Monthly Archives: August 2017

In Breakthrough, Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation From Genes in Human Embryos – New York Times

Posted: August 3, 2017 at 11:49 pm

Weve always said in the past gene editing shouldnt be done, mostly because it couldnt be done safely, said Richard Hynes, a cancer researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who co-led the committee. Thats still true, but now it looks like its going to be done safely soon, he said, adding that the research is a big breakthrough.

What our report said was, once the technical hurdles are cleared, then there will be societal issues that have to be considered and discussions that are going to have to happen. Nows the time.

Scientists at Oregon Health and Science University, with colleagues in California, China and South Korea, reported that they repaired dozens of embryos, fixing a mutation that causes a common heart condition that can lead to sudden death later in life.

If embryos with the repaired mutation were allowed to develop into babies, they would not only be disease-free but also would not transmit the disease to descendants.

The researchers averted two important safety problems: They produced embryos in which all cells not just some were mutation-free, and they avoided creating unwanted extra mutations.

It feels a bit like a one small step for (hu)mans, one giant leap for (hu)mankind moment, Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist who helped discover the gene-editing method used, called CRISPR-Cas9, said in an email.

Scientists tried two techniques to remove a dangerous mutation. In the first, genetic scissors were inserted into fertilized eggs. The mutation was repaired in some of the resulting embryos but not always in every cell. The second method worked better: By injecting the scissors along with the sperm into the egg, more embryos emerged with repaired genes in every cell.

When gene-editing components were introduced into a fertilized egg, some embryos contained a patchwork of repaired and unrepaired cells.

Gene-editing

components inserted

after fertilization

Cell with

unrepaired

gene

Mosaicism in

later-stage embryo

When gene-editing components were introduced with sperm to the egg before fertilization, more embryos had repaired mutations in every cell.

Gene-editing components

inserted together with sperm,

before fertilization

In 42 of 58

embryos

tested, all

cells were

repaired

Uniform

later-stage embryo

When gene-editing components were introduced into a fertilized egg, some embryos contained a patchwork of repaired and unrepaired cells.

Gene-editing

components inserted

after fertilization

Cell with

unrepaired

gene

Mosaicism in

later-stage embryo

When gene-editing components were introduced with sperm to the egg before fertilization, more embryos had repaired mutations in every cell.

Gene-editing

components inserted

together with sperm,

before fertilization

In 42 of 58

embryos

tested, all

cells were

repaired

Uniform

later-stage embryo

I expect these results will be encouraging to those who hope to use human embryo editing for either research or eventual clinical purposes, said Dr. Doudna, who was not involved in the study.

Much more research is needed before the method could be tested in clinical trials, currently impermissible under federal law. But if the technique is found to work safely with this and other mutations, it might help some couples who could not otherwise have healthy children.

Potentially, it could apply to any of more than 10,000 conditions caused by specific inherited mutations. Researchers and experts said those might include breast and ovarian cancer linked to BRCA mutations, as well as diseases like Huntingtons, Tay-Sachs, beta thalassemia, and even sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis or some cases of early-onset Alzheimers.

You could certainly help families who have been blighted by a horrible genetic disease, said Robin Lovell-Badge, a professor of genetics and embryology at the Francis Crick Institute in London, who was not involved in the study.

You could quite imagine that in the future the demand would increase. Maybe it will still be small, but for those individuals it will be very important.

The researchers also discovered something unexpected: a previously unknown way that embryos repair themselves.

In other cells in the body, the editing process is carried out by genes that copy a DNA template introduced by scientists. In these embryos, the sperm cells mutant gene ignored that template and instead copied the healthy DNA sequence from the egg cell.

We were so surprised that we just couldnt get this template that we made to be used, said Shoukhrat Mitalipov, director of the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at Oregon Health and Science University and senior author of the study. It was very new and unusual.

The research significantly improves upon previous efforts. In three sets of experiments in China since 2015, researchers seldom managed to get the intended change into embryonic genes.

And some embryos had cells that did not get repaired a phenomenon called mosaicism that could result in the mutation being passed on as well as unplanned mutations that could cause other health problems.

In February, a National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee endorsed modifying embryos, but only to correct mutations that cause a serious disease or condition and when no reasonable alternatives exist.

Sheldon Krimsky, a bioethicist at Tufts University, said the main uncertainty about the new technique was whether reasonable alternatives to gene editing already exist.

