Timeline DNA
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140 Million
BP Older [DNA] samples have been
extracted from amber--which dates back 140 million years.
(WSUAN, Fall/95, p.5)
100000BC In 2008 DNA evidence indicated that much of
the human population had descended from a small band of migrants that
left Africa for the Middle East about this time.
(SFC, 2/22/08, p.A4)
c1000 AD In Yemen in the Hadramawt region a dam burst
about this time near the village of Senna and the people of the valley
fled. In 1997 researchers using DNA studies found that the Lemba, a
Bantu speaking people of southern Africa carry markers distinctive of
the cohanim, Jewish priests believed to be descended from Aaron. Lemba
oral tradition held that they came to Africa from Senna. Dr. Tudor
Parfitt authored "Journey to the Vanished City," a description of his
work on the Lemba.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, p.A24)
c1200-1500 In 2005 researchers using mitochondrial
DNA estimated that 3-6 individuals founded the Mlabri hunter gatherers
of Northern Thailand about this time.
(Econ, 4/16/05, p.71)
1802 James Callender, an
English-born journalist, published a report in the Richmond, Va.,
Recorder about Thomas Jefferson and his relationship with the slave
Sally Hemmings [Hemings]. Annette Gordon-Reed later published: "Thomas
Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, an American Controversy." DNA tests of
descendants was planned in 1998 to test for family relationships. The
tests indicated that Jefferson fathered at least one child with
Hemmings, her youngest son Eston Hemmings in 1808. Dr. Eugene Foster,
author of the DNA report, later said the DNA tests showed that any one
of 8 Jefferson males could have fathered Eston.
(WSJ, 9/23/97, p.A1)(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A6)(SFEC,
11/1/98, p.A1,7)(WSJ, 11/2/98, p.B11)(WSJ, 2/26/99, p.W15)(SFC,
1/27/00, p.A3)
1808 May 21, Eston Hemmings was
born to slave Sally Hemmings, who was owned by Thomas Jefferson.
Genetic tests in 1998 showed that DNA from Jefferson's descendants was
consistent with DNA from descendants of Hemmings. Some argued that
Randolph Jefferson, brother of Thomas, was Eston's father.
(USAT, 1/7/99, p.3A)
1882 Apr 3, Outlaw Jesse James
(34) was shot in the back and killed at his home in St. Joseph, Mo., by
Robert Ford, a cousin and member of his own gang for a $5,000 reward.
Jesse and Frank James, the bank robbing James brothers, were born as
Woodson and Alexander. In 1995 the body of Jesse James was exhumed for
DNA testing. The test proved that it was James, who was killed in 1882.
In 2000 Desmond Barry authored the novel "The Chivalry of Crime" based
on the story of Jesse James. In 2000 the body of a man, J. Frank Dalton
(d.1951), who claimed to be Jesse James was exhumed for DNA analysis.
(AP, 4/3/97)(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)(SFEC, 4/23/00, BR
p.5)(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A4)(HNQ, 6/21/00)(HN, 4/3/02)
1916 Jun 8, Francis Crick,
co-discoverer of the structure of DNA (Nobel 1962), was born.
(HN, 6/8/98)(MC, 6/8/02)
1928 Apr 6, James Watson,
[co-]discovered structure of DNA, was born.
(HN, 4/6/98)
1950 In London Maurice Wilkins and
Rosalind Franklin (d.1958) produced pictures of X-ray diffraction in
aligned fibers of DNA. The lab for X-ray crystallography was set up by
physicist John Randall. Data from these pictures led Watson and Crick
to understand the structure of DNA. In 1975 Anne Sayre (d.1998)
published "Rosalind Franklin and DNA."
(Wired, 2/98, p.135)(SFC, 3/19/98, p.C4)
1952 Sep 20, Scientists confirmed
that DNA holds hereditary data.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1953 Feb 28, Francis Crick
(d.2004) and James Watson discovered the structure of DNA-molecule.
Watson and Crick managed to describe the structure of DNA as a double
helix consisting of two long strings coiled around one another. About
100,000 genes, short sections of DNA, tell the cells how to build
proteins, the building blocks of life. Rosalind Franklin made the 1st
x-ray image that revealed the double helix structure of DNA. In 2002
Brenda Maddox authored "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA." In
2003 Watson co-authored "DNA: The Secret of Life." [see Sep 20,
Apr 25, 1953]
(V.D.-H.K.p.330)(TL, 1988, p.114)(Wired, 1/97,
p.161)(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.M2)(WSJ, 3/28/03, p.W8) (AP, 2/28/04)
1953 Apr 25, The magazine Nature
published an article by biologists Francis Crick and James Watson,
describing the "double helix" of DNA.
(HN, 4/25/01)
1954 Jul 4, Marilyn Sheppard (31
and pregnant) was killed at her home near Cleveland and her husband,
Dr. Sam Sheppard (d.1970), was later accused, tried and jailed for the
murder. Sam was released from jail in 1964. His story inspired the TV
series "The Fugitive" and a film in 1993. DNA evidence in 1997
indicated a third person was involved. Cleveland’s chief prosecutor
ruled in 1998 that the DNA samples were too old. A civil trial in
Cleveland in 2000 rejected the claim of Sam Reese Sheppard that his
father was innocent. [see Dec 21]
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A6)(SFC, 3/5/98, p.A3)(SFC, 3/6/98,
p.A3)(SFC, 4/13/00, p.A2)
1955 Frederick Sanger sequenced
the 1st protein, human insulin. He later developed methods for
sequencing DNA.
