A New DNA Test Can ID a Suspect's Race, But Police Won't Touch It Read the complete story in Wired

DNAWitness has been used nationally in nearly 200 criminal investigations. In several, the science played a crucial role in narrowing the suspect field, ultimately leading to an arrest. But its success hasn't made the technology popular with law enforcement. DNAPrint, the company behind the test, has yet to turn a profit.

DNAWitness examines DNA from 176 locations along the genome. Particular sequences at these points are found primarily in people of African heritage, others mainly in people of Indo-European, Native American, or South Asian descent. No one sequence can perfectly identify a person's origin, but by looking at scores of markers, ancestry can be determined with a tiny margin of error.

BREAKING NEWS:

Geneticists have identified a gene which causes breast cancer to metastasise, the deadly process by which the disease spreads to other organs. The SATB1 gene alters the behavior of at least 1,000 other genes within tumor cells and makes cancer cells proliferate. The findings could pave the way to diagnostic tools that show the likelihood of the disease spreading and to drugs that prevent or treat metastasis in breast cancer as well.

US Researchers Sequence the Genome of Corn

Researchers have sequenced the genome of corn. Scientists now will be able to accurately and efficiently probe the corn genome to find ways to increase crop yields and resistance to drought and disease. The genome will help unravel the basic biology of corn, and that information can be used to look for genes that make corn more nutritious or more efficient for ethanol production. The only other crop plant to have its genome sequenced is rice.

The sequence information is freely available online at maizesequence.org

President Bush Signs Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008

Wed., May 21 2008 — The President has signed into law the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) that will protect Americans against discrimination based on their genetic information when it comes to health insurance and employment. The bill had passed the Senate unanimously and the House by a vote of 414 to 1. The long-awaited measure, which has been debated in Congress for 13 years, will pave the way for people to take full advantage of the promise of personalized medicine without fear of discrimination.