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DNA Technology Moves Forward: Lifting Skin Cells Pivotal in Getting Match on '96 Rape Suspect by Matt ZapotoskyWhen the Maryland State Police lab told her that the evidence didn't contain enough bodily fluid for a complete DNA profile, Shelly Progovitz was crushed. A man who had brutally raped a 12-year-old girl behind a middle school in Waldorf in 1996 and then tied her hands and feet and forced a sock into her mouth would never be convicted for what he had done. But Progovitz, a crime scene technician, did not let her disappointment keep her on the sidelines long. That night, she went home and searched on Google for something she had read about in scientific journals but had never used: "touch DNA" (Click to read more).
Anthrax case spurs new germ-gene sleuthin. Microbial forensics may help exonerate or incriminate much like DNA can by Lauran NeergaardWASHINGTON - The anthrax killer spurred a whole new branch of science that could give the United States a head start in the next emergency — whether it is investigating more bioterrorism or even a food poisoning outbreak. It is called microbial forensics, a way of using a germ's genetics to help exonerate or incriminate much as human DNA can today. Microbes — whether bacteria like salmonella and E. coli, or viruses like HIV — have unique genetic signatures that can allow scientists to tell even the most closely related strains apart. The forensics side comes from adding crime-investigation techniques to this advanced microbiology used by disease detectives (click to read more).
Scientist: DNA led agents to anthrax suspect by Associated PressDNA taken from the bodies of people killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks helped lead investigators to Bruce Ivins, who oversaw the highly specific type of toxin in an Army lab, a government scientist said Sunday. Using new genome technology, researchers looked at samples of cells from the victims to identify the kind of anthrax Ames strain that killed them, the scientist said. They noticed very subtle differences in the DNA of the strain used in the attacks than in other types of Ames anthrax. With that, investigators linked the specific type of anthrax back to Ivins' biological weapons lab at Ft. Detrick in Frederick, Md., where he oversaw its use and handling for research (Click to read more).
Gene discoveries yield autism clues by APHarvard researchers have discovered half a dozen new genes involved in autism that suggest the disorder strikes in a brain that can't properly form new connections. The findings also may help explain why intense education programs do help some autistic children -- because certain genes that respond to experience weren't missing, they were just stuck in the "off" position (Click to read more).
Genes affect voter participation by AFPGenes can affect whether people tend to vote in elections or not, according to a US study released this week that suggested that the urge to cast a ballot is inherited. Donating to campaigns, running for public office and going to rallies are also impacted by genetic makeup, said the research by two political scientists and one psychologist published in the American Political Science Review (Click to read more).
Biologist teaches the nation's judges about genetics by Claudia DreifusJames P. Evans, a physician and molecular biologist, teaches genetics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He also directs the school's Clinical Cancer Genetics Services, counseling patients about genetic testing. On weekends Dr. Evans, under the auspices of the Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource Center ?a Congressionally mandated program ?teaches the nation's judges about genetics. Dr. Evans, 49, was interviewed recently in New York; he had come to speak at the World Science Festival (Click to read more).
Change in diet, exercise may change your genes. Study: After 3 months, lifestyle changes made a difference in 500 genes by ReutersComprehensive lifestyle changes including a better diet and more exercise can lead not only to a better physique, but also to swift and dramatic changes at the genetic level, U.S. researchers said on Monday. In a small study, the researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormone therapy. The men underwent three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy products, moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation. As expected, they lost weight, lowered their blood pressure and saw other health improvements. But the researchers found more profound changes when they compared prostate biopsies taken before and after the lifestyle changes. ‘’After the three months, the men had changes in activity in about 500 genes — including 48 that were turned on and 453 genes that were turned off (Click to read more).
Fate of your pate: DNA test tells odds of baldness by Jason MillmanInstead of nervously staring at the long line of bald domes in their family tree, young men who are worried about losing their hair can now take a DNA test that will determine their odds of going bald before 40. HairDX, an Irvine, Calif.-based company that created the test, says the test searches for a genetic variant that 95% of all bald men share. Men who test positive for the genetic variant are at 60% risk of going bald before 40. The test also identifies whether a man has a less-common variant that means an 85% chance of not going bald by that age. For $149, men can swab the inside of their cheek and send off the DNA sample to the company, which sends back results three to four weeks later that give all the hairy details about what is in store for their scalp. The test, released in January, is available on the company website and some doctors' offices (Click to read more).