(WSJ, 4/5/01, p.B1)
1957 Rosalind Franklin (37),
scientist, died. She made the 1st x-ray image that revealed the double
helix structure of DNA (1953). In 2002 Brenda Maddox authored "Rosalind
Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA."
(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.M2)
1962 Oct 18, Dr. James D. Watson
of the United States and Dr. Francis Crick and Dr. Maurice Wilkins of
Britain, were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and
Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular
structure of DNA.
(AP, 10/18/02)(SFC, 3/19/98, p.C4)
1966 Researchers showed how
proteins are made from DNA instructions.
(WSJ, 4/5/01, p.B1)
1967 Jan 18, Albert DeSalvo, who
claimed to be the "Boston Strangler," was convicted in Cambridge,
Mass., of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. Sentenced to life,
DeSalvo was killed by a fellow inmate in 1973. DeSalvo had confessed to
being the Boston Strangler and killing 13 women. He was never convicted
of murder. A portrait of him with police interviews was made in 1996
for TV show Biography. In 1999 DNA evidence was sought to confirm
DeSalvo's claims.
(SFC, 6/6/96, E9)(AP, 1/18/98)(SFC, 7/10/99, p.A4)
1967 Dec 14, DNA was created in a
test tube.
(MC, 12/14/01)
1968 James Watson (b.1928),
American molecular biologist and Nobel Prize winner, published "The
Double Helix."
(SFC, 3/19/98, p.C4)(SFEM, 7/30/00,
p.9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_D._Watson)
1968 Dr. Allejandro Zaffaroni,
native of Montevideo, Uruguay, founded ALZA Corp. The company has grown
to be one of the largest medical device companies in the US
specializing in drug delivery technologies. He later helped to launch
Affymax, a drug discovery company, and Affymetrix, which did DNA
research on semiconductor chips.
(BJSJ, 10/30/95, p.8)
1968 Linda Harmon (14) was raped,
beaten and stabbed to death in SF. In 2003 DNA evidence identified
William Speer (61), a convicted sexual predator, as the murderer.
(SFC, 12/24/03, p.A13)
1969 Sep, Susan Nason (8) of
Foster City, Ca., was bludgeoned to death. Her body was found 2 months
later near Crystal Springs. In Dec 1989 Nason's neighbor and
schoolmate, Eileen Franklin-Lipsker, told police that she suddenly
remembered seeing her father batter her friend and hide the body. In
1990 George Franklin was convicted in the first case to use
recovered-memory testimony. Franklin was released after 6 1/2 years
when a federal judge ruled a mistrial. DNA evidence showed Franklin was
not responsible.
(SFC, 2/4/00, p.A21)(SSFC, 2/8/04, p.A28)
1969 Benjamin Volcani (1915-1999),
Palestine-born microbiologist, was the fist to show that silicon is
essential for DNA synthesis in diatoms. He was also the first to find
microorganisms in the Dead Sea in 1936.
(SFC, 2/12/99,
p.D4)(www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/volcani.html)
1971 Sep 11, The body of a woman
was found in the Delta-Mendota Canal near Westley, Ca. she had been
stabbed 65 times. In 2008 DNA evidence identified her as Mary Alice
Willey (23) of San Francisco.
(SFC, 10/7/08, p.B2)
1972 May 11, US pilot First Lt.
Michael Joseph Blassie was shot down by anti-aircraft fire after having
logged 137 combat missions. His remains were entombed on Memorial Day,
1984, at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington. In 1998 his remains
were exhumed and identified by DNA testing.
(SFC, 1/20/98, p.A2)(SFC, 6/30/98, p.A1)
1973 Nov 25, Albert DeSalvo,
Boston strangler, was stabbed to death in prison. DeSalvo, the
self-admitted Boston strangler, had been tried and convicted on
unrelated assaults. 13 women were killed in Boston between 1962-1964.
DNA evidence was sought in 1999. Susan Kelly wrote a book in 1995 on
the Boston Strangler.
(SFC, 7/10/99, p.A3)(www.us.imdb.com/name/nm1108915/)
1973 Stanley Cohen, Stanford
geneticist, and Herbert Boyer of UCSF co-discovered the basic process
of gene-splicing. They spliced the DNA of one bacteria into another and
cultivated a new organism. The discovery was patented by Stanford and
UCSF and resulted in 25 year earnings of more than $200 million.
Recombinant DNA technology soon led to Genetically Modified Organisms
(GMOs) in food products.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A10)(WSJ, 12/24/04, p.W6)
1974 Oct 28, Missionaries Mark
Fischer (19) of Milwaukee, Wis., and Gary Darley (20) of Simi Valley,
Calif., disappeared in Austin, Texas. Their bodies were never found.
Robert Elmer Kleasen, taxidermist, was convicted for their murder and
sentenced to death in 1975, but was released after 2 years due to a
faulty search warrant. He moved to Britain and in 2001 was convicted
again based on DNA evidence, but died in 2003 while awaiting possible
extradition.
