Category Archives: Transhuman News

Steve Wilkos DNA Bombshell part 2 )

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Steve Wilkos DNA Bombshell part 2 ) - Video

Steve Wilkos DNA Bombshell part 6 )

By: vaksarbobmxj

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Steve Wilkos DNA Bombshell part 6 ) - Video

Scientists interested in engineering tissue would like to find a way to get cells and other biological components to organize and assemble into an organ similar to the way they do naturally.

At the Harvards Wyss Institute, Peng Yin, an assistant professor of systems biology, and his team found a way program DNA to act a glue that encourages gel-like cubes smaller than salt grains to self-assemble into larger structures. The cubes could be programmed to form scaffolding that hosts cells, which eventually grow into organs.

DNA Robots Inject Deadly Punch To Bad Cells

The self-assembly works because of the way DNA sticks together. DNA is made of four molecules, called bases. They are adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine, or A, G, C and T. To come together into the familiar ladder-like, double-helix structure of DNA, the molecules have to link in a specific order. The rungs of the ladder have to be either A linked to T or G linked to C. So, if a string of bases on one side of the double helix ladder is AGCT, the rung on the other has to be TCGA. Other combinations will not bind to it. This binding property makes DNA perfect as a biological glue.

Knowing this, the Wyss team coated cubes of hydrogel, a water-based gel compatible with the human body, with specific pairs of DNA base molecules and arranged them so that the half-rungs of the ladder stuck out. Next, they put the cubes in a liquid solution containing other molecules. The cubes only attached to partners cubes that were coated with complementary DNA. With this technique, the scientists were able to build crosses and squares. And according to the researchers, theres no reason they couldnt make more complicated shapes. The idea is that one day, DNA-coated hydrogels could be injected into patients that have organ damage. The hydogels would self-assemble into the appropriate shape and attract cells to grow on them, forming repair tissue.

The experiments appeared in the Sept. 9 issue of the journal Nature Communications.

via Wyss Institute

Credit: Peng Yin, Wyss Institute

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Programmable DNA 'Glue' Self-Assembles Cells

Raleigh, N.C. A DNA analyst for the North Carolina State Crime Lab testified Tuesday that Laura Ackerson's DNA was found on a blue latex glove found in the trash from the Raleigh apartment complex of her ex-boyfriend, who is on trial for her July 2011 death.

Full video: Grant Hayes murder trial

Grant Hayes, 34, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if he's found guilty of first-degree murder in the case.

Prosecutors contend Hayes, embroiled in a bitter child custody dispute with Ackerson, killed her, dismembered her body and dumped her remains in a creek in Richmond, Texas.

He and his wife, Amanda Perry Hayes, 41, were both arrested 12 days after the crime.

Defense attorneys, however, say it was Amanda Hayes who killed Ackerson during an argument and that their client helped get rid of the body because he didn't think anyone would believe the death was unplanned.

Detectives combed through the trash from the couple's apartment complex in the early days of their investigation and recovered numerous items, including disposable respirators, towels, bathroom floor mats, clothing and the couple's vacuum cleaner.

But Sharon Hinton, a forensic DNA analyst with the State Crime Lab, said she was only able to conclusively identify Ackerson's DNA on the blue latex gloves. A second set of DNA was also on the gloves, but Hinton said testing to see if it matched either Grant or Amanda Hayes was inconclusive.

Testing was also inconclusive on other items, some of which all had blood on them, Hinton said, likely because of there wasn't enough DNA to test or the quality of the DNA wasn't good enough.

The tests of several hair samples for DNA were also inconclusive, but Crime Lab hair analyst Jennifer Remy said hairs from a bath tub drain from the Hayeses' apartment seemed unusual and that they were possibly eroded.

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Ackerson's DNA found on latex gloves from Hayes' trash

Published: 9/10/2013 - Updated: 5 hours ago

BY BLADE STAFF

Toledo Police said that DNA tests confirmed that human remains found in an East Toledo home last week were of missing toddler Elaina Steinfurth.