As the authors themselves noted, many couples use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to screen embryos at fertility clinics, allowing only healthy ones to be implanted. For these parents, gene editing could help by repairing mutant embryos so that more disease-free embryos would be available for implantation.

Hank Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford, said creating fewer defective embryos also would reduce the number discarded by fertility clinics, which some people oppose.

The larger issue is so-called germline engineering, which refers to changes made to embryo that are inheritable.

If youre in one camp, its a horror to be avoided, and if youre in the other camp, its desirable, Dr. Greely said. Thats going to continue to be the fight, whether its a feature or a bug.

For now, the fight is theoretical. Congress has barred the Food and Drug Administration from considering clinical trials involving germline engineering. And the National Institutes of Health is prohibited from funding gene-editing research in human embryos. (The new study was funded by Oregon Health and Science University, the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea, and several foundations.)

The authors say they hope that once the method is optimized and studied with other mutations, officials in the United States or another country will allow regulated clinical trials.

I think it could be widely used, if its proven safe, said Dr. Paula Amato, a co-author of the study and reproductive endocrinologist at O.H.S.U. Besides creating more healthy embryos for in vitro fertilization, she said, it could be used when screening embryos is not an option or to reduce arduous IVF cycles for women.

Dr. Mitalipov has pushed the scientific envelope before, generating ethical controversy with a so-called three-parent baby procedure that would place the nucleus of the egg of a woman with defective cellular mitochondria into the egg from a healthy woman. The F.D.A. has not approved trials of the method, but Britain may begin one soon.

The new study involves hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease affecting about one in 500 people, which can cause sudden heart failure, often in young athletes.

It is caused by a mutation in a gene called MYBPC3. If one parent has a mutated copy, there is a 50 percent chance of passing the disease to children.

Using sperm from a man with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and eggs from 12 healthy women, the researchers created fertilized eggs. Injecting CRISPR-Cas9, which works as a genetic scissors, they snipped out the mutated DNA sequence on the male MYBPC3 gene.

They injected a synthetic healthy DNA sequence into the fertilized egg, expecting that the male genome would copy that sequence into the cut portion. That is how this gene-editing process works in other cells in the body, and in mouse embryos, Dr. Mitalipov said.

Instead, the male gene copied the healthy sequence from the female gene. The authors dont know why it happened.

Maybe human sex cells or gametes evolved to repair themselves because they are the only cells that transmit genes to offspring and need special protection, said Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a co-author and geneticist at the Salk Institute.

Out of 54 embryos, 36 emerged mutation-free, a significant improvement over natural circumstances in which about half would not have the mutation. Another 13 embryos also emerged without the mutation, but not in every cell.

The researchers tried to eliminate the problem by acting at an earlier stage, injecting the egg with the sperm and CRISPR-Cas9 simultaneously, instead of waiting to inject CRISPR-Cas9 into the already fertilized egg.

That resulted in 42 of 58 embryos, 72 percent, with two mutation-free copies of the gene in every cell. They also found no unwanted mutations in the embryos, which were destroyed after about three days.

The method was not perfect. The remaining 16 embryos had unwanted additions or deletions of DNA. Dr. Mitalipov said he believed fine-tuning the process would make at least 90 percent of embryos mutation-free.

And for disease-causing mutations on maternal genes, the same process should occur, with the fathers healthy genetic sequence being copied, he said.

But the technique will not work if both parents have two defective copies. Then, scientists would have to determine how to coax one gene to copy a synthetic DNA sequence, Dr. Mitalipov said.

Otherwise, he said, it should work with many diseases, a variety of different heritable mutations.

R. Alta Charo, a bioethicist at University of Wisconsin at Madison, who led the committee with Dr. Hynes, said the new discovery could also yield more information about causes of infertility and miscarriages.

She doubts a flood of couples will have edited children.

Nobodys going to do this for trivial reasons, Dr. Charo said. Sex is cheaper and its more fun than IVF, so unless youve got a real need, youre not going to use it.

A version of this article appears in print on August 3, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Scientists Repair A Risky Mutation In Human Embryo.

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Human embryo editing breakthrough is a ‘major advance’ towards controversial treatments for babies – The Independent

Posted: at 11:49 pm

A landmark study suggests that scientists could soon edit out genetic mutations to prevent babies being born with diseases. The technique could eventually let doctors remove inherited conditions from embryos before they go on to become a child.

That, in turn, opens the possibility for inherited diseases to be wiped out entirely, according to doctors. But experts have warned that urgent work is needed to answer the ethical and legal questions surrounding the work.