(AP, 4/21/03)
1976 Jan, In SF Robert Swanson
(28), a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, first met with Herb Boyer, a
molecular biologist and co-discoverer of recombinant DNA. The 10 minute
appointment extended to a few hours and the 2 men proceeded to found
Genentech.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.B1)(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A10)(WSJ,
12/14/99, p.A22)
1976 "The Selfish Gene" by Richard
Dawkins was published. Here he launched the archetypal "meme," defined
as a unit of cultural transmission. It described how ideas mimic the
behavior of genes and propagate by leaping from brain to brain. In 2009
Fern Elsdon-Baker authored “The Selfish Genius: How Richard Dawkins
Rewrote Darwin’s Legacy.”
(NH, 5/96, p.13)(Wired, 2/98, p.118)(Econ, 7/25/09,
p.81)
1977-1993 In Missouri a serial killer committed at
least 12 murders during this period. In 2004 Kansas City police used
DNA technology to charge Lorenzo Gilyard with 12 murders.
(WSJ, 4/20/04, p.A1)
1978 Dec 31, Peter Seeburg, one of
3 Univ. of California scientists who had identified the DNA for human
growth hormone earlier in the year, returned to UCSF in a "midnight
raid" and remove genetic material. Seeburg had left the university in
late 1978 to join Genentech giving up rights to his materials, for
which UCSF had filed a patent. In 1990 UCSF filed a patent infringement
suit against Genentech.
(SFC, 5/21/99,
p.B2)(www.mindfully.org/GE/Biotech-Born-Thief-1978.htm)
1979 Dec 5, Teresa De Simone (22)
was found strangled in her car outside the pub where she worked in
Southampton, 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of London. Sean
Hodgson initially confessed to the killing, but he later recanted and
pleaded not guilty. His lawyers argued he was a pathological liar and
any confession he made was false. In 2009 Hodgson was released from
prison based on DNA evidence.
(AP, 3/18/09)(http://tinyurl.com/c5jz3y)
1980 Jul, UCLA physician Martin J.
Cline inserted recombinant DNA into two patients with the blood disease
thalassemia, one in Israel and one in Italy. In doing so, he violated
the US recombinant DNA guidelines and human subjects regulations.
{Biotech, California, USA}
(http://tinyurl.com/2svhm5)
1981 Jun 23, The body of Catherine
Schilling (21), a Georgetown law student, was found raped and murdered
in Rock Creek Park. She was shot in the head five times after taking a
shortcut home through the park after working late at her job as a
paralegal at a DC law firm. In September 1982, a D.C. jury convicted
Donald Eugene Gates of killing and raping Schilling. In 2009 Gates (58)
was released from prison based on DNA evidence.
(http://tinyurl.com/y8smuur)(SFC, 12/15/09, p.A9)
1980s Molecular regulators known
as Hox genes, short for homeobox, were discovered. The small DNA
segment of about 180 chemical letters if virtually identical in all
animals from worms to primates and determines the shape and size of an
organism.
(CW, Fall ‘03, p.46)
1982 Bernard Webster (19) was
identified as a rapist in Towson, Md. He denied the charges and was
freed after 20 years in jail following DNA tests that proved him
innocent.
(SFC, 11/7/02, p.A7)
1983 Jun 4, In Chino Hills, Ca.,
Douglas and Peggy Ryen and their 10-year old daughter, Jessica, were
killed in the master bedroom of their home. Christopher Hughes (11), a
neighbor, was also killed. Joshua Ryen (8) survived despite serious
wounds. Kevin Cooper, who escaped from Chino prison on June 2, was
arrested 47 days later and was convicted for the murders in 1985 and
faced execution. Cooper claimed he was innocent and called for DNA
testing of the evidence in 2000. In 2003 an execution date of Feb 10,
2004, was set for Cooper. Cooper won a last minute reprieve on Feb 9
pending a re-examination of the case.
(SFEC, 7/23/00, p.B3)(SFC, 12/18/03, p.A21)(SFC,
2/11/04, p.A4)
1983 Nov 26, Angela Bugay of
Antioch, Ca., 5-years-old, was found in a shallow grave in Concord, Ca.
She had been kidnapped a week earlier. Larry Graham, who dated Angela’s
mother, was later arrested as a suspect and prosecutors in 1995
received a court order to draw his blood for DNA evidence. In 1996
police matched the DNA of Graham, with samples recovered from the
girl’s body and arrested him on charges of murder. Use of the DNA
evidence was cleared in 1998. Graham was convicted Aug 20, 2002, and
sentenced to death Oct 22. Graham (58) was found dead in his cell on
June 16, 2009, of apparent suicide.
(SFC, 4/26/96, p.A-19)(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A19)(SFC,
3/18/99, p.A19)(SFC, 4/15/02, p.A1)(SFC, 8/21/02, p.A15)(SFC, 10/23/02,
p.A16)(SFC, 6/17/09, p.B6)
1983 Dennis Maher was convicted in
Boston of raping 3 women and spent the next 19 years in prison. In 2003
DNA evidence proved his innocence.
