Category Archives: Transhuman News

HOUSTON (CW39) Deputies credit a DNA match, with identifying a suspect, wanted in the burglary of a home. Back in December of 2019, deputies with Harris County Precinct 4, responded to a burglary at a home, in the 14100 block of Cypress in North Houston. While on scene, deputies collected a DNA sample from the burglarized residence. The evidence was sent to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science for testing.

In May 2021, Constable Investigators received a DNA match that linked suspect- Michael Washington to the burglary. Right now, he is no where to be found. Thats why the Constables office is calling on residents help find Mr. Washington.

Michael Washington is currently wanted by law enforcement for Burglary of a Habitation as well as an unrelated Aggravated Robbery with a Deadly Weapon case. He received No Bond out of the 177th District Court. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, you are urged to contact our dispatch or your local law enforcement.

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WANTED PHOTO: DNA leads to the identity of a suspect on the run, in a burglary of a home - CW39

Four years after the execution of an inmate convicted of murdering his Jacksonville neighbor in 1993, new DNA evidence has emerged revealing genetic material and fingerprints from an unknown male, according to a report released Friday from the Innocence Project and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Ledell Lee maintained his innocence until he was executed on April 20, 2017, for the murder of Debra Reese. Lee was convicted in 1995.

DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene, including the murder weapon and a bloody shirt, revealed the profile of an unknown male. New fingerprints found on crime scene evidence could also not be identified, according to the Innocence Project and the ACLU.

The DNA and fingerprint profiles have been entered into a national database but so far no matches have been identified.

While the results obtained 29 years after the evidence was collected proved to be incomplete and partial, it is notable that there are now new DNA profiles that were not available during the trial and post-conviction proceedings in Mr. Lees case, Nina Morrison, Innocence Project senior litigation counsel, said in a statement.

We are hopeful that one or more of these forensic law enforcement databases will generate additional information in the future, Morrison said.

More:
New DNA information emerges in Ledell Lee case, 4 years after execution - Arkansas Online

Salk scientists reveal new insights into neurodegenerative disorders and potential for genetic therapies.

Neurons lack the ability to replicate their DNA, so theyre constantly working to repair damage to their genome. Now, a new study by Salk scientists finds that these repairs are not random, but instead focus on protecting certain genetic hot spots that appear to play a critical role in neural identity and function.

The findings, published in the April 2, 2021, issue of Science, give novel insights into the genetic structures involved in aging and neurodegeneration, and could point to the development of potential new therapies for diseases such Alzheimers, Parkinsons and other age-related dementia disorders.

In this image of a neuron nucleus, bright spots show areas of focused genetic repair. Credit: Salk Institute/Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center

This research shows for the first time that there are sections of genome that neurons prioritize when it comes to repair, says Professor and Salk President Rusty Gage, the papers co-corresponding author. Were excited about the potential of these findings to change the way we view many age-related diseases of the nervous system and potentially explore DNA repair as a therapeutic approach.

Unlike other cells, neurons generally dont replace themselves over time, making them among the longest-living cells in the human body. Their longevity makes it even more important that they repair lesions in their DNA as they age, in order to maintain their function over the decades of a human life span. As they get older, neurons ability to make these genetic repairs declines, which could explain why people develop age-related neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinsons.

To investigate how neurons maintain genome health, the study authors developed a new technique they term Repair-seq. The team produced neurons from stem cells and fed them synthetic nucleosidesmolecules that serve as building blocks for DNA. These artificial nucleosides could be found via DNA sequencing and imaged, showing where the neurons used them to make repairs to DNA that was damaged by normal cellular processes. While the scientists expected to see some prioritization, they were surprised by just how focused the neurons were on protecting certain sections of the genome.

What we saw was incredibly sharp, well-defined regions of repair; very focused areas that were substantially higher than background levels, says co-first and co-corresponding author Dylan Reid, a former Salk postdoctoral scholar and now a fellow at Vertex Pharmaceutics. The proteins that sit on these hot spots are implicated in neurodegenerative disease, and the sites are also linked to aging.

