Human Genetic Variation Alters Anthrax Toxin Sensitivity
Martchenko, Candille et al., PNAS
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine show that genetic variation affecting capillary morphogenesis gene 2, or CMG2, dramatically alters toxin sensitivity in humans. In its analysis, the team reports on "a CMG2 single-nucleotide polymorphism occurring frequently in African and European populations [that they found] independently altered toxin uptake." The group goes on to suggest "testing of genomically characterized human cell populations may offer a broadly useful strategy for elucidating effects of genetic variation on infectious disease susceptibility."
A New Look at Evidence Against Lab Tech, But No Light Shed on Murder Motive
November 13, 2009
The New York Times has an update on the laboratory technician charged with the murder of Annie Le, the Yale graduate student killed in September. According to police, Raymond Clark III allegedly "tried to conceal blood-splattered tissues from university detectives." Police affidavits were released today, revealing that "investigators who went through the lab building discovered a sock with two batches of DNA — his and hers — with her body. The sock was 'similar' to another sock concealed in a ceiling panel where they found blood work boots labeled 'Ray-C.' The investigators also concluded that there had been blood on a wall in the lab, but that it had been washed off," the article says.
Despite the DNA and other evidence, however, the story says that Clark has been refusing to answer questions about the strangling. "Chief James Lewis of the New Haven police said detectives might never be able to piece together the story behind the slaying or explain the motive, a gap that physical evidence alone could not fill in," the article says.