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Faster DNA Testing
tkjtkj writes "Physorg.com is reporting that a Rochester,NY, company, 'Thermal Gradients, Inc' has produced a new method of DNA analysis that can reduce the required time from hours to minutes that the usual 'Polymerase Chain Reacion' (PCR) takes to produce the large quantity of sample DNA needed to identify the donor. This could,conceivably, make "Instant DNA Identification" a reality! Will air travel now require one to arrive at the airport 5 minutes earlier than usual, to provide a skin-swab sample before boarding the plane?"
Your DNA says you don't have a bomb, so go right ahead and board! Have a nice day!
Probably.
The truth about Led Zep should never be told on
anyone got thoughts on likely accuracy? false negs/pos's? speed vs quality? TFA looks too much like an advert to give out this sort of information. (it also uses 'leverage' as a verb.)
k e l l a r
Only 5 minutes? No, check the math. Assume 100 people (though it could be FAR more). Each person needs 5 minutes, so you'd need to be there 500 minutes early (8 1/3 hours). I really doubt they'd have that many machines laying around, so multitasking the scans is an improbability.
-- SegFault
"One day, some time ago, something important happened."
If, and it's a big if, this is not vapourware and near instant (a few minutes in TFA) DNA testing is near it's going to add a certain spin to the UK ID card debate. The current use of DNA testing only for major crimes could be extended to practically any crime. And if your DNA profile is on your ID card then placing people at crime scenes will become a doddle.
Ok, so only those who have something to hide have somethng to fear - yeah right - but it's a significant step towards the Brave New World
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
Picture your own scenario. A paternity test is probably the most hostile confrontational gesture one could make toward a woman with whom one's engaged in a relationship; but sometimes, let's face it, it has to be done. What would make this less confrontational would be if DNA testing was quick and easy, not a whole to-do schlep. Just like signing a pre-nup in a world where lawyers weren't needed for that.
So if paternity testing could be relegated to a "By the way, would you mind" kind of matter, the greater piece of mind could-be dads would have jumping into a shotgun wedding. In short, the quicker we can tweak up the ol' Polymerase Chain Reacion, the more red state skanks we can get with safely.
Of course, the OP did not mention the huge positive effects accelerated PCR will have on research (particularly in molecular biology and biochemistry). It's fine recognizing new technology's potential for misuse, but this article's summary is just plain FUD.
They have a tiny oven which can:
While other miniature PCR devices exist, they are limited in the rate at which they can change temperature, Grover said. "Our first prototype has demonstrated that we can expose the sample to the required temperatures at unprecedented rates," he said.
Now, lets look at just whats needed to do the PCR reaction (just one of the variations taken from here:
If you are using DNA Thermal Cycler (TCI, the DNA Thermal Cycler Model 4800 or any thermal cycler requiring light mineral oil overlay.
* Place the tubes in the thermal cycler and begin thermal cycling as follows:
* For the first cylce only, ramp to 96 C for 1-5 minutes to completely denature DNA template then proceed with sequencing PCR steps.
* Rapid thermal ramp to 96C
* 96C for 30 seconds
* Rapid thermal ramp to 50C
* 50C for 15 seconds
* Rapid thermal ramp to 60C
* 60C for 4 minutes
* Repeat Step 2 for 25 cycles
* Rapid thermal ramp to 4C and hold. Samples can be started in the evening and purified the next day if necessary
* Proceed with Purifying Extension Products.
They might be able to change temperature quicker, but they haven't invented a new way to perform the reaction.
minor upgrade, no digg.
liqbase
How long do you think it will be before they start testing people's DNA as part of a job application?
I can see it now....Trevor wasn't hired because his DNA showed a tendency of autosomal recessive gene disorders and another defect affecting his mitochondrial enzymes.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I don't know why they haven't just gone ahead and tattooed serial numbers on the inside of our forearms yet. There's not much difference in the final result.
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
Hey folks I work in this field. Be highly skeptical. Department of Homeland Security is throwing large sums of money around trying to find a biological warfare agent detector that an untrained person can use. Some interesting work has come out of the spending spree - it has also brought out an army of slick talkers with a half baked idea.
Many companies have produced faster thermocyclers. And indeed, the rate of heat cycling is a major factor in the time needed for a 30- or 35-cycle PCR. However, what this article omits are necessary wait periods to permit the annealing, elongation, and melting stages in typical PCR. Unless they have also re-engineered a DNA polymerase and can sufficiently prove that denaturation and annealing stages can be completed much faster, we're talking about maybe a 30 to 45 minute decrease in PCR. That's it. I've never seen anything less than 30-30-30 before, even in the smallest of genotyping markers.
