affected and this is a momentous day for patients," said Doug Turnbull, director of the research at Newcastle University. The university has said it is aiming to treat up to 25 patients a year.

To help women with mitochondria problems from passing them on to their children, scientists remove the nucleus DNA from the egg of a prospective mother and insert it into a donor egg from which the donor DNA has been removed. This can happen before or after fertilization. The resulting embryo ends up with nucleus DNA from its parents but mitochondrial DNA from a donor. The DNA from the donor amounts to less than 1 percent of the resulting embryo's genes.

The license granted to Newcastle University relates only to the clinic's capacity to perform the techniques, Britain's fertility regulator said. The clinic must apply for each individual patient to be treated and no patient application has yet been approved.

Last year, U.S.-based doctors announced they had created the world's first baby using such techniques, after traveling to Mexico to perform the procedure, which has not been approved in the United States.

Critics have raised concerns about the treatment, saying it will put people at unnecessary risk of an untested procedure. Some say women with faulty mitochondria should choose simply to use egg donors and that using the new techniques will open the door to genetically modified "designer babies."

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British Scientists Get Approval to Create Babies Using DNA from 3 People - TIME

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Police hope DNA imaging will solve brutal cold-case murder of grandmother, 64 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Columbus investigators are trying a new tool, DNA phenotyping, which uses DNA evidence from crime scenes to create a computer-generated snapshot image of the person from whom the genetic material came. Now police have renderings of what Iris ... CPD seeks DNA technology to identify suspect of 2003 cold case murderWTVM all 4 news articles »

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Police hope DNA imaging will solve brutal cold-case murder of grandmother, 64 - Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

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A new job for DNA - The Economist

In this image made available by the Oregon Health and Science University, a faint white blotch in the tube at right is DNA that has been removed from a human egg, center. The red dot is from a laser used in the procedure.

AP Photo/Oregon Health & Science University

Britains Newcastle University says its scientists have received a license to create babies using DNA from three people, the first time such approval has been granted.

The license was granted by the countrys fertility regulator on Thursday, according to the university.

Play Video

The British Parliament took a historic vote Tuesday to allow the creation of babies from the DNA of three people. The controversial procedure is ...

In December, British officials approved the cautious use of the techniques, which are intended to prevent women from passing on fatal genetic diseases to their children. The new procedures fix problems linked to mitochondria, the energy-producing structures outside a cells nucleus. Faulty mitochondria can result in conditions including muscular dystrophy and major organ failure.

Last year, U.S.-based doctors announced they had created the worlds first baby using such techniques, after traveling to Mexico to perform the methods, which have not been approved in the United States. In that case, the mother had suffered fourmiscarriagesand had two children who died from a rare and generally fatal neurological disorder called Leigh syndrome, one at age 6 and one at 8 months.

Play Video

Doctors say the first baby has been born with DNA from 3 people: mother, father and an egg donor. The controversial technique was designed to pre...

The procedure used in that case, called spindle nuclear transfer, involves removing the healthy nucleus from one of the mothers eggs and transferring it to a donor egg which had had its nucleus removed. The resulting egg with nuclear DNA from the mother and mitochondrial DNA from a donor was then fertilized with the fathers sperm.

The resultingembryocontained genetic material from three parents the mother, the egg donor, and the father.

If you look at the amount of DNA, its almost like its 2.001 parents rather than three. But its DNA from three different people, CBS News medical contributor Dr. David Agus explained on CBS This Morning last year.

In Britain, leadersdisagreed heatedly on the issuewhile it was up for debate in the House of Commons, with some raising concerns about designer babies and playing God. Leading churches in Britain both Protestant and Catholic opposed the procedure on religious and ethical grounds, they said.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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UK grants first license to make babies using 3-person DNA - CBS News

DNA is basically nature's hard drive. Humans are the result of a three-dimensional computer program, written in tiny compounds wound up inside the nucleus of all our cells. It's a set of instructions, coded and saved that our bodies write and read to build proteins, construct cells, and perform thousands of other tasks.