(SFC, 4/4/03, p.A3)
1983-1992 DNA Plant Technology Corp. later admitted
to having worked on a secret research project over this period, at the
behest of an unnamed US tobacco company, to increase the nicotine
content of tobacco plants.
(SFC, 1/8/98, p.A1)
1984 May 28, President Reagan led
a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery at the Tomb of the
Unknowns for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam
War. The remains were unearthed in 1998 for DNA testing and possible
identification. They were later identified as those of Air Force First
Lieutenant Michael J. Blassie, and were sent to St. Louis for hometown
burial.
(AP, 5/28/97)(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/28/01)
1984 Jun 4, DNA was successfully
cloned from a quagga, an animal extinct since 1883.
(www.tecsoc.org/pubs/history/2003/jun4.htm)
1984 Sep 10, British scientist
Alec Jeffreys and colleagues discovered that x-ray images of bits of
DNA showed patterns unique to individuals. Jeffries, a geneticist at
Leicester Univ., and his research team found that DNA sequences,
specific to individuals, could be identified as visible bands. He
dubbed his findings DNA fingerprinting. This led to the use of DNA to
solve thousands of crimes.
(Econ, 3/13/04, TQ p.34)(SSFC, 9/13/09, p.A17,20)
1985 Dr. Alec Jeffries, geneticist
at Leicester Univ., used DNA fingerprinting for the 1st time to prove a
maternity and paternity case.
(Econ, 3/13/04, TQ p.33)
1985 Wayne Dumond, while waiting
trial for rape, was castrated with fishing line by 2 men in stocking
masks. He had been sentenced to a prison term for the rape and kidnap
of a 17-year old girl. While in prison St. Francis County Sheriff,
Coolidge Conlee, removed Dumond's testicles from his home and preserved
them in formaldehyde and displayed them on his desk. Later DNA evidence
showed that Dumond’s semen did not match that found on the victim’s
pants and Governor Huckabee of Arkansas said he should be freed.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.A4)
1985 A Dallas-area woman was raped
and her apartment was burglarized. Thomas Clifford McGowan (26) was
convicted of both crimes in separate trials in 1985 and 1986 and
sentenced to life each time. In 2008 McGowan won his freedom after a
DNA testing proved him innocent.
(AP, 4/16/08)
1986 Jan 22, The body of Yvonne
Coleman (15) was found in a park in Inglewood, California. In 2008 DNA
evidence linked Michael Hughes (51), already in jail for 4 other
murders, to her murder and 3 others.
(SFC, 7/4/08, p.B6)
1987 Oct 29, Virginia Lowery (56)
was killed in her SF home at 966 Brussels in the Excelsior. In 1998 DNA
evidence led police to Robert Nawi, a local laborer with an extensive
criminal record. Nawi (58) was convicted in 2001. Nawi had been hired
by husband and son Bill and David Lowery.
(SFC, 9/22/98, p.A15)(SFC, 8/28/01, p.A12)
1987 Cetus Corp. patented
polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a process that turns small amounts of
DNA into large amounts of DNA. The enzyme Taq, which helped to automate
the process, was patented in 1989. In 1991 Roche purchased the Cetus
patents for PCR and Taq.
(SFC, 1/31/00, p.B1)
1988 Feb 26, Gretchen Burford (49)
was abducted and killed by an attacker who tried to make her withdraw
money from an ATM machine in Mountain View, Ca. In 2005 DNA evidence
identified Texas inmate Tyrone Hamel (39) as the killer.
(SFC, 6/24/05, p.B4)
1989 Apr 19, A female jogger (28)
was raped and beaten in Central Park and 6 teen-agers were later
charged in the near-fatal attack; 5 black and Latino youths (14-16)
were convicted in a case that attracted worldwide headlines. In 2002
DNA evidence identified Matias Reyes (31) as the rapist. 3,254 other
rapes were reported in the park in 1989.
(NG, 5/93, p.16)(AP, 4/19/99)(SFC, 9/6/02, p.A3)
1990 The Human Genome Project
began and planned to sequence all human DNA by 2005. The database did
not just store sequences, but linked them with citations to enable new
discoveries. James Watson served as its 1st head. His opposition to
gene patents helped force him from the position in 1992.
(Wired, 8/96, p.198)(SFEM, 7/30/00, p.10)
1991 Feb 27, In San Francisco
Karen Wong (39) was raped and killed in her flat in the 400 block of
47th Ave. In 2008 DNA evidence identified Otis Hughes (56), a paroled
burglar, as the murderer.
(SFC, 12/11/08, p.B2)
1991 Nov 9, Singer-actor Yves
Montand died near Paris at age 70. His body was exhumed in 1998 for DNA
tests in a paternity suit filed by Aurore Drossard (22).
(SFC, 3/13/98, p.A17)(AP, 11/9/01)
1991 Postal worker Ray Krone was
arrested for the murder of bartender Kim Ancona. Krone was convicted in
1992 and again in 1996. In 2002 DNA evidence proved his innocence.
(SFC, 11/19/04, p.A2)
1992 Oct 27, In Oil City,
Pennsylvania, Shauna Howe (11) was kidnapped while walking home from a
pre-Halloween party. Her battered body was found 3 days later. For
every year afterward, the City Council voted to allow trick-or-treating
in the afternoon only. In 2004 a witness came forward and police turned
to DNA evidence. Two brothers were arrested and convicted of murder and
sexual assault. A third man pleaded guilty to murder. In 2008 the city
council voted to allow Halloween back to night hours.
