DNAStorageKit.com - Background

THE KEEPSAFE DNA STORAGE KIT - U.S. PATENT 6,779,665

THE LOW COST FAMILY KIT IS AN EXCEPTIONAL VALUE.---DNA IS IN EVERY CELL OF THE BODY. THAT'S WHY SAVING A BABY TOOTH OR A LOCK OF HAIR IS SO VALUABLE IN STORING DNA FOR THE FUTURE. THE KEEPSAFE DNA STORAGE KIT IS DESIGNED TO DO JUST THAT, SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY. SPACE IS EVEN PROVIDED FOR PHOTOS FOR YOUR LOVED ONES.

CLICK ON THE ORDER PAGE NOW TO PROVIDE YOUR FAMILY WITH A GIFT OF LOVE.

BACKGROUND

The Human Genome Project (HGP) is an international research effort to chart and characterize the human genome -- the entire package of genetic instructions for a human being. That entails laying out - in order -- the 3 billion DNA letters (or base pairs) of the full human genetic code. A great profusion of discoveries about the genetic basis of a long list of diseases already has resulted from the HGP. Initially these discoveries related to relatively rare conditions, but increasingly the same powerful approaches are uncovering hereditary factors in diabetes and other common illnesses. These revelations hold promise for transforming medical practice.

In the years ahead, it may be possible to learn about individual susceptibilities to common disorders such as cancer and heart disease, allowing the design of programs of effective, individualized preventive medicine focused on lifestyle changes, diet and medical surveillance to keep people healthy. The same discoveries ushered in by the HGP will enable scientists to predict who will respond most effectively to a particular drug therapy, and who may suffer a side effect and ought to avoid that particular drug.

In addition, these advances will lead to the next generation of designer drugs, targeted to each individual and engineered in a much more precise way than today's drugs. As a part of the HGP, 16 research institutions in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Japan, and China are currently generating a high quality, accurate sequence of the human genetic code for scientists everywhere to use as a no cost resource without restrictions. The project is being done in two stages: the "working draft," and the "finished" sequence. (See "working draft" and "finished" sequence)

Sequencing: Sequencing means determining the exact order of the base pairs in a segment of DNA. Human chromosomes range in size from about 30,000,000 to 300,000,000 base pairs. There are four different chemical bases, also called nucleotides. They are adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine, which are abbreviated "A," "T," "G" and "C". The two strands or threads that compose the double helix structure of DNA are essentially strings of these bases. The "As" on one strand always pair with "Ts" on the other strand. And, the "Gs" always pair with "Cs." A base pair is "A" and "T," or "C" and "G." Because the bases exist as pairs, and the identity of one of the bases in the pair determines the other member of the pair, scientists do not have to sequence both bases of the pair.

Whose DNA?: This is intentionally not known to protect the volunteers who provided DNA samples for sequencing. The sequence is derived from the DNA of several volunteers. To ensure that the identities of the volunteers cannot be revealed, a careful process was developed to recruit the volunteers and to collect and maintain the blood samples that were the source of the DNA.

BAC-based sequencing:The primary method used by the HGP to decipher the human genetic code. BAC is an acronym for "bacterial artificial chromosome." Human DNA is fragmented into pieces that are relatively large but still manageable in size, (between 150,000 and 200,000 base pairs).The fragments are cloned in bacteria, which store and replicate the human DNA so that it can be prepared in quantities large enough for sequencing. If carefully chosen to minimize overlap, it takes about 20,000 different BAC clones to contain the 3 billion pairs of bases of the human genome. A collection of BAC clones containing the entire human genome is called a "BAC library."

Gene Discovery: Using computers, scientists can analyze DNA sequence data and recognize the regions with the genes, which encode protein-determining information. Because each portion of the "working draft sequence" is derived from a clone of known location, the locations of the genes that are identified are pinpointed to high resolution in the sequence. The location of a gene that causes a particular disease, or determines an interesting trait, can be compared with the location of the genes that have been identified by computer in the "working draft" sequence in order to determine the exact identity of the disease gene. "Working draft" sequence already has proven valuable to identifying genes for breast cancer susceptibility (BRCA2); hereditary deafness (Pendred syndrome); several hereditary skeletal disorders; hemorrhagic stroke; focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a puzzling kidney disorder that can lead to end-stage kidney failure; hereditary epilepsy; and one type of diabetes. In addition, in clinical trials is a drug for leukemia that was developed based on information in the sequence. Preliminary reports about the drug are very positive. "Working draft" sequence also has been used to identify over 150,000 sites of variation in the sequence - called single nucleotide polymorphisms -- which are powerful tools for studies of human disease and evolution. A bounty of scientific papers over the next several years will be based on research conducted with "working draft" sequence. GENBANK (www.ncbi.nlm/gov) 1. A public database of nucleotide sequence operated by the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the National Institutes of Health. The information in GenBank is available to all without restriction

DNA PROCESSING It is not necessary to process the samples that you keep in your KEEPSAFE DNA Storage Kit as this can be done many years from now. The following laboratories are noted for your information only.

MGH NEUROGENETICS DNA DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORY 149 13th Street Rm #6311 Charlestown, MA 02129 Telephone:(617) 726-5721

APPLIED GENETICS LABORATORIES, INC. 1335 Gateway Drive, Suite 2001 Melbourne, FL 32901, USA Telephone: 800-235-5529

GENETIC DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORY University of Pennsylvania Department of Genetics 415 Curie Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19104-6145 Telephone: (215) 573-9161

THE DNA DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORY. Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center St. Louis University Hospital St. Louis, Missouri Telephone Number (314) 577-8344

COMMONWEALTH BIOTECHNOLOGIES, INC. 601 Biotech Drive Richmond, VA 23235 Telephone: (866) CBI-4DNA, 1-866-224-4362

INTERNET GENERAL DNA INFORMATION AND LABORATORIES. National Center for Biotechnology Information National Library of Medicine Building 38A, Room 8N805 Bethesda, MD 20894 Telephone: 301-496-2475 Fax: 301-480-9241 General Information: info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov