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Parabon NanoLabs
Parabon NanoLabs, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia that develops nanopharmaceuticals and provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement organizations.
Parabon NanoLabs, a subsidiary of Parabon Computation, a computing software provider, was founded in 2008 by Steven Armentrout, Michael Norton and Christopher Dwyer. In 2018 Armentrout was the chief executive officer and President of Parabon Computation. Parabon NanoLabs has developed oncology therapeutics and synthetic vaccines using nanotechnology and DNA phenotyping.
Together with the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, the United States Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation as part of a project in the Federal Small Business Innovation Research program, Parabon developed a computer aided design software called inSēquio Design Studio for nanoengineering DNA constructs. This software was used to design and develop synthetic vaccines.
Snapshot DNA Phenotyping Service is the name of a DNA phenotyping tool developed by Parabon NanoLabs which creates composite face imaging sketches based on DNA samples. The algorithms used to make the composites are not open source, however, which has attracted criticism from members of the scientific community. Moses Schanfield, professor of forensic sciences at George Washington University, criticized the lack of any peer review, noting that there is no publicly available performance record for the product. In a 2016 article the American Civil Liberties Union recommended only using genetic phenotyping "...where the link between genes and external characteristics is based on well-proven, peer-reviewed, widely accepted science, such as is apparently now the case with hair and eye color." Skin color predictions have been reported to be somewhat reliable but not predictions of the shape of the face. North Carolina detectives felt Parabon's Snapshot DNA Phenotyping Service had been helpful in identifying Jose Alvarez, Jr. in 2015 as the killer of Troy and LaDonna French in 2012. Privacy restrictions in 2019 on the use of GEDmatch for genetic genealogy may make DNA phenotyping more common. Illumina, Inc. and Identitas AG are reported to offer similar DNA phenotyping services. The United States Department of Defense provided approximately $2,000,000 in development financing for Snapshot.
Parabon NanoLabs was awarded a two-year contract by the United States Department of Defense to develop a software platform dubbed 'Keystone' for the forensic analysis of DNA evidence.
In May 2018 Parabon NanoLabs appointed genealogist CeCe Moore as head of their genetic genealogy unit with three genealogists working for her.
In cooperation with American law enforcement, Parabon uploaded DNA evidence from crime scenes to GEDmatch in an attempt to identify perpetrators.
In November 2018 Parabon said they were working on 200 cases, 55% had produced leads and in May 2019 they said were solving cold cases at the rate of one a week.
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Parabon NanoLabs
Parabon NanoLabs, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia that develops nanopharmaceuticals and provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement organizations.
Parabon NanoLabs, a subsidiary of Parabon Computation, a computing software provider, was founded in 2008 by Steven Armentrout, Michael Norton and Christopher Dwyer. In 2018 Armentrout was the chief executive officer and President of Parabon Computation. Parabon NanoLabs has developed oncology therapeutics and synthetic vaccines using nanotechnology and DNA phenotyping.
Together with the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, the United States Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation as part of a project in the Federal Small Business Innovation Research program, Parabon developed a computer aided design software called inSēquio Design Studio for nanoengineering DNA constructs. This software was used to design and develop synthetic vaccines.
Snapshot DNA Phenotyping Service is the name of a DNA phenotyping tool developed by Parabon NanoLabs which creates composite face imaging sketches based on DNA samples. The algorithms used to make the composites are not open source, however, which has attracted criticism from members of the scientific community. Moses Schanfield, professor of forensic sciences at George Washington University, criticized the lack of any peer review, noting that there is no publicly available performance record for the product. In a 2016 article the American Civil Liberties Union recommended only using genetic phenotyping "...where the link between genes and external characteristics is based on well-proven, peer-reviewed, widely accepted science, such as is apparently now the case with hair and eye color." Skin color predictions have been reported to be somewhat reliable but not predictions of the shape of the face. North Carolina detectives felt Parabon's Snapshot DNA Phenotyping Service had been helpful in identifying Jose Alvarez, Jr. in 2015 as the killer of Troy and LaDonna French in 2012. Privacy restrictions in 2019 on the use of GEDmatch for genetic genealogy may make DNA phenotyping more common. Illumina, Inc. and Identitas AG are reported to offer similar DNA phenotyping services. The United States Department of Defense provided approximately $2,000,000 in development financing for Snapshot.
Parabon NanoLabs was awarded a two-year contract by the United States Department of Defense to develop a software platform dubbed 'Keystone' for the forensic analysis of DNA evidence.
In May 2018 Parabon NanoLabs appointed genealogist CeCe Moore as head of their genetic genealogy unit with three genealogists working for her.
In cooperation with American law enforcement, Parabon uploaded DNA evidence from crime scenes to GEDmatch in an attempt to identify perpetrators.
In November 2018 Parabon said they were working on 200 cases, 55% had produced leads and in May 2019 they said were solving cold cases at the rate of one a week.