DNA Were going to identify serial rapists, says panelist. All of Utahs backlogged DNA evidence from sex-assault cases should be analyzed, and all such rape kits from present and future cases should be processed as well. Thats what Ned Seale, a spokesman for a special work group, told the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Legislative Interim Committee on Wednesday. The ad hoc work group has defined a priority system for analyzing about 2,700 backlogged rape kits statewide that contain DNA and other forensic evidence, said Jeff Carr, deputy commissioner for the Utah Department of Public Safety. Earlier this year, the Utah Legislature allocated $750,000 for the analysis of backlogged forensic kits. Some federal funding also may be available for processing them, Carr said. The state crime lab is establishing the "Utah Quick Analysis Program," Carr told the committee, to analyze DNA but not necessarily all the evidence in the kit. The protocol would be faster and less expensive than the present system. Rather than months, DNA could be analyzed in 60 to 90 days. Law enforcement agencies in other states that have begun testing backlogged rape kits are discovering that one in three find matches in CODIS, the national criminal … Continue reading →

The proteins that drive DNA replication -- the force behind cellular growth and reproduction -- are some of the most complex machines on Earth. The multistep replication process involves hundreds of atomic-scale moving parts that rapidly interact and transform. Mapping that dense molecular machinery is one of the most promising and challenging frontiers in medicine and biology. Now, scientists have pinpointed crucial steps in the beginning of the replication process, including surprising structural details about the enzyme that "unzips" and splits the DNA double helix so the two halves can serve as templates for DNA duplication. The research combined electron microscopy, perfectly distilled proteins, and a method of chemical freezing to isolate specific moments at the start of replication. The study -- authored by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Imperial College, London -- published on Oct. 15, 2014, in the journal Genes and Development. "The genesis of the DNA-unwinding machinery is wonderfully complex and surprising," said study coauthor Huilin Li, a biologist at Brookhaven Lab and Stony Brook University. "Seeing this helicase enzyme prepare to surround and unwind the DNA at the molecular level helps us understand … Continue reading →