Though the scientists only edited out mutations that could cause diseases, it modified the nuclear DNA that sits right at the heart of the cell, which also influences personal characteristics such as intelligence, height, facial appearance and eye colour.

The breakthrough means that the possibility of germline genome editing has moved from future fantasy to the world of possibility, and the debate about its use, outside of fears about the safety of the technology, needs to run to catch up, said Professor Peter Braude from Kings College London. Scientists warned that soon the public could demand such treatment and that the world might not be ready.

Families with genetic diseases have a strong drive to find cures, said Yalda Jamshidi, reader in genomic medicine atSt Georges, University of London.Whilst we are just beginning to understand the complexity of genetic disease, gene-editing will likely become acceptable when its potential benefits, both to individuals and to the broader society, exceeds its risks.

The new research, published in Nature, marks the first time the powerful Crispr-Cas9 tool has been used to fix mutations. The US study destroyed the embryos after just a few days and the work remains at an experimental stage.

In the study, scientists fertilised donor eggs with sperm that included a gene that causes a type of heart failure. As the eggs were fertilised, they also applied the gene-editing tool, which works like a pair of specific scissors and cuts away the defective parts of the gene.

When those problematic parts are cut away, the cells can repair themselves with the healthy versions and so get rid of the mutation that causes the disease. Some 42 out of 58 embryos were fixed so that they didnt carry the mutation stopping a disease that usually has a 50 per cent chance of being passed on.

If those embryos had been allowed to develop into children, then they would no longer have carried the disease. That would stop them from being vulnerable to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and would save their children, too.

Every generation on would carry this repair because weve removed the disease-causing gene variant from that familys lineage, said Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov, from Oregon Health and Science University, who led the study.

By using this technique, its possible to reduce the burden of this inheritable disease on the family and eventually the human population.

The heart problem is just one of more than 10,000 conditions that are caused by an error in the gene. The same tool could be used to cut out those faults for all of those, and eventually could be used to target cancer mutations.

The work could lead to treatments that would be given to patients, once it becomes more efficient and safe. Using such a treatment on humans is illegal in both the US and the UK but some experts expect that law will soon be changed, and that the legal and ethical frameworks need to catch up with the technology.

There is some suggestion that the editing work could take place in the UK. Though using the research as treatment is illegal there as well as the US, the regulatory barriers are much higher in America and look unlikely to be changed.

In the US, there are various regulations and restrictions on how embryos can be edited, including stipulations that such work cant be carried out with taxpayers money. UK regulators are more relaxed and liberal about those restrictions, leading to suggestions that it could eventually become the home of such work in the west.

The UK has become the first country that allows mitochondrial replacement therapy, another treatment that opponents warn could allow for the creation of designer babies.

Individual cells days after injection (PA)

UK researchers can apply for a licence to edit human embryos in research, but offering it as a treatment is currently illegal, said a spokesperson for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HEFA), which would regulate any such experiments.

Introducing new, controversial techniques is not just about developing the science gene editing would need to offer new options to couples at risk of having a child with a genetic disease, beyond current treatments like embryo testing.

Our experience of introducing mitochondrial donation in the UK shows that high-quality public discussion about the ethics of new treatments, expert scientific advice and a robust regulatory system are crucial when considering new treatments of this kind.

Doctors said that any change in the law would have to strictly keep such treatment to being used for medical reasons, and not for designer babies that have other characteristics edited out.

It may be that some countries never permit germline genome editing because of moral and ethical concerns, said Professor Joyce Harper from University College London. If the law in the UK was changed to allow genome editing, it would be highly regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, as is PGD, to ensure it is only used for medical reasons.

But that work has already received significant opposition.

Dr David King, director of the Human Genetics Alert, which opposes all tampering with the human genome, said: If irresponsible scientists are not stopped, the world may soon be presented with a fait accompli of the first GM baby.

We call on governments and international organisations to wake up and pass an immediate global ban on creating cloned or GM babies, before it is too late.

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge from the Francis Crick Institute said the research only appears to work when the father is carrying the defective gene, and that it would not work for more sophisticated alterations. The possibility of producing designer babies, which is unjustified in any case, is now even further away, he said.

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DNA Ties Burglary Suspect To Queens Sex Assault, Cops Say – CBS New York

Posted: at 11:48 pm

August 3, 2017 11:12 PM

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) Police believe a man busted for burglary on Long Island may be the same person who attacked a number of joggers in Queens.

