Program milestone: 10,000th unexpected DNA match

AUSTIN

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) program recently passed a new milestone, the 10,000th offender cold hit, which are unexpected DNA matches that help solve open cases.  Since 1998, the DPS CODIS Lab has helped solve 644 homicides, 3,399 sexual assaults, 4,273 burglaries, 556 robberies and hundreds of other miscellaneous crimes in Texas and other states. CODIS is a nationwide FBI database used to match DNA of known criminal offenders with biological evidence from crime scenes. DPS is the program administrator for CODIS in Texas and processes the DNA of certain offenders as authorized by law. The DNA profiles are then added to the database where they are cross-referenced with crime scene DNA evidence. “It would be difficult to overstate the impact of CODIS in law enforcement. Along with advancements in DNA technology, it has revolutionized crime fighting, helping solve countless crimes and providing invaluable assistance to our law enforcement partners,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw. “Many of these crimes may never have been solved if not for this database. In addition, CODIS can actually vindicate or exclude a suspect in a case, which is another valuable tool for investigators.” The Texas CODIS database was established by the Texas Legislature in 1996. Since that time, the DPS CODIS Lab has analyzed and uploaded more than 660,000 offender DNA samples into the Texas portion of CODIS, which is linked to the national database. That growing number of offenders in the database explains the rapid growth in Texas CODIS cold hits. It took 11 years to reach 1,000 cold hits, but only five more to reach 10,000. The CODIS Lab at DPS headquarters in Austin also serves as the primary point of entry for local law enforcement into the Texas and national CODIS databases. Of the 10,027 cold hits, approximately 50 percent of the suspects were not incarcerated at the time CODIS linked them to a crime, which is sometimes more serious than the original offense that required them to provide a DNA sample. Texas law now requires all registered sex offenders, and any convicted felons sentenced to Texas Department of Criminal Justice or juveniles committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department facilities to provide a DNA sample.  In addition, felons placed on community supervision must provide DNA, as well as certain qualifying arrestees. About 60 percent of the DNA evidence that links suspects to crimes through the Texas portion of CODIS is processed by eight regional DPS crime labs. The remainder are processed at police department crime labs in Austin and Houston; the University of North Texas Health Science Center; and the county medical examiner labs in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. CODIS can also tie multiple crimes together, which happened in the recent Twilight Rapist case. As a repository for case evidence profiles, the database linked multiple sexual assaults of elderly women in central Texas to one suspect, confirming law enforcement suspicions they were dealing with a serial rapist. When a man was arrested in January 2011 while committing a crime, his DNA profile quickly confirmed to investigators they had captured their serial rapist suspect.

TEMPLE

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) District Conservationist Serafin M. Aguirre announces applications for funding opportunities with the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) are currently being accepted at the NRCS offices located at 2210 N. Veterans Blvd., Suite 130, Eagle Pass, Texas 78852. NRCS in Texas has received its initial allocation of EQIP funding in 2013 and will begin ranking and obligating EQIP contracts after February 15. All agriculture producers interested in submitting a contract application for 2013 should do so before this ranking deadline. EQIP — one of the largest programs in the Farm Bill — is a voluntary conservation program that promotes environmental quality and assists producers to meet local, state and federal regulations. "EQIP is a valuable tool to help Maverick County’s agricultural producers implement conservation practices that provide environmental benefits to help sustain agricultural operations," says Aguirre. EQIP is a continuous sign-up program that allows landowners or operators to apply for financial and technical assistance for the application of specific conservation practices; but the deadline for the first 2013 funding is February 15, 2013. Contracts are offered periodically depending on budgetary allocations. Applications made after the deadline will be considered in the next funding cycle. Higher priority will be given to those applications that address national, state and local priorities and provide higher cost efficiency. EQIP offers technical and financial help to install or implement structural, vegetative, and management practices that can benefit the soil, water, air, plants, livestock, and wildlife. Each county in the state is funded yearly to assist producers financially with these land management practices. Last year, NRCS in Texas funded over 4,000 EQIP contracts with $76 million to accomplish conservation practices such as irrigation efficiency, minimum tillage, brush management and more on 2.1 million acres across the entire state. In addition to helping our environment, Farm Bill conservation program funds support rural communities. In Texas, it is estimated that each dollar of NRCS and private matching expenditures on NRCS conservation programs generates an additional $2.54 in sales of goods and services. For more information, including eligibility requirements, call the USDA Service Center office in Eagle Pass, Texas at (830) 773.2518. Service center locations and program information can be found on the Texas NRCS Web site at www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov.

HOUSTON

A new grant will help researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) understand the role of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes, in aging. Dr. Ergun Sahin, assistant professor at the Huffington Center on Aging and in the department of molecular physiology and biophysics at BCM, has received a $200,000 grant for two years from the Ted Nash Long Life Foundation, a nonprofit based in Waco committed to funding research to improve the length and quality of life for future generations. “Studies in patients with severe telomere shortening syndromes and in animal models have demonstrated the importance of adequate telomere length for normal lifespan and health,” said Sahin. “It is believed that aging occurs, at least in part, due to continuous loss of telomeres across different organs.” Sahin and colleagues will study how short telomeres impact the aging process, specifically what mechanisms are activated in cells with short telomeres that lead to cellular and organismal aging. They hope to be able to understand what pathways are impacted by short telomeres to then manipulate the process to prevent or delay partial decline in aging. His group will use genetic mouse models to manipulate the short telomere state and then reverse it. He will also study cells derived from patients who have telomerase mutations and compare to patients who age at a normal rate.