science

Parabon NanoLabs

Parabon NanoLabs is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Parabon NanoLabs rather than just read about it. In short: Parabon NanoLabs, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia that develops nanopharmaceuticals and provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement organizations. History Parabon NanoLabs, a subsidiary of Parabon Computation, a computing software provider, was founded in 2008 by Steven Armentrout, Michael Norton and Christopher Dwyer.

Key takeaways

Parabon NanoLabs belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Parabon NanoLabs to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Parabon NanoLabs from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Parabon NanoLabs, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia that develops nanopharmaceuticals and provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement organizations.

History 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.

Products

inSēquio Design Studio 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 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.

Keystone 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.

Genetic genealogy

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. In May 2019, GEDmatch required people who had uploaded their DNA to its site to specifically opt in to allow law enforcement agencies to access their information. This change in privacy policy was forecast to make it much more difficult in the future for law enforcement agencies and Parabon to identify suspects and solve cold cases using genetic genealogy. According to an article published by Los Angeles Times in November 2019, "[CeCe] Moore said Parabon has opened about 300 DNA searches and that the lab has solved almost 100 cases — though arrests have not yet been made in several dozen of those cases." In May 2020 it was reported that Parabon had participated in nearly 500 cases with 109 suspect positive identifications. In December 2019, it was announced that GEDmatch was sold to forensic, for-profit, DNA analysis company Verogen, whose CEO Brett Williams vowed to make the database safer for its customers, including fighting search warrants. In a May 2020 interview with Scott Fisher of the podcast Extreme Genes, Moore revealed that in her capacity as the genetic genealogy lead, she no longer uses GEDmatch exclusively because of the decline of profiles available to law enforcement. Moore stated, "So, it would be better obviously, if we still had access to the full [GEDmatch] database, that million plus profiles, but it hasn't stopped us. Also, we are using Family Tree DNA more and more all the time. Parabon is not able to upload directly but the agencies we work with can get the raw data from us and upload it to Family Tree DNA and then come back with that login information for us. So, we're also helping to solve some cases with Family Tree DNA matches now. And as you know, theirs is the opt-out situation where you're automatically opted in if you're a US customer, unless you choose to opt out." This restricted direct-access limitation may be due to the fact that FamilyTreeDNA has their own genetic genealogy consultant, Barbara Rae-Venter, who solved the Golden State Killer cold case in May 2018. On 26 May 2020, the ABC television network premiered The Genetic Detective, featuring Parabon's Moore, Steven Armentrout, Ph.D., and Ellen McRae Greytak, Ph.D. The hour-long episodes feature cases that Moore's genetic genealogy team has worked on since she started with Parabon. The following list of case results may offer an overview of Parabon's increasing activity.

Case results: To trial The following cases include suspects who were identified and then arrested for the indicated offenses. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Convictions are highlighted in green.

Case results: Confessions and guilty pleas In the following cases, the suspect arrested for the offense subsequently confessed and was sentenced without going to trial.

Case results: Dismissals In the following cases, the suspect arrested for the offense was either released or found not guilty in a court of law. Many factors may result in such an outcome, ranging from the prosecution dropping all charges, acquittals, dismissals, etc.

Case results: Identification of deceased primary suspects In these cases, the offender was identified, but died without ever being brought to justice. Although the percentage accuracy in the identification of these primary suspects is extremely high, the cases remain open because there can be no convictions.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Parabon NanoLabs

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Parabon NanoLabs claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Parabon NanoLabs before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Parabon NanoLabs ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Parabon NanoLabs

In research: Parabon NanoLabs appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Parabon NanoLabs in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Parabon NanoLabs is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2008 establishments in Virginia, American companies established in 2008, Companies based in Reston, Virginia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Parabon NanoLabs outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Parabon NanoLabs in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Parabon NanoLabs means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Parabon NanoLabs out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Parabon NanoLabs in simple terms?

Parabon NanoLabs, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia that develops nanopharmaceuticals and provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement organizations. History Parabon NanoLabs, a subsidiary of Parabon Computation, a computing software provider, was founded in 2008 by Ste…

Why does Parabon NanoLabs matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Parabon NanoLabs?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Parabon NanoLabs.