The genetic detectives. A new government program will study, diagnose and ultimately treat people with mysterious diseases by Mary CarmichaelFor the first four years of his life, Zachary Townsley was a medical mystery. His mother, Janine, noticed something strange about him at six months: he had "a little hump in his back." The family pediatrician said not to worry, but by one year, Zachary had a new symptom: at an age when most babies were starting to walk, he wasn't crawling. The Townsleys went to a neurologist, but he couldn't find a diagnosis that would explain Zachary's troubles. The results of a chromosomal test came back clean. Occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, an audiologist: none of them could tell the Townsleys what their son had. By the time he was almost 4, Zachary was walking, but with bent knees. He had developed a speech impediment, and his once angelic facial features had begun to grow in odd proportions. Other kids stared at him on the playground. Clearly, something was wrong. But what on earth was it? Zachary's story is sadly familiar to millions of Americans who suffer from—well, it's hard to say what they suffer from, and that's the problem. Twenty-five million people are currently afflicted with rare diseases, and for many of them, a proper diagnosis can take years or decades, if it comes at all. Some of these conditions are so new that they don't have names yet. Those that do have names—Blackfan Diamond anemia, periodic paralysis, Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome—may strike just a few hundred or a few thousand people. They can mimic much more common ailments, masquerading as high blood pressure or fatigue. Patients who have them may be misunderstood and misjudged, and they have no choice but to go untreated: doctors throw up their hands in confusion, friends wonder if the symptoms are all in the head. Often, when patients do finally get a correct diagnosis, irreversible damage has already been done. "If they go for 20 years without a diagnosis they can accrue all sorts of complications," says Dr. William Gahl, the clinical director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. "By the time they know what it is they have, they're medical disasters." Last month it seemed these unfortunate patients might be getting a major new source of help. On May 19, the National Institutes of Health revealed its new Undiagnosed Diseases Program, an interdisciplinary center for studying, diagnosing and ultimately treating patients with unidentified illnesses (Click to read more).
Meteorites brought DNA "ancestors" to earth, study says by Ker ThanSome of life's raw ingredients may have originated in space, says a new analysis of an Australian meteorite that adds more fuel to the controversial theory. Researchers discovered the organic molecules uracil and xanthine in the meteorite and confirmed they could not have formed on Earth. These molecules, called nucleobases, are precursors to DNA, a set of genetic instructions for organisms on Earth. Uracil and xanthine may also have been stepping-stones to RNA, which builds proteins in organisms. "Emergent life systems may have adopted nucleobases from meteoritic fragments for use in an early and primitive genetic material, enabling them to pass on their successful features to the next generations," said study leader Zita Martins of Imperial College London. The finding supports an idea first proposed by astronomer Carl Sagan and a colleague in 1992. Some of life's crucial building blocks, they said, were forged in the hearts of roving comets and asteroids, which seeded them throughout the cosmos (Click to read more).
Just smelling the coffee can wake up genes by Henry FountainIf you’re the type of person who perks up in the morning at just the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, you are not alone. There are some laboratory rats you should meet. While countless studies have looked at what occurs when coffee is drunk, far fewer have examined the effects of sniffing the aroma, which contains many volatile compounds. So Han-Seok Seo of Seoul National University and colleagues exposed stressed-out rats that had been deprived of sleep to coffee bean aroma and then evaluated the effects by performing genetic and protein analyses on brain tissue. They compared the results with tests on other rats, including some that were sleep deprived but not exposed to coffee. As they report in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, they found that the expression levels of 13 selected genes were different between the stress-with-coffee rats and the stress-only animals. With 11 of the genes, levels were higher for the stress-with-coffee group; with the other two the levels were lower (Click to read more).
Albinos, long shunned, face threat in Tanzania by Jeffrey GettlemanDAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Samuel Mluge steps outside his office and scans the sidewalk. His pale blue eyes dart back and forth, back and forth, trying to focus. The sun used to be his main enemy, but now he has others. Mr. Mluge is an albino, and in Tanzania now there is a price for his pinkish skin. “I feel like I am being hunted,” he said. Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but recently in Tanzania it has taken a wicked twist: at least 19 albinos, including children, have been killed and mutilated in the past year, victims of what Tanzanian officials say is a growing criminal trade in albino body parts (Click to read more).
