Court documents show strong DNA link between Jesse Matthew, Fairfax rape As Jesse Matthew awaits his trial in the killing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, some court documents in an unrelated rape case against him were unsealed Monday. http://bit.ly/1KNeywO. By: ABC7 WJLA … Continue reading →

Lake County prosecutors plan to exonerate a man who has spent 20 years in prison for rape and abduction, a move that would lengthen the list of the county's criminal convictions wiped away by DNA evidence. State's Attorney Mike Nerheim said he will go to court Monday afternoon and ask a judge to throw out the conviction of Angel Gonzalez, who has been serving a 55-year sentence for a 1994 rape and abduction in Waukegan. The crime involved two suspects, and DNA test results that arrived late last week showed the presence of bodily fluids from two men, both of whom remain unidentified, Nerheim said. The prosecutor said it was "very clear" that the evidence indicates that Gonzalez, now 41, is innocent and contradicts the confession he gave and the victim's identification of him as one of her rapists. Gonzalez, who is incarcerated at Dixon Correctional Center in northwestern Illinois, was speechless at first when he learned last week that prosecutors planned to clear him, said Vanessa Potkin, an attorney from the Innocence Project in New York who has represented him with the help of the Illinois Innocence Project at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Barry Scheck, co-founder and … Continue reading →

In a new study, researchers have shown that an innovative technique the use of DNA microcircles has the potential to detect a broad range of cancers in the earliest stages by forcing tumors to create a unique protein. The proof-of-principal study from Stanford University Medical School used DNA microcircles, a customized genetic construct consisting of tiny rings of DNA. After injecting the microcircles into mice, researchers used a blood test to show that mice with tumors produced a substance that tumor-free mice did not. With this approach, researchers are reversing the typical laboratory method of detecting cancer, senior study author Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, professor and chair of radiology and director of the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, told FoxNews.com. With blood and urine tests, doctors must depend on detecting biomarkers that the tumor itself makes. The challenge for those kinds of biomarkers is that theyre rarely very specific and often not made in sufficient quantities, Gambhir said. For example, early detection of prostate cancer using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is controversial because the biomarker is made even in normal prostate cells. Also, small tumors of any kind in the body may generate quantities of biomarkers that are too … Continue reading →

Modern humans share about 95% of their genetic code with chimpanzees. Yet human brains, and what we do with them, are vastly different. In the decade since the human genome was mapped, researchers have identified hundreds of small regions that differ between humans and fellow primates. Many show evidence of accelerated changes that might offer evolutionary clues to such fundamental differences as skeletal structure, motor skills and cognition since our human ancestors parted ways with chimpanzees some 6 million years ago. A new study suggests that just 10 differences on one particular strand of human DNA lying near a brain-development gene could have been instrumental in the explosive growth in the human neocortex. The DNA region, containing just 1,200 base pairs, is not a gene. But it lies near one that is known to affect early development of the human neocortex, according to the study, published online Thursday inCurrent Biology. Researchers showed that the region, known as HARE5, acts as an enhancer of the gene FZD8. Embryos of mice altered with human HARE5 developed significantly larger brains and more neurons compared with embryos carrying the chimp version, according to the study. "It could contribute to making us unique, and making … Continue reading →

Maxilla and mandible of one of the three 17th century skeletons from the Caribbean island of St. Martin showing a common type of African dental modification. PNAS/H. Schroeder et. al. To better understand the complex history of slavery, it helps to know more about the origins of millions of individuals who were shipped from their homes in Africa to plantations in the Caribbean, South America and the United States. Historians have a good idea that 12 million or so slaves came from West and West-Central Africa between 1500 and 1850. But incomplete and scarce historical records have made it difficult to offer crucial details about the slaves' ethnic origins and the regions from which they were taken. Now, a team of researchers says they have for the first time used a new DNA technique to fill in these gaps, which could provide further insight into the slave trade. 14 Photos Sixteen years after hundreds of remains were found, a national monument opens to the public Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Monday, researchers led by Hannes Schroeder of the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen described how they used whole genome capture to retrieve … Continue reading →

FALL RIVER, Mass. Shortly before embarking on a journey that ended in an alleged murder of Odin Lloyd, Aaron Hernandez walked through his family room with a black object in his hands an object prosecutors claim was a pistol. Jurors in Hernandezs murder trial got a view of that moment Monday when prosecutors played a number of clips from the video surveillance system in the former NFL stars home. And the one that garnered the most attention in the courtroom was captured shortly before 1 a.m. on June 17, 2013. In it, Hernandez walks through his family room, past his fiance, Shayanna Jenkins, his young daughter and the couples babysitter, Jennifer Fortier. As Hernandez moves the object from one hand to the other, one of his alleged accomplices, Carlos Ortiz, walks behind him. A defense attorney suggested in his opening statement that the object was a remote control and lead prosecutor William McCauley tried to refute that while questioning Fortier. This remote control did you ever see a remote control anywhere in the house that resembled a firearm, a gun? McCauley asked. Defense attorney Michael Fee immediately objected, and Judge E. Susan Garsh sustained it. OK, McCauley continued, describe any … Continue reading →

Foodborne illnesses and food fraud are common, but rapid DNA sequencing can reveal hidden dangers Tools to analyze DNA in meals, including fish, may soon help eliminate fraudulent claims as to what type of food is being sold or served. Credit: Michael Saechang An apple can kill, a sprinkle of sprouts can send you to the hospital and your succulent, pan-seared red snapper may actually be tilefish. Despite rising concerns about food safety and authenticity, contamination rates by salmonella, campylobacter, Escherichia coli and other common pathogens have not fallen or are actually on the increase, depending on the microbe, according to a 2013 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year foodborne illnesses caused by these microorganisms sicken 48 million Americans, hospitalize 128,000 and kill 3,000, according to the agency. Food fraud is also increasing. In 2014 Oceana, an international conservation organization, published a two-year study of 1,215 seafood samples and 46 fish types from 674 retailers in 21 states. They found that a third of samples were mislabeled. Tools to analyze DNA in food items may soon help eliminate these problems. Techniques ranging from whole genome sequencing to the ability to create artificial DNA labels … Continue reading →