Best States for Maternity and Paternity Leave

Paternity Leave

Two recent Huffington Post articles highlight the states in the U.S. that provide the most support for working moms and dads. In particular, the articles summarize what the top states’ legislation provides for in terms of maternity and paternity leave, including provisions for children born to domestic partners or who are adopted. Both articles mention this fact:…

Details

DNA Testing and Adoption: An Interview

DNA test

If you are interested in how DNA testing can provide answers to the many questions that come up in situations touched by adoption, you’ll want to tune in to an interview with DDC’s chief science officer, Dr. Michael Baird, conducted by Donna Montalbano of Adoption Discussions, a radio program broadcast by WOON in Rhode Island,…

Details

DDC Partners with Leading Universities to Provide Cell Line Authentication Services

Cell line authentication, DNA science, DNA STR Profiling

DDC announced today its partnership with the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department at Harvard University, among others, to provide authentication DNA testing services for cell lines used in research. These services are part of researchers’ strategic response to the new guidelines issued to combat cell line misidentification and contamination that have led to invalidated studies in human…

Details

DNA Testing for Legal Professionals

DNA test

DDC serves all types of clients, from the private individual seeking to quietly solve a family question, to agencies and attorneys who are seeking testing for the clients we represent. For this article, we’re highlighting our DNA testing services for Legal Professionals. DDC’s Legal Services team has worked with legal professionals for almost two decades,…

Details

Happy DNA Day!

DNA science

DNA Day this year will be celebrated on Friday, April 20. Usually set around April 25, DNA Day commemorates the date that the discovery of the DNA double helix was published by James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin. It was also this month in 2003 that the Human Genome Project announced the completion of the human…

Details

Identical or Fraternal? A DNA Test can Confirm

DNA test

A recent article on Babycenter reports on a study in which almost 15% of same-sex twins’ parents were misinformed by their doctors about whether their twins were identical or fraternal. “A lot of parents finding out later on felt they just didn’t know their own children,” said study co-auther Abi Fisher. A simple DNA test can…

Details

New Cell Line Authentication Guidelines

Cell line authentication, DNA STR Profiling, DNA test

On January 31, the ATCC Standards Development Organization (ATCC-SDO) released the consensus standard for researchers to ensure the identity and authenticity of cell lines used in scientific studies. This long-awaited development comes after calls from leading scientists for improved authentication practices, which highlighted the number of cross-contaminated and misidentified cell lines that subsequently invalidated a…

Details

A Cause for Paternity Leave

DNA test, Paternity

A research study conducted in Australia found that new fathers are 26% more likely to have a near-miss while driving, and 36% more likely to narrowly avoid an accident at work. The study, which included 250 men who are father to newborns under three months old, lends support to proposed legislation there that allows for…

Details