Confirming identity does nothing toward confirming non-terrorism. The attackers of 9/11 were fully legal American residents, maybe even citizens, and even the most expensive and invasive of identity tests would not have disclosed their terrorist intent.
Reasons why this would be considered for TSA purposes: (1) It will make some ignorant people feel more secure; (2) It will facilitate all kinds of other investigations, mostly related to the War On Drugs; (3) it will provide another opportunity for pork projects and kickbacks for government officials.
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Rel
This doesn't seem like as much of a breakthrough as they're claiming. PCR is basically a system where you can amplify DNA by putting it through a series of heating / cooling cycles in the presence of a thermostable enzyme which does the actual amplification. Labs already use expensive peltier heaters/coolers to make this pretty efficient.
All this company have done is make a machine which heats up and cools down faster. The basic biochemistry is still the same. For most PCR reactions the rate limiting step isn't the ramping between temperatures but rather the length of time you have to leave to let the enzyme to let it copy the DNA (normally calculated around 30secs per 1000bases - though it's probaby faster than that).
The only big win for this would be if you're amplifying very small stretches of DNA (a few tens of bases) when the temperature ramping times could be significant. Even so it's still going to be far from instantaneous.
Sorry, but you are not allowed to bring acid of any kind on board, not even Deoxyribonucleic.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
"Will air travel now require one to arrive at the airport 5 minutes earlier than usual, to provide a skin-swab sample before boarding the plane?"
I'd worry about other consequences of this technology. For example will it enable Insurance companies to more effectively bill you for every genetic disorder that you are N% more likely to get than the next guy? Yes it probably will, as soon as they refine it into a low cost, high volume, technology to test for various disease causing genes. Insurance companies are aching to use such cost effective genetic diagnostic technology to stick consumers in higher risk groups (which translates in being able to bill them more money) based on their likelyhood to get some genetically caused disease later on in life. There are already many people that are unensurable as a result of having some chronic disease and this technology will swell their numbers. People show no outward signs of a genetic predisposition to get some disease and seem perfectly healty today might become ill or even uninsurable in the future thanks to this technology.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Normal hairs you shed off don't contain a usable DNA tag; contrary to what most believe.
Not always (unless a root is intact), but Mitochondrial DNA can still usually be found. mDNA, while more expensive to test and not as conclusive, is still useful and I think it's been used in some high profile murder cases.
I recently read (Fall 2005) an interesting article in Dissent magazine from Gary T. Marx on this issue called: "Soft Surveillance Mandatory Voluntarism and the Collection of Personal Data."
He makes a number of interesting observations on how DNA as a soft means for the collection of personal data - for example, where police go in and ask everyone in a community for a mouth swab "in order to solve a crime" or in airports as the poster suggests. Marx argues for a system based on clearly defined rules based on meaningful consent. These rules could center around questions like: Would the information collector be comfortable being the subject, rather than the agent, of surveillance if the situation were reversed?
Imagine for a moment a community database of DNA information and the potential for abuse. For example, a criminal might collect hair from a hair brush and plant it at the scene of a crime. Perhaps a swab might be a precondition for health insurance? Etc.
There are many potential problems with the widespread availability of DNA technology. It is also an issue many of us have not given a great deal of thought. Gary Marx has some material available online like Technology and Social Control: The Search for the Illusive Silver Bullet.
If you know of other people addressing this issue that would be worth reading, please reply with a citation or link.
Jones family to service desk please! Congratulations Mr. Jones, the oldest child is yours, the other two have different fathers, but we managed to locate one, he's coincidentally on the same flight as yours. Flight 3485 now boarding, have an nice flight!
Watashi wa chikyubutsurigakusha desu.
You gotta love all these new technology companies that claim to have something so innovative that they have to slashdot it. And then when it's all said in done, it reads more like a headline story from the Enquirer or something. The product is supposed to clone people, remove unwanted hair, reverse the aging process, and create gateways into an alternate dimension. In the end however, and after really reading the press release, you're lucky if their so called discovery is capable of making Julianne fries.
OK...
all your base-pairs are belong to us?
Sometimes I envision doomsday scenarios, like getting a call from a pro-life booty-call saying she's having my baby, but my homies done seen her 'round the block... In short, the quicker we can tweak up the ol' Polymerase Chain Reacion, the more red state skanks we can get with safely.
Alternatively, after she gives birth to that child of yours, you just might discover that that whole Miracle of Life thang has been given a undeservedly bum rap by the Culture of Death.