Paternity & DNA Testing

A blog article recently posted by Promega highlights how forensic DNA testing was used in a UK case involving two British women—a wife and her husband’s mistress.

The story itself is worthy of a soap opera, with a twist at the end of the story. The wife filed police reports blaming the mistress for various vicious attacks, including being stabbed by a screwdriver, having bleach thrown in her face, and several death threats. The mistress asserted her innocence, and her relatives started logging her whereabouts to aid her efforts to prove her innocence.

Ultimately, DNA testing was used on evidence collected, including a lipstick that was used to write a threatening message on the wife’s apartment window as well as an envelope used to send another threat.

DDC’s forensics scientists routinely isolate and perform DNA testing on samples such as described above. Our ASCLD/LAB-International accredited Forensics laboratory provides independent scientific analysis—we work with law professionals seeking DNA expertise in their cases, and we also provide DNA testing services to criminal investigators and police departments.

How did it all end? Read more to find out. For information about forensic DNA testing, call us at 1-800-406-1940 or visit www.forensicdnacenter.com.

If you’ve recently heard about DDC’s® Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity test and would like to learn more, including what others are saying about it, check out the following featured news coverage and media links:

• Fox News: A TV interview with Dr. Michael Baird, DDC’s Chief Science Officer, who explains the basics of non-invasive prenatal paternity testing.
• Omaha Morning Blend: DDC’s “game-changer” in prenatal paternity testing is discussed in this TV interview with Dr. Baird.
• Radio Interview with Dr. Baird on Brainstormin’ with Bill Frank. (Click player link below Dr. Baird’s bio to listen).  See other radio interviews
• Time Healthland: “Who’s Your Baby Daddy? New Paternity Test Can Tell at 12 Weeks”
• New Scientist.com: “Test can identify paternity 12 weeks into pregnancy”

• Babycenter.com Momformation Blog: “Blood Test Verifies Paternity at 12 weeks”
• Cincinnati.com– “DNA Diagnostics Center licenses non-invasive paternity test”

DDC has also added a short video on its Facebook page explaining the new prenatal paternity test option.

To inquire about non-invasive prenatal paternity testing, call DDC at 1-800-613-5768 or visit our prenatal DNA testing page.

DDC is proud to announce the most innovative test of its kind in the last decade—the first non-invasive prenatal paternity test using SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) Microarray Technology, which requires only a simple blood draw from the mother and alleged father.

As the exclusive licensee for this test, DDC’s Chief Science Officer, Dr. Michael Baird, has been spearheading this initiative. In fact, Dr. Baird confirms, the new test is 100 percent safe for the developing fetus, 99.9 percent accurate, is performed in a CLIA-certified laboratory (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) and results are available within five business days.

The test, called ‘The DDC® Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test,’ is available now online or by calling 1-800-Call-DDC (1-800-225-5332).

According to Dr. Baird, the use of SNP Microarray Technology is “groundbreaking, innovative technology” using over 317,000 genetic markers and bioinformatics to determine paternity.

“The DDC® Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test provides an alternative for people seeking paternity results prior to the baby’s birth,” Dr. Baird stated, “replacing paternity tests that utilize procedures such as amniocentesis, which are invasive and carry risks for the mother and the child. What makes this new test extraordinary is that it uses ‘cell free circulating’ fetal DNA found in the mother’s blood, which is stabilized with a proprietary reagent, combined with the analysis of 317,000 genetic markers. That means the DNA we analyze is only the DNA from the fetus, and not lingering DNA found in the mother’s system from previous pregnancies. With this technology, the DDC® Non-Invasive Prenatal Test is by far the most significant innovation in paternity testing in the last decade.”

Peter Vitulli, CEO of DDC and the executive responsible for securing the exclusive license from Gene Security Network (GSN), a privately held genetic company, said, “The DDC® Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test will change the face of the prenatal DNA market.  We know that mothers around the world will take comfort in the safety and convenience of the test, and potential fathers—who remarkably comprise nearly 50 percent of our customer base—will also find closure at an early stage of the pregnancy.”