(AP, 10/30/08)
1993 Apr 26, In Britain a woman
named Nora was raped in the town of Bridgewater. In 2006 kinship DNA
evidence led to the arrest of Geoffrey Godfrey, who was sentenced to 6
years.
(WSJ, 2/23/08, p.A1)
1993 Jul 7, Mia Zapata (27), a
rising punk-rock star, was last seen alive in Seattle. In 2003 Jesus C.
Mezquia was arrested in Florida on DNA evidence.
(SSFC, 1/12/03, p.A6)
1993 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry
was awarded to Kary B. Mullis for developing the polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) for identifying fragments of DNA.
(SFC, 7/18/00, p.A8)
1994 Aug 22, DNA testing linked OJ
Simpson to the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman.
(MC, 8/22/02)
1995 Apr 4, It was reported that
Nuclear Matrix Proteins that act as a type of scaffolding for DNA were
being used as markers for cancer. They were also thought to help turn
genes off and on.
(WSJ, 4/4/95, B-1)
1995 May, Larry Lee Hillblom,
co-founder and majority shareholder of DHL Corp., disappeared into the
Pacific Ocean in his World War II vintage seaplane. He was
conservatively valued at 500 million and willed most of his estate to a
charitable trust for medical research. $240 million was set aside for
medical research at UCSF. He named the Bank of Saipan as executor but
left behind a number of illegitimate children in the Philippines and
the Mariana Islands who are laying claim to his estate. In 1998 4
children won $90 million settlements each. Later it was learned that
many of his personal effects in Saipan were buried to avoid DNA tests
for paternity confirmation.
(WSJ, 5/15/96, p.A1,8)(SFEC, 1/11/98, p.A1)(SFEC,
8/16/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/20/00, p.A1)
1996 Jan, Scientists reported in
Nature that analysis of protein sequences of rabbit DNA indicate that
the order Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares and allies) are more closely
related to primates than other groups of mammals.
(Pac. Disc., summer, ‘96, p.46)
1996 Spring, Affymetrix Inc.
planned to ship its first product, GeneChip. Building blocks of DNA
proteins would be placed on a glass chip. Initial applications will be
to test the effectiveness of various drugs in research settings.
(SJBJ, Jan. '96, p.41)
1996 Jul 5, A cloned lamb, named
Dolly (d.2003) after Dolly Pardon, was born in Edinburgh Scotland. The
event was not announced until Feb 23, 1997 when it was made public that
researchers under Dr. Ian Wilmut at Edinburgh, Scotland, created a
clone lamb from adult sheep DNA. In 2001 it was reported that Dolly
suffered from arthritis, a sign of premature aging.
(SFEC, 2/23/96, p.C1)(SFC, 1/5/02, p.A2)(SFC,
2/15/03, p.A2)
1996 Jul, In France Caroline
Dickinson, a 13-year-old British girl, was raped and strangled at a
youth hostel in the town of Pleine-Fougeres. In 1997 a DNA test was
planned to be performed on volunteers of the 170 young men in the town
who fit an age profile of the murderer.
(SFC, 10/11/97, p.A8)
1997 Feb 23, It was announced that
researchers under Dr. Ian Wilmut at Edinburgh, Scotland, created a
clone lamb from adult sheep DNA. The lamb was born in Jul, 1996, and
named Dolly after Dolly Pardon. Dolly was put down Feb. 14, 2003, after
a short life marred by premature aging and disease.
(SFEC, 2/23/97, p.C1)(AP, 2/23/98)
1997 Jul 10, The DNA from the arm
bone of Neanderthal man found in 1856 was found to represent a separate
human species. Scientists in London said DNA from a Neanderthal
skeleton supported a theory that all humanity descended from an
"African Eve" 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/10/98)
1997 Aug 15, Scientists at Geron
corp. reported that an "immortality gene" had been cloned. The key gene
carries the code for a key section of the enzyme telomerase, that
rebuilds the telomere of DNA. It could lead to new cancer-prevention
drugs and even be used to slow the process of aging.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A1,17)(SFC, 8/16/97, p.D1)
1997 Sep 17, Dr. Sam Sheppard's
body (subject of the TV show "The Fugitive") was exhumed for DNA test.
(MC, 9/17/01)
1998 Mar 21, Christina Nytsch (11)
was found raped and murdered in woods 8 miles from her home in
Struecklingen. In April Police began collecting saliva from 18,000
local men to test for a DNA match. Police found a match and arrested a
suspect in Elisabethfehn in May, 1998. The man, a father of 3 children,
confessed to another rape of an 11-year-old girl in Jan, 1996.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A18)(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A24)
1998 Jun 10, It was reported that
scientists had decoded the DNA sequence for Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A2)
1998 Jul 17, Scientists reported
in the journal Science that the syphilis genome, 1.1 million base pairs
of DNA, had been mapped.