The authors found approximately 65,000 hot spots that covered around 2 percent of the neuronal genome. They then used proteomics approaches to detect what proteins were found at these hot spots, implicating many splicing-related proteins. (These are involved in the eventual production of other proteins.) Many of these sites appeared to be quite stable when the cells were treated with DNA-damaging agents, and the most stable DNA repair hot spots were found to be strongly associated with sites where chemical tags attach (methylation) that are best at predicting neuronal age.

From left: Rusty Gage and Dylan Reid. Credit: Salk Institute, Dylan Reid

Previous research has focused on identifying the sections of DNA that suffer genetic damage, but this is the first time researchers have looked for where the genome is being heavily repaired.

We flipped the paradigm from looking for damage to looking for repair, and thats why we were able to find these hot spots, Reid says. This is really new biology that might eventually change how we understand neurons in the nervous system, and the more we understand that, the more we can look to develop therapies addressing age-related diseases.

Gage, who holds the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease, adds, Understanding which areas within the genome are vulnerable to damage is a very exciting topic for our lab. We think Repair-seq will be a powerful tool for research, and we continue to explore additional new methods to study genome integrity, particularly in relation to aging and disease.

Reference: Incorporation of a nucleoside analog maps genome repair sites in postmitotic human neurons by Dylan A. Reid, Patrick J. Reed, Johannes C. M. Schlachetzki, Ioana I. Nitulescu, Grace Chou, Enoch C. Tsui, Jeffrey R. Jones, Sahaana Chandran, Ake T. Lu, Claire A. McClain, Jean H. Ooi, Tzu-Wen Wang, Addison J. Lana, Sara B. Linker, Anthony S. Ricciardulli, Shong Lau, Simon T. Schafer, Steve Horvath, Jesse R. Dixon, Nasun Hah, Christopher K. Glass and Fred H. Gage, 2 April 2021, Science.DOI: 10.1126/science.abb9032

Other authors on the study are Patrick Reed, Ioana Nitulescu, Enoch Tsui, Jeffrey Jones, Claire McClain, Simon Schafer, Grace Chou, Tzu-Wen Wang, Nasun Hah, Sahaana Chandran and Jesse Dixon of Salk; Johannes Schlachetzki, Addison Lana, and Christopher Glass of the University of California, San Diego; Ake Lu and Steve Horvath of the University of California, Los Angeles.

The research was supported by the American Heart Association, the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, the JPB Foundation, the Dolby Foundation, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, and the National Institutes of Health.

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Hot Spots of Aging and Disease Revealed by How Brain Cells Repair Their DNA - SciTechDaily

If our criminal justice system is to pull from the brink of insanity, it should be designed not just to punish, but to rehabilitate without foreclosing that opportunity.

The death penalty kills innocent people.

This is what reads upon the hoodie and T-shirt from the Forgive Everyone Collective, an abolitionist screen printing collective from Grand Rapids, Michigan. On it, the names of 173 individuals who were sentenced to death and later exonerated are featured on the item, and Ledell Lee might have been another to addbut he was executed for murder in a flurry of lethal injections despite lawyers calls for DNA testing.

No one should be executed when there is a possibility that that person is innocent, attorney Nina Morrison said in April 2017, just after Leeconvicted in the 1990sbecame the first person put to death in Arkansas in more than a decade. This week, four years later, attorneys shared word that genetic material from the murder weapon in Lees case pointed to someone else. On the handle of the bloody club apparently used to bludgeon Debra Reese to death, new testing found DNA from an unknown man, in an effort led by The Innocence Project, the American Civil Liberties Union and Lees family to exonerate him even after his execution.

25 states, including, Kansas, Indiana, Virginia and Texas still have the death penalty, according to a 2020 study. Four others, Colorado, Pennsylvania, California, and Oregon have suspended the law until deemed worthy again. And even despite what may be looked at like diminished usage, the flaws and failures of capital punishment are more apparent than ever before. In a study released in October 2015, 156 individuals have been exonerated from death row, which means for every 10 people who have been sentenced to death, only one person has been set free. As Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson tells it, even if the new evidence were to have been submitted before Ledell Lees execution date, he wouldve ignored the chance of examining the discovery and called for his death. They [the Supreme Court] affirmed the convictions and its my duty to carry out the law, Hutchinson said, reacting during Wednesdays news briefing. The evidence obviously thats been uncovered is inconclusive and the fact is that the jury found him guilty based upon the information that they had.