Gene Security Network (GSN), was founded in 2004 by President and CEO Matthew Rabinowitz, Ph.D.  GSN’s Dr. Rabinowitz added, “DDC leads the industry in providing accurate and reliable paternity testing. We are honored to partner exclusively with them for the U.S. consumer market. Our bioinformatics technology is used in a range of cutting-edge clinical diagnostic tests involving tiny quantities of DNA—as little as that from a single cell. This unique technology is now being applied to tiny traces of fetal DNA found in a pregnant mother’s blood to reach an accurate conclusion regarding paternity, without incurring any risk to the pregnancy.”

The validation of the technology for single cell genetic testing has been published in the journal Human Reproduction and it is used at over one hundred in-vitro fertilization centers and hospitals around the world. The technology has now been validated on cell free circulating DNA for paternity testing. That data has been submitted to AABB for certification and is also being prepared for submission to a peer reviewed journal. Additionally a recent gender report published by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) details a new technology used in determining the gender of a baby by detecting DNA from the fetus that floats freely in a pregnant women’s blood, substantiates DDC’s new test. Read more here.

Learn more online.

As reported by front-page stories in The New York Times, LA Times, USA Today and other major news sources, a gender study published by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) details a new technology used in determining the gender of a baby by detecting DNA from the fetus that floats freely in a pregnant woman’s blood. The exciting technology referenced in the report is similar to the innovative technology DDC offers as the first non-invasive Prenatal Paternity Test using SNP Microarray Technology.

The Science

The test to determine gender noted in the JAMA study is a simple version of the testing technology utilized by DDC, analyzing just one chromosome. The DDC® Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test uses the same technology to analyze all 46 chromosomes.

Unlike traditional prenatal paternity testing, which uses a fetal sample obtained by an OB-GYN through amniocentesis or CVS sampling, the non-invasive test only uses the mother’s blood to detect free-floating DNA from the baby. This DNA is then compared with the DNA from an alleged father’s blood.

The test uses state-of-the art DNA technology called SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism), which can detect the relatively low levels of fetal DNA found in maternal blood. The amount of baby’s DNA present in maternal blood increases with gestational age, and DDC recommends that this test be performed when the mother is at least 12 weeks pregnant—the further along in the pregnancy, the greater the chances for an informative and conclusive result.

The DDC® Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test is the only prenatal test that uses Microarray SNP technology to analyze 317,000 SNP genetic markers, where other non-invasive paternity tests look at 8 to 20  markers.

Reliability
With the DDC® Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test, a previous pregnancy does not interfere with the test results. It has been known for several years that circulating cell-free fetal DNA (ccfDNA) is present in a pregnant mother’s blood. It has also been shown that after giving birth, the cell-free circulating DNA is cleared from the mother’s system within a few hours. Thus, there is no chance that the DNA from the fetus of a previous pregnancy can interfere with the test.

Because the prenatal paternity test is non-invasive, it is 100% safe, 99.9% accurate, with test results available in a little as five days after all samples are received. Prior to this test, prenatal paternity testing included invasive methods to obtain a suitable fetal sample by Amniocentesis or CVS (Chorionic Villus Sample). Both of these invasive methods run a risk of miscarriage.

Additional Opportunities

As noted in various newspapers, this new technology is a breakthrough in science, and is the technology that doctors will begin using to predetermine birth defects and whether or not someone is predisposed to any diseases.

For more information about prenatal paternity testing, visit www.dnacenter.com or call us at 1-800-613-5768.

Recently, news on the DNA front has revolved around the U.S. Court of Appeals’ approval of a patent involving genes that are used to evaluate a person’s risk of developing breast cancer. It is common knowledge that we inherit genes from our parents, and you may be wondering if the genes being discussed in the news are the same genes that we look at in a paternity test.

A paternity test examines DNA markers, instead of genes. DNA markers are distinct patterns of DNA that are inherited in the same way that genes are inherited—a child inherits one copy from the mother and one copy from the father.

As you may know, genes are portions of DNA that can determine a person’s physical characteristics, such as eye color. In contrast, the DNA markers we test do not contain this type of information, and so we can’t tell from a paternity test whether you have blue eyes or are predisposed to a certain disease. A paternity test only provides a series of DNA markers that serve as a person’s “genetic ID” without pointing to a specific physical, observable trait.

For more information about DNA testing, visit www.dnacenter.com.