(SFC, 7/17/98, p.A7)
1998 Jul 27, In Chicago two boys,
aged 7 and 8, reportedly killed an 11-year-old girl, Ryan Harris, with
a thrown rock that caused the girl to fall and hit her head. The boys
dragged her to a wooded area and began to play with her body and later
lied to police. The boys faced the juvenile equivalent of first degree
murder. Later evidence of semen caused prosecutors to drop murder
charges against the boys. In Sep police arrested another suspect whose
DNA matched that found on Ryan. The charges on the 2 boys were dropped
Sept 4 and Floyd Durr was indicted for the murder of Ryan Harris in
1999.
(SFC, 8/11/98, p.A3)(SFC, 9/5/98, p.A3)(SFC,
9/23/98, p.A6)(USAT, 3/24/99, p.6A)
1999 May 5, SF Superior Court
Judge Robert Dondero ruled that a key DNA test, Short Tandem Repeats,
was unproven and inadmissible in 5 cases before him.
(SFC, 5/7/99, p.A1)
1999 May 6, Scientists reported
that the salmonella bacteria becomes disabled when stripped of a gene
that produces the DNA adenine methylase (Dam). The research was seen as
a potent new source for vaccines.
(SFC, 5/7/99, p.A1,17)
1999 May 27, It was reported that
Dolly, the 3-year-old sheep, cloned from a 6-year-old ewe, has cells
that that are 9 years old. Her DNA showed signs of wear more typical of
an older animal.
(SFC, 5/27/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/27/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 9, In SF Mark Barton was
ambushed and shot to death as he left for work from his Potrero Ave.
home. His girlfriend (21) was raped, thrown in a closet and shot. In
2003 police arrested Ivory Morton based on DNA evidence.
(SFC, 3/28/03, p.A6)
2000 Apr 6, A private company
mapping the human genetic blueprint announced it had decoded all of the
DNA pieces that make up the genetic pattern of a single human being.
(AP, 4/6/01)
2000 Mar 15, The unknown East Side
rapist was indicted under DNA evidence in a John Doe indictment for 7
rapes between 1994-1998 to prevent the 5 year stature of limitations
from expiring 3 of the cases.
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.A12)
2000 Jun 1, With about half an
hour to spare, Texas Governor George W. Bush blocked the scheduled
execution of convicted killer Ricky McGinn so that possibly exculpatory
DNA evidence could be reviewed. The DNA tests failed to establish
McGinn’s innocence, and he was put to death by injection the following
September.
(AP, 6/1/01)
2000 Jun 26, Public and private
gene researchers, Celera Genomics and the National Human Genome
Research Institute, announced at the White House that they had roughly
mapped the human genome. Craig Venter, head of Celera, acquired private
funding in 1998 and began decoding in September 1999. In 2007 Venter
authored “A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life.”
(WSJ, 6/26/00, p.A1)(SFC, 6/27/00, p.A1)(AP,
6/26/01)(WSJ, 10/27/07, p.W6)
2001 Feb 11, It was reported that
scientists had found the human genome to consist of 30,000 genes and
that only some 300 were unique to humans as when compared to mice.
(SSFC, 2/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 28, In Australia a leech
dropped off Peter Cannon as he and an accomplice tied a woman (71) to a
chair in her remote home in the Tasmanian woods and stole several
hundred dollars in cash. Australian officials extracted blood from the
leech. In 2009 DNA evidence led the police to Cannon, who admitted to
robbing the elderly woman.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2001 Nov 22, Stanford and UCSF
researchers reported a long list of genes responsible for multiple
schlerosis (MS).
(SFC, 11/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 4, Edwin Huffine, US
forensic scientist, launched a new DNA ID software program developed
with a team of Bosnian experts at the Sarajevo-based Int’l. Commission
for Missing Persons (ICMP). The program used kinship analysis.
(SFC, 12/4/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 4, In South Africa Marike
de Klerk (64), former wife of former Pres. F.W. de Klerk, was found
stabbed and strangled in her luxury apartment near Cape Town. Police
arrested Luyanda Mboniswa (21), a security guard, on Dec 5. The guard
confessed Dec 7. In 2003 DNA evidence linked him to the murder.
(SFC, 12/6/01, p.A6)(SFC, 12/7/01, p.A6)(SFC,
12/8/01, p.A7)(AP, 4/8/03)
2001 The US National Institutes of
Health began its Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) project to isolate
each of the estimated 30,000 human genes along with a full set of mouse
genes.
(SFC, 4/23/01, p.B1)
2002 Jan 6, Christa Worthington
(46), fashion writer, was found dead at her home in Truro on Cape Cod,
Mass. Her 2-year-old daughter was next to her, covered in blood but
unharmed. In 2005 DNA evidence identified Christopher Mccowen, a local
trash collector, as the murderer.
(SFC, 4/16/05, p.A5)
2002 Dec 19, After a prosecutor
cited new DNA evidence, a judge in New York threw out the convictions
of five young men in a 1989 attack on a Central Park jogger who had
been raped and left for dead.
(AP, 12/19/03)
2003 Aug 13, Chinese researchers
reported that they had created hybrid embryos of human and rabbit DNA
as a source for stem cells.
(SFC, 8/14/03, p.A3)
2003 Nov 6, Gene scientists
published a map in Nature that shows how DNA controls protein
interactions in the fruit fly.
(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 13, The US Energy Dept
reported that Dr. Craig Venter and colleagues had assembled a
bacteriophage containing 5,386 DNA base pairs.
(SFC, 11/14/03, p.A7)
2004 May 16, It was reported that
a Scottish bus firm had begun issuing DNA “spit kits” help drivers
verify assault charges on passengers spitting at drivers.
(SSFC, 5/16/04, p.A2)
2004 Apr 17, The body of
University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin (22) was found in a
ravine northwest of Crookston, Minn. She was last seen Nov 22 at the
Grand Forks, ND, mall, where she worked. Alfonso Rodriquez was arrested
in Dec. and investigators matched DNA in blood in his car to Sjodin.
(AP, 4/18/04)(SSFC, 4/18/04, p.A13)
2004 Jul 28, Francis Crick (88),
British Nobel laureate who with American James Watson discovered the
double-helix structure of DNA, died of colon cancer in San Diego, Ca.
(AP, 7/29/04)
2004 Aug 11, Britain granted its
1st license for human embryonic cloning research.
(WSJ, 8/12/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep, Scientists announced
that they had deciphered the genome of the black cottonwood tree, the
1st arboreal genome to be unraveled.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.70)
2004 Oct 20, Scientists of the
Human Genome Project reported a new estimate of human genes at 20k to
25k.
(SFC, 10/21/04, p.A12)
2004 Dec 23, The FDA said it
approved the Ampli-Chip Cytochrome P450 Genotyping test made by Roche.
The test was cleared for use with the Affymetrix GeneChip Microarray.
(WSJ, 12/24/04, p.A9)
2005 Jan 12, It was reported that
researchers had synthesized a DNA molecule of 14,500 chemical units
with 21 genes used by a harmless laboratory bacterium.
(SFC, 1/12/05, p.A2)
2005 Feb 17, Gene scientists
published the 1st map of a common DNA variations.
(WSJ, 2/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar, Scientists reported that
they have finished sequencing the X chromosome. Scientists also
reported the replication of a new artificial base pair,
3-fluoro-benzene (3FB).
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.84)
2005 Apr 13, National Geographic
and IBM Corp. announced a project to collect DNA samples from people
around the globe to trace the routes of human migration.
(SFC, 4/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 26, Clarence Williams
(58), suspected of raping at least 25 women in 3 states, was arrested
in NYC following DNA tests that linked him to a 1973 rape case.
(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A3)
2005 May 19, South Korea
scientists announced the creation of 11 different stem cell lines
matching the DNA of human patients with a variety of diseases.
(SSFC, 5/29/05, p.A17)
2005 Jul 22, The Italian
government approved a package of anti-terrorism measures that allow
authorities to take DNA samples from suspects and jail those who
provide explosives training.
(AP, 7/22/05)
2006 Nov 15, Researchers, who
sequenced DNA from the leg bone of a Neanderthal man who died 38,000
years ago, said it shows the Neanderthals are truly distant relatives
of modern humans who interbred rarely, if at all, with our own
immediate ancestors. They concluded that Neanderthals and humans are
likely to be 99.5% identical, genetically speaking.
(Reuters, 11/15/06)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.84)
2007 Mar 13, Entrepreneur Marc
Hodosh (34) was named senior director of the Archon Genomics X Prize.
His job was to offer $10 million to the first team of researchers that
can accurately map the genetic codes of 100 people in 10 days for a
cost of $10,000 or less per genome. The competition was launched in
2006 year by the nonprofit X Prize Foundation of Santa Monica, Calif.,
which also has sponsored races to build commercial spacecraft and
fuel-efficient cars.
(http://tinyurl.com/2vfp9b)(Econ, 12/8/07, p.94)
2007 Nov 2, In Italy Meredith
Kercher (21), a British university student, was found dead with her
throat slashed in the bedroom of a house in the central city of
Perugia. A week later 3 suspects in the murder were remanded in custody
by an Italian investigating magistrate. On Nov 19 police in Perugia
identified a 4th suspect as Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast native.
Guede was arrested in Germany the next day and DNA evidence confirmed
that he had sex with Kercher the night she was stabbed. In 2009
roommate Amanda Knox, of Seattle, Wa., was convicted and
sentenced to 26 years in prison. The court also convicted Knox's
co-defendant and former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, and gave
him a 25-year jail term for the murder. Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory
Coast citizen, had already been convicted in the murder and sentenced
to 30 years in prison.
(AP, 11/2/07)(AFP, 11/10/07)(AP, 11/19/07)(AP,
11/22/07)(AP, 12/5/09)
2007 Nov 30, Scientists at Duke
Univ. reported the creation of the first map of genes that are
inherited as “silenced genes.” The Duke map verified 40 and identified
another 156. Humans were first shown to have silenced genes in 1991.
They help explain why some people get sick and others do not.
(SFC, 11/30/07, p.A7)
2008 Jan 30, Using DNA, the
blueprint of life, US researchers said they have made a
three-dimensional structure from particles of gold in a development
that could lead to a host of custom-designed materials.
(Reuters, 1/30/08)
2008 Feb 5, British scientists
said they have created human embryos containing DNA from two women and
a man in a procedure that researchers hope might be used one day to
produce embryos free of inherited diseases.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Apr 29, James Woodward (55)
walked out of a Dallas court after DNA testing overturned his
conviction over 27 years ago for the murder and rape of his girlfriend.