The suspect is 45-year-old Mark Andrade, 1010 WINS Carol DAuria reported. He was arrested in Nassau County in connection with an attempted burglary.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said his DNA was put in a data bank and has been linked to a sexual assault in Forest Park.

He might be linked to as many as six cases altogether.

Boyce said preliminarily hes been charged with a sexual assault on March 29, 2013 on the Bridal Path in Forest Park, where he was armed with a stun gun.

This one young lady struggled with him and actually pulled a beer can out of his back pocket, a beer bottle I should say, and then threw it. We retrieved that beer bottle as part of the crime scene, and thats where we got the DNA, Boyce said.

All of the victims were attacked on the same path between 2011 and 2013, and range in age from 13 to 69.

Glendale resident Desiree Mendez told CBS2s Andrea Grymes she never forgot that shattered feeling of being terrified to walk through Forest Park and worried she might be the next woman sexually assaulted inside.

I do remember being very, very scared, she said. Im relieved. I wish they would have caught him a little bit earlier, but I mean hey better late than never.

Technology nowadays, you cant get away with any that, another resident added. Its not what it used to be, which is a good thing.

I have two daughters, so Im glad that happened, a man said.

The NYPD says it hopes to chargeAndrade in more of the cases.

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DNA Ties Burglary Suspect To Queens Sex Assault, Cops Say - CBS New York

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Sunscreen Made From DNA Would Last Forever – HuffPost

Posted: at 11:48 pm

Deposit Photos

A DNA-based sunscreen that not only stops harmful ultraviolet (UV) light, but also becomes more protective the longer you expose it to UV rays? Thats the dazzling premise behind a recent study published in the journal Science Reports.

While sunscreen isnt the only form of sun protection (theres always protective clothing and floppy hats), the reality is that most of us just skip it. A 2015 study in Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that only 14.3 percent of men and 29.9 percent of women routinely use sunscreen when they are in outside for more than an hour. This wouldnt be a problem, except, Ultraviolet light is a carcinogen, Guy German a biomedical researcher at Binghamton University in New York and an author on the study, tells PopSci. We know it can give you a tan, but it can also cause cancer as well.

While dermatoepidemiologists (scientists who study diseases of the skin) suspect that sunlight causes cancer because it damages DNA in our cells, German and his colleagues were looking at DNA in an entirely different way. They wondered what would happen if they exposed DNA film, essentially a thin sheet of the stuff, to the same kind of ultraviolet light we get from walking in sunshine.

If youve ever taken glue and spread it on a surface and then let it dry to create a sheet or film, then you understand the basics of the material the researchers made: They took a liquid solution of DNA, smeared it on a piece of glass, and let it dry to create the film. The DNA, in case you were wondering, comes from salmon sperm. It was not that we chose salmon sperm, says German. Its just one of the readily available DNA sources.

German, along with the lead author on the study, Alexandria Gasperini, then exposed the film to UVA and UVB light to see how much, if any, radiation the films would allow to pass. UVA light makes up around 95-percent of the suns radiative light; it can penetrate deep into the skin, has long-been thought to be a culprit in premature aging, and is increasingly believed to play a key role in the formation of skin cancer. UVB, the radiation that makes us tan (and burn), also plays a role in skin cancer.

This was a fundamental study to see how UV light interacts with DNA films, says German, Also, you know subsequently how the UV light can actually alter DNA films.

To measure these effects, the team used a device called a spectrophotometer, which allows them to control the amount and wavelength of light that they put through the films. A receptor on the other side measured how much of the light passed made it through. The DNA film did not allow up to 90 percent of UVB light and 20-percent of UVA light to cross through. Perhaps even more amazing: The DNA film seemed to grow strongerthat is, it seemed to allow less light to pass through the longer it was exposed to UV light. German and his team, however, arent sure if the films achieve this by absorbing light or reflecting it.

We discovered two possible mechanisms, says German to explain how the DNA films appear to achieving this feat. One is called hyperchromicity, that is the increased ability of DNA films to absorb UV light, but also we found that the results that we got suggest a crosslinking density of the molecules themselves.

Under a microscope, the films crystalline structure got denser, or developed more crosslinks, as it was exposed to more light. The results suggest that, if a film has more crosslinks, its potentially going to absorb or scatter more UV light.

As an added bonus, the team also found that when they coated the film on human skin samples procured from elective surgeries, it also helped the skin retain moisture.