Police searched 704 Federal St. Thursday and recovered a box that police said contained immature human skeletal remains they believed were of the toddler, who was last seen alive about three months ago. A DNA sample was sent to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation last week, with work done over the weekend to confirm the identity.

RELATED: Storify page tracking the ElainaSteinfurth case.

Elaina was 18-months-old when she was last seen at the Federal Street home owned by the family of her mother's estranged boyfriend. The girl's mother, Angela Steinfurth, stayed overnight in the home the night of June 1 with her two daughters and then-boyfriend Steven King II, 23. The girls' father, Terry Steinfurth II, 25, went to the home at about 2 p.m. on June 2 to pick up the girls, but was only given their 4-year-old daughter, Kylee.

Mrs. Steinfurth, 25, who is estranged from but still legally married to Mr. Steinfurth, said she didn't know where the toddler was, police have reported.

Mrs. Steinfurth and Mr. King remain in the Lucas County jail, charged with obstructing justice for allegedly lying to police during the ongoing investigation. Prosecutors said they would consider additional charges if the remains were identified as Elaina's.

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DNA confirms body is missing toddler

DNA is the blueprint for life. Could it also become the template for making a new generation of computer chips based not on silicon, but on an experimental material known as graphene? Thats the theory behind a process that Stanford chemical engineering professor Zhenan Bao reveals in Nature Communications.

Bao and her co-authors, former post-doctoral fellows Anatoliy Sokolov and Fung Ling Yap, hope to solve a problem clouding the future of electronics: consumers expect silicon chips to continue getting smaller, faster and cheaper, but engineers fear that this virtuous cycle could grind to a halt. Why has to do with how silicon chips work.

Everything starts with the notion of the semiconductor, a type of material that can be induced to either conduct or stop the flow of electricity. Silicon has long been the most popular semiconductor material used to make chips.

The basic working unit on a chip is the transistor. Transistors are tiny gates that switch electricity on or off, creating the zeroes and ones that run software.

To build more powerful chips, designers have done two things at the same time: theyve shrunk transistors in size and also swung those gates open and shut faster and faster.

The net result of these actions has been to concentrate more electricity in a diminishing space. So far that has produced small, faster, cheaper chips. But at a certain point, heat and other forms of interference could disrupt the inner workings of silicon chips.

"We need a material that will let us build smaller transistors that operate faster using less power," Bao said.

Graphene has the physical and electrical properties to become a next-generation semiconductor material if researchers can figure out how to mass-produce it.

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Visually it resembles chicken wire. Electrically this lattice of carbon atoms is an extremely efficient conductor.

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Using DNA to assemble a transistor from graphene

Public release date: 10-Sep-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Raquel Maurier rmaurier@ualberta.ca 780-492-5986 University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have made a basic science discovery that advances the understanding of how DNA repairs itself. When DNA becomes too damaged it ultimately leads to cancer.

Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry researcher Mark Glover and his colleagues published their findings in the peer-reviewed journal, Structure (Cell Press), earlier this summer. For years, scientists thought two key proteins involved in DNA repair operated in exactly the same way. Glover's team discovered how the proteins operate and communicate is vastly different information that could lead to improved cancer treatments.

Glover explains that a protein known as BRCA1 acts like a hallway monitor constantly scanning DNA for damage. At the first sign of problems, this protein figures out what kind of help is needed, and "radios" in a cleanup crew of other proteins.

A second protein, known as TopBP1, ensures that DNA can copy itself when needed. When this process stalls due to DNA damage, this protein also calls in a cleanup crew. But Glover likens its method of communication to tweets, rather than radio.

"The two proteins may be related and look very similar, but their roles and the way they communicate are in fact very different, which was surprising to us," Glover says. "Each protein plays a role in recognizing damaged regions of DNA, but the problem they each solve is different.