New hints seen that red wine may slow aging by Nicholas WadeRed wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs. The study is based on dosing mice with resveratrol, an ingredient of some red wines. Some scientists are already taking resveratrol in capsule form, but others believe it is far too early to take the drug, especially using wine as its source, until there is better data on its safety and effectiveness. The report is part of a new wave of interest in drugs that may enhance longevity. On Monday, Sirtris, a startup founded in 2004 to develop drugs with the same effects as resveratrol, completed its sale to GlaxoSmithKline for $720 million. Sirtris is seeking to develop drugs that activate protein agents known in people as sirtuins (Click to read more).
Colon cancer in family predicts better survival by the New York TimesPeople with a family history of colon cancer carry the emotional burden of knowing they have twice the risk of developing the disease themselves. But now, a new study may ease some of their anxiety. Patients with a family history of colon cancer are also more likely to survive the disease. The surprising paradox, published in Wednesday’s Journal (Click to read more).
A mother's gamble pays off: Boy whose skin can't attach is healing by Liz SzaboTwo-year-old Nate Liao has spent his young life swathed in bandages from head to toe. Nate has a rare and deadly genetic disease that prevents his skin from attaching to his body. The slightest friction against his skin, such as the rubbing of the seam from his shirt, gave him blisters the size of water balloons. Swallowing anything but baby food tore his esophagus. Yet today, seven months after an experimental therapy at the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital Fairview, the New Jersey toddler is eating Oreos. He's slurping chicken noodle soup, cleaning his bowl and holding up his spoon for more. He's wearing a regular T-shirt. And, for at least a few hours a day, some of his bandages are coming off (Click to read more).
Color, controversy and DNA by Henry Louis Gates Jr.A conversation between The Root Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nobel laureate and DNA pioneer James Watson about race and genetics, Jewish intelligence, blacks and basketball and Watson's African roots (Click to read more).
DNA offers clues to Greenland’s first inhabitants by Nicholas WadeA swatch of hair, so thick and tangled it could have belonged to man or bear, has provided answers about a mysterious culture and its origins half a world away. The culture is that of the first people to have occupied Greenland some 4,500 years ago. Known to archaeologists as the first Paleo-Eskimo culture, it gave way to a second Paleo-Eskimo culture some 2,500 years ago and then 700 years ago to the Thule culture of the present-day Inuit peoples. Some archaeologists suggested that each culture might have descended from its predecessor, but proof required obtaining DNA from the earlier cultures and comparing it with that of the Inuit (Click to read more).
Do remains belong to prominent pharaoh? Egypt plans to test DNA of 3,500-year-old mummy to get the answer by Salah NasrawiCAIRO, Egypt - Egypt plans to conduct a DNA test on a 3,500-year-old mummy to determine if it is King Thutmose I, one of the most important pharaohs, the country's chief archaeologist said Thursday. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief, said the DNA test and an X-ray will be carried out on a mummy found at the site of ancient Thebes on the west bank of the Nile, what is today Luxor's Valley of the Kings, the Middle East News Agency reported. Hawass said a mummy on display in the Egyptian Museum that was purported for many years to be Thutmose I was not actually the ancient ruler's remains (Click to read more).
Biotech company to auction chances to clone a dog by James BarronA California company is planning a string of online auctions next month to clone five dogs, with the bidding to start at $100,000. Scientists consider dogs among the most difficult animals to clone because they have an unusual reproductive biology, more so than humans. But the company behind the auctions, BioArts International, maintains that the technology is ready, and it is calling the dog cloning project Best Friends Again. It has scheduled the auctions for June 18. BioArts says it has licensed patents issued in the 1990s after researchers in Scotland cloned Dolly the sheep. BioArts also arranged a partnership with the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea. BioArts says one of the principal scientists there is Hwang Woo Suk, who in 2005 was involved in cloning a male Afghan hound. He and his Korean colleagues named that dog Snuppy, for Seoul National University puppy (Click to read more).
Extinct tiger gene resurrected in a mouse. Rodent expresses injected genetic material of Tasmanian Tiger by Charles Q. ChoiDNA from an extinct creature has been resurrected in a live animal for the first time. The genetic material, extracted from the extinct Tasmanian tiger, proved functional in mice. "As more and more species of animals become extinct, we are continuing to lose critical knowledge of gene function and their potential," said researcher Andrew Pask, a molecular biologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Reviving genes from extinct animals can't bring them back to life, but it could help retrieve this potentially valuable knowledge. "This research has enormous potential for many applications including the development of new biomedicines and gaining a better understanding of the biology of extinct animals," said researcher Richard Behringer at the University of Texas (Click to read more).