To be clear, what German and his team tested is not sunscreen, at least not in the traditional sense of a liquid or paste smeared onto the skin. You cant pick this up at the supermarket, at least not anytime soon. But between the ecological and health concerns of chemical sunscreens, and the lack of efficacy of mineral sunscreens, what they uncovered, might make its way into products in the future. Who wouldnt want a sunscreen that you apply once? That grows stronger the longer you frolic in the sun? It would, in a sense, act as a sacrificial layer, taking one for the team and allowing your own skin to go unscathed.

This article appeared originally on Popular Science.

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DNA breakthrough: Scientists repair genes in human embryos to prevent inherited diseases – Fox News

Posted: at 11:48 pm

In a major scientific breakthrough, researchers have harnessed a gene-editing tool to correct a disease-causing gene mutation in human embryos, preventing the mutation from passing to future generations.

In the stunning discovery, a research team led by Oregon Health and Science University reported that embryos can fix themselves if scientists jump-start the process early enough.

There was no indication how soon ordinary patients could take advantage of this technique.

The new technique, which was tested on clinical-quality human eggs, uses the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool to target a mutation in nuclear DNA that causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to the researchers. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a common genetic heart disease that can cause heart failure and sudden cardiac death. The disease affects approximately 1 in 500 people and is a common cause of sudden heart failure in young people, particularly young athletes.

The research was published Aug. 2 in the journal Nature.

SCIENTISTS EDIT GENES OF HUMAN EMBRYOS IN U.S. FOR FIRST TIME

While the procedure is nowhere near ready to be tried in a pregnancy, the research suggests that scientists might alter DNA in a way that protects not just one baby from a disease that runs in the family, but his or her offspring as well.

Every generation on would carry this repair because weve removed the disease-causing gene variant from that familys lineage, said the reports senior author, Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, director of OHSUs Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy, in a statement. By using this technique, its possible to reduce the burden of this heritable disease on the family and eventually the human population.

The research offers fresh insight into a technique that could apply to thousands of inherited genetic disorders affecting millions of people worldwide, according to the experts.

The team programmed the CRISPR-Cas9, which acts like a pair of molecular scissors, to find that mutation a missing piece of genetic material. Researchers injected sperm from a patient with the heart condition along with those "molecular" scissors into healthy donated eggs at the same time. The scissors cut the defective DNA in the sperm.

BABY SAVED BY FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND IN UTERO SURGERY

Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., prinicipal investigator for the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy. (OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

Normally, cells will repair a CRISPR-induced cut in DNA by essentially gluing the ends back together. Or scientists can try delivering the missing DNA in a repair package, like a computer's cut-and-paste program.

Instead, the newly forming embryos made their own perfect fix without that outside help, reported Mitalipov.

We all inherit two copies of each gene, one from dad and one from mom and those embryos just copied the healthy one from the donated egg.

"The embryos are really looking for the blueprint," Mitalipov said in an interview with the Associated Press. "We're finding embryos will repair themselves if you have another healthy copy."

DNA DISCOVERY IDENTIFIES LIVING DESCENDANTS OF BIBLICAL CANAANITES

It worked 72 percent of the time, in 42 out of 58 embryos. Normally a sick parent has a 50-50 chance of passing on the mutation.

Previous embryo-editing attempts in China found not every cell was repaired, a safety concern called mosaicism.

Experts have lauded the study as a major leap forward in genetic research.

This is incredibly important work, CRISPR expert and professor at Harvard and MIT George Church told Fox News, via email. Few people realize how common are genetic diseases.

SCIENTISTS FIND POSSIBLE CLUE TO ANCIENT 'GHOST SPECIES' OF HUMANS

Church, who is not affiliated with the research, noted that genetic diseases affect about five percent of births, causing great suffering. The mainstream medical approaches today kill embryos and this offers a route to avoid that be (a process of) engineering the eggs, he explained. Shoukhrat Mitalipov's team has made two huge breakthroughs in efficiency and precision.

The researchers behind the study say that the gene-editing technique, which was done in concert with in vitro fertilization, could also increase the success of IVF by increasing the number of healthy embryos.

If proven safe, this technique could potentially decrease the number of cycles needed for people trying to have children free of genetic disease, said report co-author Dr. Paula Amato, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the OHSU School of Medicine, in a statement.

While gene editing holds great potential for the battle against genetic diseases, it has, however, prompted fears that it could be harnessed for designer babies.

