DNA FINGERPRINTING

This IQP analyzed DNA fingerprinting technology, including the various methods used to perform tests, and how this amazing new technology has overcome considerable opposition to make advances in the field of forensic science. The earlier chapters focus on the technical portion of the topic, describing what DNA is, how DNA fingerprints are made using different procedures, and which methods are used for collecting, storing, and processing DNA evidence. The function of DNA databases and their ethics was also investigated. The chapters on landmark court cases examined how legal precedence was established for admitting technical evidence into US courts. Finally the authors make their own conclusions about the technology based on their research

Guardrail Technology Commercialization

The purpose of this project was to perform a market analysis of the guardrail industry in order to determine if commercialization of a High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) guardrail is feasible. To determine this we conducted survey interviews with numerous state transportation departments, leaders in the guardrail industry, and conducted comparative pricing analysis of the HDPE rail against current steel guardrail products. We also reviewed federal safety standards for guardrails and costs associated with meeting those standards, as well as looking into the cost saving aspects that may be associated with the commercialization and subsequent implementation of the HDPE guardrail system

Large-Scale Gene-Centric Meta-analysis across 32 Studies Identifies Multiple Lipid Loci

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified many SNPs underlying variations in plasma-lipid levels. We explore whether additional loci associated with plasma-lipid phenotypes, such as high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC), and triglycerides (TGs), can be identified by a dense gene-centric approach. Our meta-analysis of 32 studies in 66,240 individuals of European ancestry was based on the custom similar to 50,000 SNP genotyping array (the ITMAT-Broad-CARe array) covering similar to 2,000 candidate genes. SNP-lipid associations were replicated either in a cohort comprising an additional 24,736 samples or within the Global Lipid Genetic Consortium. We identified four, six, ten, and four unreported SNPs in established lipid genes for HDL-C, LDL-C, TC, and TGs, respectively. We also identified several lipid-related SNPs in previously unreported genes: DGAT2, HCAR2, GPIHBP1, PPARG, and FTO for HDL-C; SOCS3, APOH, SPTY2D1, BRCA2, and VLDLR for LDL-C; SOCS3, UGT1A1, BRCA2, UBE3B, FCGR2A, CHUK, and INSIG2 for TC; and SERPINF2, C4B, GCK, GATA4, INSR, and LPAL2 for TGs. The proportion of explained phenotypic variance in the subset of studies providing individual-level data was 9.9% for HDL-C, 9.5% for LDL-C, 10.3% for TC, and 8.0% for TGs. This large meta-analysis of lipid phenotypes with the use of a dense gene-centric approach identified multiple SNPs not previously described in established lipid genes and several previously unknown loci. The explained phenotypic variance from this approach was comparable to that from a meta-analysis of GWAS data, suggesting that a focused genotyping approach can further increase the understanding of heritability of plasma lipids