Genetic engineering is basically us trying to hack our own hard drives, and we're learning more about the possibilities of accomplishing this every day. But, way back in 1964, a Soviet Physicist named Mikhail Neiman concocted the idea that we could use the compact, efficient, storage system of DNA to store not nature's code but whatever we wanted!

So far, we've only been able to decypher parts of nature's DNA programming. We haven't decoded all of this yet, but scientists do understand how the storage system works now. Meaning, we're real close to putting whatever pictures or files we want into DNA-storage.

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Seeker:Gold 'DNA Nanowires' Could Power Genetic Computers

io9:Soon you'll be backing up your hard drive using DNA

Twist Bioscience:Using Synthetic Biology to Engineer Membrane Proteins

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We Could Back Up The Entire Internet On A Gram Of DNA - Seeker ... - Seeker

Day 15 of La Mesa Street Murders Trial

YUMA, Ariz. - An expert in DNA forensic analysis told the jury she found Preston Strong's DNA on the steering wheel of Luis Rios' Dodge Durango, in day 15 of the La Mesa Street Murders trial.

According to Lorraine Heath, previously with the Arizona Department of Public Safety's (DPS) Crime Lab, DNA from at least four people was found on the Durango's steering wheel.

Rios' Dodge Durango went missing from the home shortly before police arrived on June 24, 2005, the night of the incident.

The prosecution alledges the suspect used the Durango as his getaway car.

On Tuesday, Heath told the jury that detectives collected and sent her six swabs with DNA evidence from the steering wheel.

"Now the police took swabs from various places in the Dodge Durango," prosecutor John Tate told the jury during opening statements on February 7, "These were sent to the DPS crime lab for DNA analysis by a scientist at the Department of Public Safety. Her name is Lorraine Heath and she created a profile from that DNA that was matched to a profile of Preston Strong."

On Tuesday, Heath confirmed Tate's explanation. However, she only considered three of the individuals to be "major contributors".

"When I look at the profile of more than one person, the information can tell if there is more DNA than another person. It is very dependent on the actual item, but we call those with more DNA "major contributors" or "significant contributors"," Heath told the jury.

Heath said Rios, Strong, and a third unidentified person were considered "major contributors".

"Luis Rios was definitely considered a significant contributor, as is expected for the owner of the vehicle," Heath explained.

Moreover, Strong's DNA was also greatly represented in the sampling.

"We also assign a weight to the decision so, in this case, we believe it is 9 million times more likely the three contributors' DNA belonged to Rios, Strong and an unknown person than if it was Rios and two unknown Hispanic individuals," Heath explained.

According to Heath, when she first tested and found the DNA, she didn't know it belonged to Strong.

"I initially didn't have Strong's DNA to reference it with. I wrote it down as a larger foreign contributor that wasn't Rios. Later when I got Strong's swab, I was able to match Strong to the steering wheel," Heath explained.

Heath said that she tested the DNA on August 25, 2005.

A sample of Strong's DNA was sent to her in late March of 2006. She created his profile on April 5, 2006 and identified him as the second "foreign contributor".

Heath said there was a fourth, or possibly more other minor contributors, whose DNA was found on the steering wheel.

"I wouldn't say the total number was eight, but it was at least four total contributors including minor contributors," Heath explained.

While Heath said she couldn't determine when the DNA was left by a person, she said the more of the person's DNA that is found, the higher they were the last to touch it, especially on something like a steering wheel.

"The steering wheel, for example, was handled a lot by the owner. Right after he touched it, his DNA would be there and if I were then to touch it, I will start rubbing off his DNA and adding mine," Heath explained, "Assuming the vehicle is in routine use by the owner, I would expect another significant contributor handled the vehicle fairly recently."

During cross examination, the defense questioned Heath about the DNA extraction process in 2005 and its evolution since then.

Heath answered that the process for extraction had remained the same, but new procedures in documentation had been implemented.

"I would say I am more likely to document more steps now, than I did then. We are encouraged to write more down," Heath said.

Heath added that per standard procedure, her findings were also peer reviewed by another colleague before being shared with detectives.

The defense also questioned Heath about the number of people whose DNA was tested in reference to the steering wheel.

Heath replied there were 18 total references.