NEW DNA TECHNOLOGY CREATES DIGITAL 'SKETCH' OF TERRORISTS' FACES

The scientists behind the breakthrough study noted that their research is consistent with recommendations issued earlier this year by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine joint panel on human genome editing.

The recommendations laid out three major settings where gene editing can be used in biomedicine: basic research on human disease and its treatment, clinical applications to prevent disease or disability in non-productive cells and clinical applications to prevent disease or disability in productive cells.

The Associated Press contributed to this article. Additional reporting by Chris Ciaccia.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

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New DNA Extraction Techniques Are Helping Enhance Our Understanding of Elephants’ Biological History – Pacific Standard

Posted: at 11:48 pm


Pacific Standard
New DNA Extraction Techniques Are Helping Enhance Our Understanding of Elephants' Biological History
Pacific Standard
The first DNA analysis of ancient straight-tusked elephant fossils may be changing what we know about elephant evolution. Scientists have presumed that a species of giant elephant called Palaeoloxodon antiquus, which roamed across Europe and Asia over ...

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Alleged drop gun contained DNA of ex-St. Louis police officer – KSDK

Posted: at 11:48 pm

Jason Stockley is charged with the December 2011 premeditated shooting death of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith.

Jacob Long, KSDK 6:54 PM. CDT August 03, 2017

Former SLMPD officer Jason Stockley has been charged with first-degree murder for a 2011 killing on West Florissant. (Photo: Houston PD, Custom)

ST. LOUIS - The third day of testimony has concluded in the high-profile murder trial of ex-St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley.

Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said the state was on the verge of resting its case, but that there were still pending decisions and motions that need to be ruled on.

That outstanding business is expected to be addressed early next week. Once the state officially wraps its case, the defense is expected to begin calling witnesses.

So far, 18 witnesses and more than 100 exhibits have been presented to the court since the trial began this past Tuesday.

Stockley is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action for the December 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith, 24.

The deadly encounter followed a suspected drug deal involving Smith and a high-speed police chase in parts of north St. Louis.

Dr. Karen Preiter, a DNA analyst with St. Louis Police, was the last state witness to testify on Thursday afternoon.

She said there was a partial DNA profile matching Stockley located on the trigger, grip and rough area of a 38mm Taurus revolver recovered from the shooting scene.

She said his DNA profile was also found on a screw in the revolver. She said no DNA profile matching Smith was found on the weapon.

Its an important piece of evidence for the states case, as prosecutors have alleged the firearm was planted by Stockley following the shooting.

The ex-cop is seen on video going back and forth between Smiths car and the duty bag located in the back of his department SUV on scene. Prosecutors have even alleged Stockley blocked a back seat internal camera with his body as he removed something from the bag.

Preiter said the chances of finding another Caucasian person with the same profile are 1/200 billion and 1/10 trillion for an African-American person.

Stockley was also the major contributor for DNA recovered on his personal AK47 that was recovered from the scene. Prosecutors said Stockley used the firearm when he first fired upon Smiths vehicle in the parking lot of a Churchs Chicken following the suspected drug deal that prompted the chase.

During cross-examination, defense attorneys alleged Stockleys DNA was on the gun because he rendered it safe by unloading it on scene.

Theyve said previously that no department policy in 2011 barred Stockley from entering or re-entering a vehicle that was involved an officer-involved shooting.

The defense has also claimed that its possible to touch something and not leave DNA. They believe the gun belonged to Smith and was one reason why Stockley was in fear of his life.

Earlier in the day, an FBI gunshot residue expert testified one of the five shots that killed Smith was fired within six inches of his body. Prosecutors have described it as a kill shot.

2017 KSDK-TV

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The Greeks really do have near-mythical origins, ancient DNA reveals – Science Magazine

Posted: at 11:48 pm

A Mycenaean woman depicted on a fresco at Mycenae on mainland Greece.

Yann Forget/Wikimedia Commons

By Ann GibbonsAug. 2, 2017 , 1:00 PM

Ever since the days of Homer, Greeks have long idealized their Mycenaean ancestors in epic poems and classic tragedies that glorify the exploits of Odysseus, King Agamemnon, and other heroes who went in and out of favor with the Greek gods. Although these Mycenaeans were fictitious, scholars have debated whether todays Greeks descend from the actual Mycenaeans, who created a famous civilization that dominated mainland Greece and the Aegean Sea from about 1600 B.C.E. to 1200 B.C.E., or whether the ancient Mycenaeans simply vanished from the region.

