microarray
date: label: date made
content: ca 2013
notes: label: Description
content: This type of silica bead microarray was used to test approximately 850,000 variants in an individual’s DNA. Such genetic data can reveal information about a person’s ancestry, physical traits, and health—which is of interest for both researchers and consumers turning to companies for insights into their DNA. This microarray was the type used by Parabon NanoLabs Inc. between 2013 and 2018. While the early years of the company (founded in 2008) focused on DNA and therapeutics, by 2014 the media attention was primarily focused on the company’s work in forensic science.
label: Description
content: This interest was spurred by the introduction of a product that provided a digital composite of a person’s likeness from a DNA sample. This work originally grew out of a contract Parabon obtained in 2011 from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to investigate single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using DNA samples from a crime or a battlefield to gain information about an individual’s biogeographic or phenotypic traits. Law enforcement with evidence from cold cases subsequently hired Parabon to make digital sketches of persons of interest using DNA evidence. Proponents believed the leads generated by this product helped solve cases that eluded other means. Critics raised concerns about the accuracy of the images and lack of transparency or validation for this proprietary software.
label: Description
content: Parabon’s work to customize its kinship analysis software also followed a contract from the Department of Defense to study methods of linking distant relatives to unidentified remains via DNA analysis. In 2016, they made a call for public participation of extended family units for this study, data from which was used to train algorithms. Their public entry into the field of forensic genetic genealogy, which ties together questions of DNA kinship and traditional research into known family ties, happened a month after another group made the first identification of a perpetrator (the Golden State Killer) via genetic genealogy in April 2018.
label: Description
content: The use of genetic genealogy to solve cold cases rapidly grew. This was in part due to developments in data informatics but also the growth of public DNA databases populated with data users obtained from direct-to-consumer DNA tests—many of which depended on similar microarray technology to probe people’s genetic information. Originally such databases were intended for people seeking ancestry insights, but they became a critical resource for companies like Parabon for genetic genealogy work. This stimulated wider discussions about privacy rights and the need for rules/oversight for such investigative tools.
label: Description
content: References
label: Description
content: Infinium CytoSNP-850k v1.1 BeadChip Data Sheet
label: Description
content: Parabon news 3 April 2011 and 29 September 2016 (https://www.parabon-nanolabs.com/news-events/2011/04/dtra-phase-i-sbir-award.html; https://www.parabon-nanolabs.com/news-events/2016/09/seeking-volunteers-for-dna-kinship-study.html )
label: Description
content: Schreiber, M. “Police turn to new DNA-powered technology in hopes of finding killer” Washington Post, 23 February 2015.
label: Description
content: Beckerman, JD, et al. “Is it ethical to use genealogy data to solve crimes? Ann Intern Med. 2018 September 04; 169(5): 333–334. doi:10.7326/M18-1348
label: Description
content: Chang Lu, et. al. “A survey of direct-to-consumer genotype data, and quality control tool (GenomePrep) for research” Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, Volume 19, 2021, Pages 3747-3754, ISSN 2001-0370, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2021.06.040.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Biological Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift from Parabon NanoLabs, Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2024.0043.01
label: accession number
content: 2024.0043
label: catalog number
content: 2024.0043.01
label: serial number
content: 3999837097 Cyt850HD
objectType: label: Object Name
content: microarray
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 8.2 cm x 2.5 cm x .1 cm; 3 7/32 in x 31/32 in x 1/32 in