Guilty.

It is uniquely interesting how that word can subscribe a man to death in a Christian country that professes to expound values found in the Ten Commandments. While many outside a certain demographic know this to be untrue, you would think that those Boastful Bible Thumpers would realize the hypocrisy in their behavior. In the King James version of the Holy Scriptures, the argument is made that thou shalt not kill should be interpreted as thou shalt not murder, which when placed against how many innocent lives the American death penalty has taken, that this act of justice would be deemed an affront against God.

According to the Criminal Justice Project of the NAACP, there are 2,620 people on death row in the US as of Jan. 1, 2020.

This includes Mumia Abu Jamal, a political activist and journalist who was sentenced to death in 1982 for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer, but whos sentence was overturned by a Federal court in 2011.

And since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated by the US Supreme Court, states with the legal authority to do so have executed 1,516 people (as of July 2020).

How does ending ones lifeespecially an innocent or potentially innocent onemake one accountable for their actions? The Forgive Everyone Collective defines accountability as understanding ones harm, choosing transformation, and committing to systemic change. Ledell Lees family, equipped with evidence that counters the claim, even after his execution, points out just how important it is to abolish the death penalty. According to The Innocence Project, eighteen people have been proven innocent and exonerated by DNA testing in the United States after serving time on death row. Think about how those people served a combine 229 years in prisonincluding 202 years on death rowfor crimes they didnt commit, and then think of them being denied because new evidence is inconclusive or the jury found them guilty based upon the information that they had.

And then open your eyes and see Ledell Lee.

While his innocence or guilt can no longer be argued, what can is that the death penalty has again come under spotlight for all the wrong reasons. It is state-sanctioned revenge that does not achieve accountability, healing or transformationand it definitely does not improve public or personal safety.

Were all more than the worst thing weve ever done, because were all capable of change and growth. The death penalty affects and traumatizes everyone it touches. If our criminal justice system is to pull from the brink of insanity, it should be designed not just to punish, but to rehabilitate and offer transformation, redemption and gracewithout foreclosing that opportunity.

Joane Amay is the Beauty and Style Director at Ebony magazine. A hoarder of shoes, baubles and sparkly things, she dreams one day of owning her own private island.

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DNA and the Death Penalty: Why Ledell Lees Case Should Increase Calls for Abolishment - EBONY

Westchester County prosecutors have given the green light for DNA testing on evidence linked to the 1992 conviction of Carolyn Warmus in the Fatal Attraction killing of her lovers wife.

Two years ago, Warmus, a former school teacher in Westchester, was granted parole following her conviction for her alleged role in the famed 1989 fatal shooting of Greenburgh resident Betty Jeanne Solomon, the wife of Warmus' lover, Paul Solomon, nine times in the back.

Warmus was sentenced to a term of 25 years to life in prison.

Warmus and Solomon had met when they both were teaching at the Greenville Elementary School in Edgemont. At the time of the fatal incident, Warmus, the daughter of a millionaire insurance executive, was 27, while her victim was 40.

Since being imprisoned, Warmus has vehemently maintained her innocence, and sought to have several pieces of evidence tested to determine if they can exonerate her and identify a new suspect.

This week, Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocahs office agreed to perform DNA testing on that evidence, which includes a glove and bag found near Solomons body, that contributed to Warmus' conviction.

According to Warmus attorneys, the DNA testing could represent a significant development in clearing her name. Both they and the prosecution are set to meet at a later date to determine how testing will proceed.

"However, because a prior DA's administration initially consented to DNA testing, and because we have only just established this office's first-ever independent Conviction Review Bureau and developed the bureaus intake protocols, we will make an exception and consent to the requested DNA testing in this specific case," a spokesperson for Rocah stated.

The murder garnered national attention and happened two years after the release of the blockbuster movie Fatal Attraction, in which longtime Westchester resident Glenn Close, who lived in Bedford, starred as a book editor who had an affair with a happily married man, played by Michael Douglas.

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DNA Testing To Be Done In Nationally Known 'Fatal Attraction' Case In Westchester - Peekskill Daily Voice