Javier Frigo, Luis Leal Morisca, Raya Shaya, Kimberly Cole, Carlos Banda, Lester Cornelius, Michael McCormick, Arturo Romero and Susan Mejia were ruled out as being possible "significant contributors".

Diego Cisneros, Rebekah Rios, Danny Heredia, Inez Newman, Enrique Bedoya and Andreas Crawford, were ruled out as being "significant contributors" but were given inconclusive results in reference to them being possible "minor contributors".

"I can't say for sure that they aren't or that they are minor contributors, but they are excluded from being major contributors," Heath explained.

Defense Attorney Raymond Hanna further questioned Heath about other evidence items submitted for DNA testing.

Heath said she tested several other items and looked for matches with Strong's DNA but found none elsewhere.

"Strong's DNA was excluded from the 35 other items," Heath said.

A juror also asked about the DNA found on the other items.

"Many of the items collected matched the victims. There were few items with foreign DNA," Heath answered.

"Bindings are difficult to analyze from a DNA perspective. It is hard to get foreign DNA. Typically you just get the person that was bound. We figure one possibility for this is because there is so much friction from the person being bound, so the other DNA rubs off," Heath continued.

Heath said that the foreign DNA that was found on some of the items and bindings submitted could have come from any source, including detectives.

"It could be anything from the time the binding was removed to talking over things [evidence]," Heath explained," We don't like to think we are spitting when we're talking but we totally are."

Heath said trace levels of foreign DNA were found on 6-year-old Danny Heredia.

"But like I mentioned, they could come from anywhere," Heath said.

Yuma Police Department Lieutenant Wayne Boyd also took the stand on Tuesday.

Day 16 of the trial resumes on Monday, March 20.

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Day 15 of the La Mesa Murders trial: Strong's DNA found in Luis Rios' car - KYMA

March 16, 2017 11:10 PM

BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) The Bensalem Police Department has a new weapon in its fight against crime.

The department just unveiled a DNA system that will help track down suspects faster than ever before.

You have probably only seen it in an episode of CSI: a DNA system that finds matches in minutes and solves crime within an hour.

However, a forensic tool seen on television, called RapidHIT ID, really exists.

Officials Seek Owners Of 50,000 Stolen Items In Multi-Million Dollar Jewelry Burglary Ring

In fact, its now being used by real police to fight real crime in Bucks County.

I wish we had this technology back in 1987 when I started, said Bensalem Township Police Director Frederick Harran. It is really Star Wars stuff.

Bensalem Township police have become the first department in the country to have this almost-instant DNA system by IntegenX.

The system allows the department to streamline the DNA testing process.

It can test at the station instead of sending all their samples out to state labs.

The state was doing DNA processing in 18 months, said Harran. We are now doing DNA testing every single day in 90 minutes.

Philly Man Aims To Meet 10,000 People In 10 Years

Not quite solving the case as fast as the cops on CSI do it, but getting there.

This has exonerated people, too. DNA is not just about locking up the bad guy. Its also about exonerating innocent, Harran added.

Bensalem Township police can only match a suspects DNA against about 20,000 collected DNA samples within Bucks County.

There is legislation pending in Washington, D.C., that aims to give the RapidHIT ID system access to the national CODISdatabase.

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Bensalem PD First Department In US To Have Almost-Instant DNA ... - CBS Philly

New York Times

DNA Confirms Assassination Victim Was Half Brother of Kim Jong-un, Malaysia Says New York Times The forensics wing of the Hospital Kuala Lumpur, where the body of Kim Jong-nam is being held. Malaysian officials said a DNA sample from one of his children had been used to confirm his identity. Credit Lillian Suwanrumpha/Agence France-Presse ... Kim Jong Nam's Identity Verified by Child's DNA: Malaysian Deputy PMRadio Free Asia Ahmad Zahid: Jong-nam's son gave DNA to identify bodyThe Star Online North Korea shock as TRUE identity of 'Kim's murdered brother' revealed by DNADaily Star AsiaOne -Bangkok Post -New Straits Times Online all 312 news articles »

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DNA Confirms Assassination Victim Was Half Brother of Kim Jong-un, Malaysia Says - New York Times