Now, ancient DNA suggests that living Greeks are indeed the descendants of Mycenaeans, with only a small proportion of DNA from later migrations to Greece. And the Mycenaeans themselves were closely related to the earlier Minoans, the study reveals, another great civilization that flourished on the island of Crete from 2600 B.C.E. to 1400 B.C.E. (named for the mythical King Minos).

The Lion Gate was the main entrance to the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, the center of the Mycenaean civilization.

RnDmS/iStockphoto

The ancient DNA comes from the teeth of 19 people, including 10 Minoans from Crete dating to 2900 B.C.E. to 1700 BCE, four Mycenaeans from the archaeological site at Mycenae and other cemeteries on the Greek mainland dating from 1700 B.C.E. to 1200 B.C.E., and five people from other early farming or Bronze Age (5400 B.C.E. to 1340 B.C.E.) cultures in Greece and Turkey. By comparing 1.2 million letters of genetic code across these genomes to those of 334 other ancient people from around the world and 30 modern Greeks, the researchers were able to plot how the individuals were related to each other.

The ancient Mycenaeans and Minoans were most closely related to each other, and they both got three-quarters of their DNA from early farmers who lived in Greece and southwestern Anatolia, which is now part of Turkey, the team reports today in Nature. Both cultures additionally inherited DNA from people from the eastern Caucasus, near modern-day Iran, suggesting an early migration of people from the east after the early farmers settled there but before Mycenaeans split from Minoans.

The Mycenaeans did have an important difference: They had some DNA4% to 16%from northern ancestors who came from Eastern Europe or Siberia. This suggests that a second wave of people from the Eurasian steppe came to mainland Greece by way of Eastern Europe or Armenia, but didnt reach Crete, says Iosif Lazaridis, a population geneticist at Harvard University who co-led the study.

This dancing Minoan woman from a fresco at Knossos, Crete (16001450 B.C.E.), resembles the Mycenaean women (above).

Wolfgang Sauber/Wikimedia Commons

Not surprisingly, the Minoans and Mycenaeans looked alike, both carrying genes for brown hair and brown eyes. Artists in both cultures painted dark-haired, dark-eyed people on frescoes and pottery who resemble each other, although the two cultures spoke and wrote different languages. The Mycenaeans were more militaristic, with art replete with spears and images of war, whereas Minoan art showed few signs of warfare, Lazaridis says. Because the Minoans script used hieroglyphics, some archaeologists thought they were partly Egyptian, which turns out to be false.

The continuity between the Mycenaeans and living people is particularly striking given that the Aegean has been a crossroads of civilizations for thousands of years, says co-author George Stamatoyannopoulos of the University of Washington in Seattle. This suggests that the major components of the Greeks ancestry were already in place in the Bronze Age, after the migration of the earliest farmers from Anatolia set the template for the genetic makeup of Greeks and, in fact, most Europeans. The spread of farming populations was the decisive moment when the major elements of the Greek population were already provided, says archaeologist Colin Renfrew of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the work.

The results also show it is possible to get ancient DNA from the hot, dry landscape of the eastern Mediterranean, Renfrew says. He and others now have hope for getting DNA from groups such as the mysterious Hittites who came to ancient Anatolia sometime before 2000 B.C.E. and who may have been the source of Caucasian ancestry in Mycenaeans and early Indo-European languages in the region. Archaeologist Kristian Kristiansen of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, who was not involved in the work, agrees. The results have now opened up the next chapter in the genetic history of western Eurasiathat of the Bronze Age Mediterranean.

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The Greeks really do have near-mythical origins, ancient DNA reveals - Science Magazine

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For the first time, researchers have mapped the complete genome of … – Phys.Org

Posted: at 11:48 pm

August 3, 2017 Helicoverpa armigera. Credit: CSIRO

For the first time, researchers from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have mapped the complete genome of two closely related megapests potentially saving the international agricultural community billions of dollars a year.

Led by CSIRO, in collaboration with a team of renowned experts, the researchers identified more than 17,000 protein coding genes in the genomes of the Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa zea (commonly known as the Cotton Bollworm and Corn Earworm, respectively).

They also documented how these genetics have changed overtime.

This level of detail makes it easier for scientists to predict both the caterpillars' weak spots, how they will mutate and even breed plants they will not want to eat.

The bollworm and earworm are the world's greatest caterpillar pests of broad-acre crops, causing in excess of US $5 billion in control costs and damage each year across Asia, Europe, Africa, America and Australia.