"The question now is how can we use this information to try to improve cancer therapies? Could we temporarily knock out cancer DNA's ability to repair itself from radiation damage? Could we administer radiation at a point that prevents cancer DNA from copying itself? Could we inhibit the activity of proteins that are normally trying to run around and fix the damage?

"Maybe some of these ideas could ultimately translate into less radiation or chemotherapy needed for patients, if the treatment can be more targeted," says Glover, who works in the Department of Biochemistry.

His team is continuing its research in this area, and wants to learn more about the role of the TopBP1 protein and why it favours communicating with a specific protein. They also want to conduct tests in their lab to see if the use of certain medications could alter the way these proteins work in a way that could result in new or improved cancer treatments.

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Discovery about DNA repair could lead to improved cancer treatments

Human remains found in a box in the rafters of a garage are those of a toddler last seen about three months ago inside a house on the same property, police said Tuesday.

DNA tests confirmed the skeletal remains are of 19-month-old Elaina Steinfurth, said Toledo police Sgt. Joe Heffernan.

Investigators found the remains last Thursday inside a box behind other containers and piles of trash in the detached garage's rafters. The home where the girl was last known to be alive belongs to the family of a man who had been dating the girl's mother.

Both the mother, Angela Steinfurth, and her now-estranged boyfriend, Steven King II, are in jail and accused of obstructing justice. Prosecutors will decide whether to file any additional charges, Heffernan said.

"They're not going anywhere, anytime soon," he said.

Steinfurth and her two daughters stayed with King at his family's home on June 1, investigators said. The girl's father went to the residence to pick up his two daughters the next day, but only Elaina's 4-year-old sister could be found.

Investigators have said Steinfurth knew Elaina had been seriously injured and didn't seek medical help. They would not say what type of injuries the toddler had or who caused them.

Steinfurth has been in jail since mid-June. Her attorney has declined to comment.

King was charged in July with lying to investigators about the child's disappearance. He told reporters after his arrest that he is innocent.

Authorities, including the FBI, and volunteers had searched homes, parks, vacant buildings and the Maumee River near downtown Toledo for any sign of Elaina.

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DNA Tests Confirm Remains Are Missing Ohio Toddler

Police are searching for a crime watch volunteer who they say has been connected by DNA to at least four sexual assaults in a South Dallas neighborhood in the past two months.

Authorities took Van Dralan Dixson, 38, into custody briefly last week and obtained a DNA sample from him, but lacked evidence to bring charges at the time, police Maj. Jeff Cotner said.

Three arrest warrants issued Monday and another on Saturday charge Dixson with aggravated sexual assault in four attacks in Fair Park, southeast of downtown Dallas. DNA test results from two other attacks were pending, while DNA evidence from two more in the inner-city neighborhood were not available, Cotner said.

Federal agents were assisting city police in the manhunt, and police have interviewed friends, family, and associates for clues to Dixson's whereabouts, Cotner said. Dixson's car was found abandoned in Garland, a northeastern Dallas suburb, and police have sought a warrant to search the vehicle, Cotner said.

As a crime-watch volunteer, Dixson would patrol the streets several times a week, neighbors said.

"He just walks every night, all night," one resident, Billy Washington, told Dallas television station WFAA. "Every time I would look out my window, or out my door, he was walking."

Dixson has been part of the area's neighborhood crime-watch group, the Mill City Community Association, since January. The group's president, Alendra Lyons, didn't return messages Monday from The Associated Press.

The group said Dixson's duties were limited to telling neighbors about the association, not patrolling at night. Neighbors told The Dallas Morning News that he was referred to as "neighborhood watch," and it seemed he was patrolling the area almost every night.

State criminal records show Dixson was arrested and convicted of aggravated robbery in 1993. He was also arrested as recently as last month on a deadly conduct charge, according to Dallas County records.

Authorities say they believe one man is responsible for the nine sexual assaults that have been reported in the Fair Park area since June. In each incident, the attacker approached his victims in the early morning hours, forced them to secluded areas nearby, then robbed and sexually assaulted them.

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Dallas Police Say DNA Links Suspect to Rapes