Chronicle of a death foretold by Jennifer SeniorOne of the wonders of the genome is how it enables us to time-travel, both backward and forward. Scribbled within it are clues to our ancestry, which can give us an emboldening sense of continuity, coherence, place — how marvelous to imagine ourselves the sons of Levi, the daughters of African queens! But scrawled within it, too, are clues about our future, which can be downright terrifying. Rather than expand our sense of possibilities, they foreshorten them. There are dread mutations slumbering in our cells. From our genes, we learn how we may die (Click to read more). Gene trawl shows Druze are living "gene sanctuary" by Maggie FoxThe Druze people of Israel are a genetic sanctuary of ancient lineages of DNA, researchers reported on Wednesday. Not only does the exclusive religious community offer a snapshot into the history of the Middle East, but their well-preserved diversity may provide opportunities for medical research, the team at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology said. The researchers looked at mitochondrial DNA, a type of genetic material that is passed down virtually unchanged from mother to daughter. It can provide a kind of snapshot of the ancestry of a person. "Altogether we sampled 311 different paternal households from 20 Druze villages in Northern Israel, and 208 surnames were identified," Karl Skorecki and colleagues wrote in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE. The mitochondrial DNA backed up the legendary origin of this close-knit religious group, believed to number 1 million or fewer (Click to read more). Redefining disease, genes and all by Andrew PollackDuchenne muscular dystrophy may not seem to have much in common with heart attacks. One is a rare inherited disease that primarily strikes boys. The other is a common cause of death in both men and women. To Atul J. Butte, they are surprisingly similar. Dr. Butte, an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford, is among a growing band of researchers trying to redefine how diseases are classified — by looking not at their symptoms or physiological measurements, but at their genetic underpinnings. It turns out that a similar set of genes is active in boys with Duchenne and adults who have heart attacks. The research is already starting to change nosology, as the field of disease classification is known. Seemingly dissimilar diseases are being lumped together. What were thought to be single diseases are being split into separate ailments. Just as they once mapped the human genome, scientists are trying to map the “diseasome,” the collection of all diseases and the genes associated with them. “We are now in a unique position in the history of medicine to define human disease precisely, uniquely and unequivocally,” three scientists wrote of the new approach last year in the journal Molecular Systems Biology. Such research aims to do more than just satisfy some basic intellectual urge to organize and categorize. It also promises to improve treatments and public health (Click to read more).
Senate passes genetic discrimination ban. The law forbids using DNA tests to decide jobs, health coverage by the Associated PressWASHINGTON - People learning through genetic testing that they might be susceptible to devastating diseases wouldn't also have to worry about losing their jobs or their health insurance under anti-discrimination legislation the Senate passed Thursday. The 95-0 Senate vote sends the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act back to the House, which could approve it early next week. President Bush supports the legislation. The bill, described by Sen. Edward Kennedy as "the first major new civil rights bill of the new century," would bar health insurance companies from using genetic information to set premiums or determine enrollment eligibility. Similarly, employers could not use genetic information in hiring, firing or promotion decisions (Click to read more). Longevity quest moves slowly from lab to life. Don't bank on anti-aging pills anytime soon — unless you're a worm by JoNel AlecciaAt 104 and counting, Sadie Kaplan has achieved the lifespan so many of us say we want, without ever popping a pill or lifting a finger to pursue longevity. The secret behind her long, healthy life remains a mystery to the New York matriarch, belle of the local Jewish senior center, who still lives in her own apartment and likes to sneak past well-meaning neighbors for a solo dinner at the nearby Popeyes chicken joint. “I keep myself so occupied, I haven’t time to get old,” she tells her children. Daughter Fran Marton says family members feel blessed, but a little surprised, to have had Kaplan around so long. “It started to dawn on me when she was in her 90s that she was unusual,” says Marton, the youngest of five siblings who range in age from 62 to 80. “She has survived just everybody, miraculously.” But to researchers who have studied Kaplan and other centenarians, her longevity is less a miracle than the key to a scientific puzzle. When Kaplan agreed four years ago to enroll in the Longevity Genes Project run by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, she joined the oldest of the old willing to supply some answers (Click to read more). DNA tests offer deeper examination of accused. Biological, emotional states scrutinized by Rick WeissTwenty years after DNA fingerprints were first admitted by American courts as a way to link suspects to crime scenes, a new and very different class of genetic test is approaching the bench. Rather than simply proving, for example, that the blood on a suspect's clothes does or does not match that of a murder victim, these "second generation" DNA tests seek to shed light on the biological traits and psychological states of the accused. In effect, they allow genes to "testify" in ways never before possible, in some cases resolving long-standing legal tangles but in others raising new ones. Already, chemical companies facing "toxic tort" claims have persuaded courts to order DNA tests on the people suing them, part of an attempt to show that the plaintiffs' own genes made them sick -- not the companies' products (Click to read more). Children: Heredity may figure into breech deliveries by Nicholas BakalarThe tendency to have a breech delivery is inherited, a new study reports, and it is apparently inherited equally through the father and the mother. Norwegian researchers examined records of all 2.2 million births in Norway from 1967 through 2004 and found that men and women who had themselves been delivered in breech position — that is, buttocks first — had more than twice the risk of delivering their own first babies in the same way. The study is in the March issue of BMJ (Click to read more).