The bollworm, which is dominant in Australia, attacks more crops and develops much more resistance to pesticides than its earworm counterpart.

"It is the single most important pest of agriculture in the world, making it humanity's greatest competitor for food and fibre," CSIRO Scientist Dr John Oakeshott said.

"Its genomic arsenal has allowed it to outgun all our known insecticides through the development of resistance, reflecting its name - armigera which means armed and warlike."

In Brazil the bollworm has been spreading rapidly and there have been cases of of it hybridising with the earworm, posing a real threat that the new and improved "superbug" could spread into the United States.

In the mid-90s CSIRO assisted Australian cotton breeders to incorporate Bt insect resistance genes in their varieties to try and tackle the bollworm.

"Bt cotton" plants dispatch an insecticide from a bacteria - Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) - that is toxic to the caterpillar.

In the following 10 years, there was an 80 per cent reduction in the use of chemical pesticides previously required to control bollworms.

However the bollworm soon fought back with a small percentage of them building resistance to BT cotton and scientists introducing further strains of insecticides to manage the problem.

CSIRO Health and Biosecurity Honorary Fellow Dr Karl Gordon said while a combination of BT and some insecticides was working well in Australia, it can be costly and it was important to comprehensive studying the pest themselves to manage the problem world-wide.

"We need the full range of agricultural science," Dr Gordon said.

"Our recent analyses of the complete genome, its adaptations and spread over the years are a huge step forward in combating these megapests."

Identifying pest origins will enable resistance profiling that reflects countries of origin to be included when developing a resistance management strategy, while identifying incursion pathways will improve biosecurity protocols and risk analysis at biosecurity hotspots including national ports.

As part of the research, CSIRO and the team updated a previously developed potential distribution model to highlight the global invasion threat, with emphasis on the risks to the United States.

The findings further provide the first solid foundation for comparative evolutionary and functional genomic studies on related and other lepidopteran pests, many of considerable impact and scientific interest.

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For the first time, researchers have mapped the complete genome of ... - Phys.Org

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American Scientists Successfully Edited Faulty Genes In Human Embryos. Is That Ethical? – Fortune

Posted: at 11:47 pm

A dish with human embryos.Photograph by Sandy Huffaker Getty Images

As far as groundbreaking developments go, there are few technologies that have captured the life science world's imagination like CRISPR, the gene-editing tool that holds promise in everything from treating sickle cell disease to sussing out appropriate gene targets in the fight against HIV. Now, U.S. scientists have reached a revolutionary new milestone in CRISPR-Cas9 development, successfully modifying embryos to cut out defective genetic code that would have caused an inherited disease.

A study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday outlines the process used by researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, and Korea's Institute for Basic Science.The faulty genetic code that would have caused hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was successfully repaired using CRISPR during the in vitro fertilization process. It wasn't a flawless successthe rate of fixed embryos moved from the naturally expected 50% to 74%. And, to be clear, this isn't the first time that CRISPR has been tested in a non-animal settinglast year, Chinese scientists launched the first known trials in humans .

But the new embryo experiments were striking for both their efficacy and a lack of adverse events like mutations in other parts of the embryos' genomes. "We have demonstrated the possibility to correct mutations in a human embryo in a safe way and with a certain degree of efficiency," said the Salk Institute's Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, who co-authored the Nature study.

The achievement is already drawing some controversy. Bioethicists have previously questioned whether or not modifying embryoseven for the purposes of preventing a disease's spreadcould foster a slippery slope. Editing human embryos with CRISPR should be a long way off, as J. Craig Venter, co-founder of Human Longevity, Inc and a genome expert, put it during Fortune 's second annual Brainstorm Health conference in May. Not something we do next week.

But these embryos weren't actually allowed to develop beyond a few days. And groups like the American Society of Human Genetics mostly center their opposition on modifying embryos for implantation into a human. As for the possibility of "designer babies," CRISPR technology isn't nearly advanced enough to make anything approaching that feasible, as Belmonte explains.

That's part of the reason why the U.S. researchers took up the recommendations of an ethics committee which concluded that "with significant oversight and continued dialogue, the use of gene correction technologies in human embryos for the purpose of answering basic science questions needed to evaluate germline gene correction prior to the use in human models" was acceptable.

This essay appears in today's edition of the Fortune Brainstorm Health Daily. Get it delivered straight to your inbox.

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American Scientists Successfully Edited Faulty Genes In Human Embryos. Is That Ethical? - Fortune

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