(Reuters, 4/30/08)
2008 May 21, Pres. Bush signed
legislation to protect people from losing their jobs or health
insurance when genetic testing reveals they are susceptible to costly
diseases.
(WSJ, 5/22/08, p.D6)
2008 May 26, Dutch scientists
claimed they have completed the first sequencing of an individual
woman's DNA.
(AP, 5/26/08)
2008 Dec 4, Europe's top human
rights court ruled that storing DNA from people with no criminal record
is in breach of their rights, a landmark decision that could force
Britain to destroy the samples of nearly 1 million people on its
database.
(AP, 12/4/08)
2009 Feb 12, Researchers in
Germany said they have completed the first draft of the Neanderthal
genome, 3 billion genetic building blocks that will shed new light on
the ancient hominid as well as the origins of humans, its closest
relation. Lead scientist Svante Paabo established in 1997 that
Neanderthals were cousins rather than ancestors of modern humans.
(AP, 2/12/09)
2009 Feb 15, French specialists
unveiled a new weapon against cancer, a molecular "decoy" that mimics
DNA damage and prompts cancerous cells to kill themselves.
(AFP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb, Scientists published a
study showing that genetically modified material did contaminate native
corn in the crop's birthplace in southern Mexico. Elena Alvarez Buylla,
author of the article published in the February edition of Molecular
Ecology, said the difficult atmosphere surrounding the original debate
persists.
(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Apr 2, In Connecticut a
judge, citing DNA evidence, dropped murder charges against Miguel
Roman, who served 20 years of a 60-year sentence after being convicted
of the 1988 slaying of Carmen Lopez (17), his pregnant girlfriend. The
same DNA tests that exonerated Roman implicated led police in December
to charge another man, Pedro Miranda of New Britain. He is accused in
the killings of Lopez, 16-year-old Rosa Valentin in 1986 and
13-year-old Mayra Cruz in 1987. Miranda (51) faced the possibility of
the death penalty if convicted.
(SFC, 4/3/09, p.A6)
2009 May 7, Britain promised it
would remove the DNA records of hundreds of thousands from its vast
national registry of genetic information, but said it will still keep
the details of some innocent people for up to 12 years.
(AP, 5/7/09)
2009 Jun 18, The US Supreme Court
ruled 5-4 that William Osborne, a prisoner convicted in Alaska in 1994,
has no constitutional right to DNA testing to prove his innocence. In
April 2008, a three-judge panel of US Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit had held that Osborne should be allowed to obtain new DNA
tests. The court said that it is up to the states and Congress to
decide such rights.
(SFC, 6/19/09, p.A7)(Econ, 8/1/09,
p.25)(http://tinyurl.com/mkmte2)
2009 Sep 5, Milwaukee police
arrested Walter Ellis (49) after DNA evidence linked him to the slaying
of 9 women, including 8 suspected prostitutes, dating back to 1986.
(SFC, 9/7/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 20, Australian officials
said a leech found at a crime scene in 2001 led police to a man who
admitted robbing an elderly woman. The leech dropped off Peter Cannon
as he and an accomplice tied a 71-year-old woman to a chair in her
remote home in the Tasmanian woods on Sept. 28, 2001.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Canada a judge in
Winnipeg acquitted Kyle Unger (38) of the 1990 murder of Brigitte
Grenier (16). DNA tests in 2005 showed that hair on the victim came
from somebody else. Unger had spent 13 years in jail before he was
granted bail in 2005.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 11, The British Home
Office said DNA of innocent people arrested then cleared without charge
will be held by the government for no more than six years.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 16, Thai police arrested
Samart Chokechoyma (36) and Kanokwan Wongsaroj (38) on charges of
smuggling African ivory into the country to supply shops that sell
jewelry and trinkets, including to customers in the US. DNA tests
showed that it was of African origin.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 18, Argentina's Congress,
valuing truth over the right to privacy, authorized the forced
extraction of DNA from people who may have been born to political
prisoners slain a quarter-century ago, even when they don't want to
know their birth parents.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Dec 15, Donald Eugene Gates
(58), in prison for 28 years, was freed after DNA evidence cleared him
of charges of rape and murder. His conviction had been based on the
testimony of FBI forensic analyst Michael P. Malone, whose work came
under fire in 1997, and a hair analysis technique that has been
discredited. Gates was given $75 and a bus ticket to Ohio. Gates had
been convicted in 1982 of the 1981 rape and murder of Catherine
Schilling (21), a Georgetown University student, in Washington's Rock
Creek Park. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
(SFC, 12/15/09, p.A9)(http://tinyurl.com/y8smuur)
2009 Dec 16, In Paraguay President
Fernando Lugo’s lawyer said Lugo has agreed to take a DNA test
following a judicial request presented by Hortensia Damiana Moran (40),
the third woman to claim he fathered her child.
(AP, 12/16/09)
2010 Jan 1, It was reported that
Australian researchers have cracked the genetic origin of the deadly
cancer that is threatening to wipe out Tasmanian devils, raising hopes
that the animal's future is safe.
(AFP, 1/1/10)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = DNA
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