Who's your daddy? Answer's at the drugstore. Pharmacy chain markets DNA paternity tests in 30 states nationwide by JoNel AlecciaAfter two decades, Sean Reid of Surrey, British Columbia, discovered that he had a son. Fred Turley of Des Plaines, Ill., learned he didn’t have a daughter. And Wendy Lieb of Lewis Center, Ohio, made certain she wasn’t going to be a grandmother quite yet. In all three situations, crucial genetic information altered the lives of the people involved. And in each case, it came not from a doctor or other medical source, but from a $29.99 kit on a drugstore shelf (Click to read more). Amateurs solve mysteries of the unnamed dead by the Associated PressFour days a week, Todd Matthews earns $11.50 an hour working for an automotive parts supplier. After work he drives half a mile to his little beige house on a hill where he spends the next seven hours immersed in a very different world. The faces seem to float from his computer — morgue photographs, artist sketches, forensic reconstructions — thousands of dead eyes staring from Web sites as though crying out for recognition. John and Jane and Baby "Does" whose bodies have never been identified. His wife, Lori, complains that Matthews, 37, spends more time with the dead than he does with the living. You need a hobby, she says, or a goal. I have a goal, he replies, though he describes it as a "calling". He wants to give "Does" back their names (Click to read more). Are your politics rooted in your genes? by Elizabeth CohenFor years, political scientists assumed our political leanings came from the way we were raised and the company we keep. You're a screaming liberal? Must be because you were raised in a household full of screaming liberals. You're an arch conservative? Must be because of that college you went to. But slowly, some political scientists are beginning to change their minds on what shapes our political views. They're starting to wonder whether some of our political identity is rooted in our DNA (Click to read more). Brad and Angelina's political family tree by Sarah Hall
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Kevin N. Roark / LANL Anthrax DNA fluoresces under ultraviolet light in a gel electrophoresis plate. DNA analysis can detect the "fingerprint" of an anthrax strain.
A letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle containing anthrax powder killed two postal workers
Associated Press
AFP/Getty Images
Karen Tam
Getty Images
The Undiagnosed Diseases Program at the National Institutes of Health
Argonne National Laboratory
Chris Gash
Guillaume Bonn for The New York Times
Resveratrol
Diagram of the stomach, colon, and rectum
Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY
Henry Louis Gates Jr. at Cold Spring Laboratories in 2008.
Map of Greenland
Painted relief of Thutmose I
Heidi Schumann for The New York Times Lou Hawthorne of BioArts International with Mira, Sarang and Chin-Gu, three clones of a dog named Missy who were born in the last year.
AFP - Getty Images A two-week-old mouse fetus expresses the DNA of the extinct Tasmanian Tiger by developing cartilage, shown in blue.
Ellen Lupton
Dror Artzi/Reuters A Druze child gestures during a protest against Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights
Peter DaSilva Atul J. Butte of Stanford can map diseases using data from gene chips that measure which genes are active in a cell
Sadie Kaplan is one of 450 centenarians who are lending their genes to a scientific study of the causes of aging.
Breech, by W.Smellie, 1792
Pierre-philippe Marcou / AFP - Getty Images file
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