FACE OF THE FUTURE: Dr Dennis McNevin is part of a team developing DNA tests that can draw exact pictures of suspects. Photo: Jeffrey Chan Australian police and researchers are developing a ground-breaking test that will help them identify suspects based on the DNA evidence they leave behind. It is set to change the way police use DNA evidence. Officers may soon be able to use a single strand of hair from a crime scene to pinpoint whether a suspect has a cleft chin, how many moles they have and whether or not they are bald. The University of Canberra's Dennis McNevin is working on the four-year project set to finish at the end of next year and called ''From Genotype to Phenotype: Molecular Photofitting'', with Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. He said Australian police now used DNA evidence to link an existing suspect to a crime scene, but eventually research might lead to their using DNA to create photofit images of potential suspects. Victoria Police forensic officer Runa Daniel, who is working on the project with her colleague Roland van Oorschot, said the research could be used in the absence of … Continue reading →

James P. Eaton, of Palatine, Ill., right, was arrested Saturday in Chicago. He was being held in Racine County Jail on $1 million bail on charges of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse in connection to the 1997 death of Amber Creek, a 14-year-old from Palatine, Ill. (Courtesy: Racine County Sheriff) RACINE, Wis. Authorities in Wisconsin and Oklahoma used DNA and fingerprint analysis to connect an Illinois man to the cold-case slaying of a teenage runaway whose battered body was found in a Wisconsin marsh in 1997, the Racine County sheriff said Tuesday. James P. Eaton of Palatine, Ill., was arrested Saturday in Chicago. He was being held in Racine County Jail on $1 million bail on charges of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse, Sheriff Chris Schmaling said. No court date was scheduled for Tuesday. Schmaling didn't know whether Eaton has an attorney. "This is a day that we have been waiting more than 17 years to arrive," Schmaling said at a news conference. Eaton is suspected in connection with the slaying of Amber Creek, a 14-year-old from Palatine, Ill. She had run away from a state-operated juvenile shelter in Chicago on Jan. 23, 1997. She then … Continue reading →

Authorities tailed a man for several days and used DNA from a cigarette he tossed away at a train station to connect him to the cold-case slaying of a teenage runaway whose body was found in a marsh in 1997, a sheriff in southeastern Wisconsin said Tuesday. James P. Eaton, 36, of Palatine, Ill., was arrested Saturday in Chicago after investigators conducting the surveillance were able to recover the partially used cigarette, Racine County Sheriff Chris Schmaling said. Eaton has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. He was being held in Racine County Jail on Tuesday on $1 million bail, and Schmaling didn't know whether Eaton has an attorney. No court date was scheduled for Tuesday, "This is a day that we have been waiting more than 17 years to arrive," Schmaling said at a news conference. Eaton is suspected in connection with the slaying of Amber Creek, a 14-year-old from Palatine, Ill. She had run away from a state-operated juvenile shelter in Chicago on Jan. 23, 1997. She was last seen leaving a motel party in Rolling Meadows, Ill., and getting into a luxury car that had a placard reading "mayor." The driver was described … Continue reading →

HOUSTON (AP) An analysis of Houston police sexual assault kits, which at one time went years without being tested, has resulted in DNA evidence that implicated a prison inmate in multiple assaults dating to 1992, police officials said. Texas prison system records show 43-year-old Herman Ray Whitfield on Wednesday was in the Byrd Unit in Huntsville, serving time for kidnapping. Police announced Tuesday that Whitfield has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts of aggravated sexual assault. The outcome came as part of DNA evidence testing on an extensive backlog of police sexual assault kits. The attacks happened from 1992 to 1994, and again from 2006 to 2009, in bushes, on trails and at vacant properties, authorities said, adding that they believe others were attacked. Whitfield was convicted of kidnapping in 1995, paroled in 2006 and returned to prison in 2009 for a parole violation. Online prison records don't list an attorney for him. "He was very violent in his assaults," Sgt. John Colburn said of the 6-foot-3 Whitfield. "He choked his victims and would display a weapon or let them know he had one." The announcement comes a year after two independent labs began … Continue reading →

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have demonstrated in both cancer cell lines and in mice that blocking critical DNA repair mechanisms could improve the effectiveness of radiation therapy for highly fatal brain tumors called glioblastomas. Radiation therapy causes double-strand breaks in DNA that must be repaired for tumors to keep growing. Scientists have long theorized that if they could find a way to block repairs from being made, they could prevent tumors from growing or at least slow down the growth, thereby extending patients' survival. Blocking DNA repair is a particularly attractive strategy for treating glioblastomas, as these tumors are highly resistant to radiation therapy. In a study, UT Southwestern researchers demonstrated that the theory actually works in the context of glioblastomas. "This work is informative because the findings show that blocking the repair of DNA double-strand breaks could be a viable option for improving radiation therapy of glioblastomas," said Dr. Sandeep Burma, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology in the division of Molecular Radiation Biology at UT Southwestern. His lab works on understanding basic mechanisms by which DNA breaks are repaired, with the translational objective of improving cancer therapy with DNA damaging agents. Recent research from his lab has demonstrated … Continue reading →

FRIDAY, April 4, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- A new DNA test can identify prostate cancer patients at high risk for a return of their cancer, researchers say. The test uses DNA from biopsy (tissue) samples taken before patients undergo surgery or radiation therapy for their cancer. The test is about 80 percent accurate in predicting which men have a high or low risk of their cancer returning within two years, according to the study. The findings are scheduled for presentation Saturday at a meeting of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology in Vienna. Surgery and targeted radiation therapy are the main treatments for cancer that's confined to the prostate. However, cancer returns in 30 percent to 50 percent of patients because its spread outside the prostate was undetected during the initial treatment, said study author Robert Bristow. He is a clinician-scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto and a professor at the University of Toronto. "Men who fail treatment within two years may be at the highest risk of dying from their prostate cancer," he said in a society news release. "Existing methods for identifying high-risk patients are imperfect, so new tests are required that are better … Continue reading →