15 Mar 2012

Many Exciting Works by using associated with DNA Forensic Identification




Discovering this victims in the Sept 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack introduced an exceptional forensic challenge since the variety and also identification in the persons had been unfamiliar and lots of victims ended up represented solely by simply bone in addition to tissues pieces. During the time of this attack, no devices ended up set up regarding rapidly identifying persons in unfortunate occurances with an increase of as compared to 500 demise. This National Institutes of Justice put together the screen regarding professionals through the Countrywide Institutes associated with Health and various other organizations to develop functions to recognize persons employing DNA obtained with the site. Panel users produced forms in addition to sets was required to allow this healthcare examiner’s business office to gather reference point DNA from victims’ earlier stored health care individuals. These kind of specimens ended up compiled as well as came into in a data bank. The healthcare examiner's place of work likewise obtained about 20, 000 items of man stays on the World Trade Center site, and also a repository from the victims’ DNA profiles is made. Completely new information technology national infrastructure got its start regarding facts transport between the express law enforcement officials along with health-related examiner’s office and to interconnect the particular data source as well as analytical equipment employed by solar panel customers. Throughout 2005 the particular lookup seemed to be declared with a stop because lots of the anonymous continues to be were being as well small or even also damaged to get determined because of the DNA removal strategies readily available at that time. Continues to be of solely 1585, on the 2792 persons recognized to have got passed away was determined. Throughout 2007, the particular professional medical examiner's place of work reopened the particular lookup after the Bode Technological know-how Collection designed a brand new technique involving DNA extraction that necessary much less taste stuff as compared to previously required. The particular sufferer DNA repository along with the fresh approaches have permitted much more victims being acknowledged, and further identifications will likely be achievable because forensic DNA technology helps.
The DNA Shoah Project is a genetic database of people who lost family during the Holocaust. The database will serve to reunite families separated during wartime and aid in identifying victims who remain buried anonymously throughout Europe.

Numerous people (known as "the Disappeared") were kidnapped and murdered in Argentina in the 1970s. Many were pregnant. Their children were taken at birth and, along with other kidnapped children, were raised by their kidnappers. The grandparents of these children have been looking for them for many years. Read an article about a DNA researcher who has been helping them.


Son of Louis XVI and Marie Antionette
PARIS, Apr 19, 2000 (Reuters) -- Scientists cracked one of the great mysteries of European history by using DNA tests to prove that the son of executed French King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette died in prison as a child. Royalists have argued for 205 years over whether Louis-Charles de France perished in 1795 in a grim Paris prison or managed to escape the clutches of the French Revolution. In December 1999, the presumed heart of the child king was removed from its resting place to enable scientists to compare its DNA makeup with samples from living and dead members of the royal family -- including a lock of his mother Marie-Antoinette's hair.

The Murdered Nicholas Romanov, the Last Czar of Russia, and His Family

The Ice Maiden was a 12-to-14-year old girl sacrificed by Inca priests 500 years ago to satisfy the mountain gods of the Inca people. She was discovered in 1995 by climbers on Mt. Ampato in the Peruvian Andes. She is perhaps the best preserved mummy found in the Andes because she was in a frozen state. Analysis of the Ice Maiden's DNA offers a wonderful opportunity for understanding her genetic origin. If we could extract mitochondrial DNA from the Ice Maiden's tissue and successfully amplify and sequence it, then we could begin to trace her maternal line of descent and possibly locate past and current relatives.

In southern Africa, a people known as the Lemba heed the call of the shofar. They have believed for generations that they are Jews, direct descendants of the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However unlikely the Lemba's claims may seem, modern science is finding ways to test them. The ever-growing understanding of human genetics is revealing connections between peoples that have never been seen before.

Super Bowl XXXIV Footballs and 2000 Summer Olympic Souvenirs
The NFL used DNA technology to tag all the Super Bowl XXXIV balls, ensuring their authenticity for years to come and helping to combat the growing epidemic of sports memorabilia fraud. The footballs were marked with an invisible, yet permanent, strand of synthetic DNA. The DNA strand is unique and is verifiable any time in the future using a specially calibrated laser.

A section of human genetic code taken from several unnamed Australian athletes was added to ink used to mark all official goods — everything from caps to socks — from the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. The technology is used as a way to mark artwork or one-of-a-kind sports souvenirs.

Migration Patterns
Evolutionarily stable mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes have allowed bioanthropologists to begin to trace human migration patterns around the world and identify family lineage


Using DNA fingerprinting techniques akin to those used to solve crimes and settle paternity suits, scientists at the University of California, Davis, have discovered that 18 of the world's most renowned grapevine varieties, or cultivars are close relatives. These include varieties long grown in northeastern France such as Chardonnay, the "king of whites," and reds such as Pinot and Gamay noir, are close relatives.




Snowball the Cat
A woman was murdered in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Her estranged husband was implicated because a snowy white cat hair was found in a jacket near the scene of the crime, and DNA fragments from the hair matched DNA fragments from Snowball, the cat belonging to the husband's parents. See M. Menotti-Raymond et al., "Pet cat hair implicates murder suspect," Nature, 386, 774, 1997. Also see Holmes, Judy, Feline Forensics, Syracuse University Magazine,  Summer 2001.

Angiosperm Witness for the Prosecution
The first case in which a murderer was convicted on plant DNA evidence was described in the PBS TV series, "Scientific American Frontiers." A young woman was murdered in Phoenix, Arizona, and a pager found at the scene of the crime led the police to a prime suspect. He admitted picking up the victim but claimed she had robbed him of his wallet and pager. The forensic squad examined the suspect's pickup truck and collected pods later identified as the fruits of the palo verde tree (Cercidium spp.). One detective went back to the murder scene and found several Palo Verde trees, one of which showed damage that could have been caused by a vehicle. The detective's superior officer innocently suggested the possibility of linking the fruits and the tree by using DNA comparison, not realizing that this had never been done before. Several researchers were contacted before a geneticist at the University of Arizona in Tucson agreed to take on the case. Of course, it was crucial to establish evidence that would stand up in court on whether individual plants (especially Palo Verde trees) have unique patterns of DNA. A preliminary study on samples from different trees at the murder scene and elsewhere quickly established that each Palo Verde tree is unique in its DNA pattern. It was then a simple matter to link the pods from the suspect's truck to the damaged tree at the murder scene and obtain a conviction. [WNED-TV (PBS - Buffalo, N.Y.)]

Sources: http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/forensics.shtml#4


No comments:

Post a Comment