Helpful News Guide Resources

Helpful Daily Local News Blogs

Assessing Helpful Internet Marketing Tips

Many people have found internet marketing and online business is a wonderful option to work from home and provide great money as well as find the advantages of being your own boss and living as you desire. Huge numbers of people worldwide earn a brilliant salary working from the comfort of their own home. Writing as one who does just this, I cannot speak highly enough of it especially considering the fact that I earn a great deal money than I would working for a different business. To achieve this you require software and as much assistance as possible.

Naturally, once you operate your website, the prime aspect to your success is the marketing. A large amount of software tools existing that will enhance your marketing efforts and the success you can achieve with your internet business. All effective internet businesses are based on a solid marketing and SEO system and it is essential to get software that is available on the net to help you receive visitors to your website. Successful software will help you to do a great deal of things while you look to achieve superior search engine rankings and for important tasks that are done either onsite or in the background.

Benefiting from ebooks is huge globally from learners to experienced webmasters who are trying to maintain the advantage with latest advice and practices. Practically every marketer will employ many ebooks to discover ideas and attempt to stay a step ahead of their competition. Certainly the favourite way to earn good money on the internet is by way of affiliate marketing. This is a form of marketing that is greatly benefiting financially and is immensely satisfying. There is some great internet marketing systems to be found on the net that show exactly how to work this section of marketing usefully. But when all is said and done you will make nothing without much work and research.

Assessing Vampire Rave Suggestions

Over a long period of many years vampires have been the focus of much myth and conjecture. Numerous stories regarding vampires have developed from generation to generation. Distinguishing fact from fiction has always been almost impossible particularly about vampires hundreds of years ago. Do you hold a interest for vampires and the history behind them?

A truly extensive website that covers everything that relates to vampires is VampireRave.com and if you have any questions about vampires, a visit is a must. Vampire Rave has been very nicely designed as an online resource providing solely for the vampire community. Here you can find everything that is to be catalogued about vampires and is looking to become the largest vampire database, resource and community on the internet.

Tracing real and comprehensive information about vampires is very difficult and Vampire Rave is a site that has it all including vampire forums and a very extensive vampire database. The very impressive social network is available including vampire profiles where you can find a wide variety of personalities.

Common knowledge provides Vampire Rave should visit soon and make the most of the great resources and forums. This vampire community is alive and well and an origin of great information with a huge member network. Locate anything and everything that possibly relates to vampires is available including a very impressive database of very useful articles. If you are interested in vampires you can also discover information on clubs, games, fangs, magazines, music, posting boards and many other things. Vampire Rave has something for all vampire followers and for those simply seeking information.

Prime Items Information

All relationships can do with some fun even on the spur of the moment. A great deal of aids are on the market and there is a brilliant selection of products to choose online shopping on the internet. Not a thing is left to wonder about and almost anything you crave can be bought to bring much enjoyment and delight to men and women. Many say the leading and most sought after European online stores is medusamondo.de who are experts in all adult products including eros veneziani. To be sure there is a super selection of items to browse through.

It is good that the emphasis is on sexy with pleasure being the ultimate target. There are many great aids and toys available for women. A nice and very popular aid is glassvibrations with many great designs and styles available for secure and confidential purchase online. A favourite for all men and women is sex toys and a great range to choose from is available.

Attractive lingerie is certainly one of the fastest sellers particularly the French label Lola Luna who are renowned for providing sensuous erotic garments. Lola Luna lingerie is risky and very alluring and aensures the perfect intimate gift for men to give to their lady that states class and style. Medusamondo.de give a confidential and secure online environment to shop for the perfect adult product and makes purchasing a breeze and delivery direct to your front door. Commence trying new ranges with your relationship and find your favourite erotic aids immediately. Now is a great time to begin experimenting with new aids available for your sheer pleasure.

Evaluating Online Scams Sources

A great majority of blankets are OK but they can slip and slide, coupled with your hands are stuck inside. A snuggie sustains you totally warm and gives you the liberty to use your hands. Manipulate the remote, enable your laptop, or watch television in utter warmth and coziness!

Available are numerous wonderful body cleanse products on the market including the 3 step organic internal cleansing program. Organic Total Body Cleanse blends only organic herbs and fiber to give you a wholesome and successful total cleansing with no added ingredients to give stress to your body.

Total natural beauty is something numerous women want but only a few know they have. As a replacement they get expensive procedures completed while literally risking their lives in the pursuit of a beauty look that is not only ridiculous but is absolutely ludicrous. They use beauty products that harm their skin and hair and ultimately end up in despair when they don.t achieve the expected effects. Women are hurting themselves and the environment all in a desire to be beautiful. A large amount of brilliant modern weight loss products are now available and present excellent results.

Much vaunted and very rich produce named acai berry is fast becoming one of the sought after and well-liked and fruitful weight reduction aids worldwide. The acai berries is a very good diet, and while the predominant use is weight reduction, many gains of other other health advantages in persevering with the very much applauded acai berry  during a regular program course of high quality product.

The best way to find the truth about a product is to search for health product scams websites on the web and get reviews and reports on all imaginable products and services. This has very much helped an untold group of buyers in assessing whether or what to purchase.

Locating Optimum Car Accident Claims Advice

It is widely accepted that regrettably accidents occur and sometimes accidents occur due to the neglect of a third party. A no win no fee can crop up and often occurs due to the unfortunate accident and is roughly defined as any sort of illness that exists because of the accident. A personal injury can be either physical or psychological and are commonly sustained due to road traffic accidents, accidents at work, assault, defective product accidents, accidents at home and medical malpractice or negligence.

The first step in mounting personal injury claims and ensuring that you get equitable personal injury compensation is making sure that you choose the correct personal injury lawyer. This is utmost to you achieving a fair payout for the suffering caused by your injuries. The upshot of picking the incorrect lawyer can have lifelong meaning which would be horrendous for you as it may cost you hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation. It is necessary to pick an experienced personal injury lawyer who can show a brilliant history regarding personal injury claims. Many lawyers will now work on a no win no fee basis which indicates there is no position to approach anything but the best lawyer to take over your case.

If you have had the misfortune to be in a car accident and this was not any error of yours, and you are living through a personal injury because of the accident, you may be qualified to get car accident lawyer and you should seek the help of the finest car accident lawyer accessible. The courts have the ability to give big lump sum payments to those who are truly suffering as a result of someone else.s driving negligence.

Unluckily, medical negligence is also a enigma in our modern way of life. To be sure medical negligence claims seem to be of a more critical character and courts have given large payouts to victims over the years. Medical negligence can cover a big range of malpractice from infections and illnesses to general injury. Always strive for the help of a legal firm that will care for you as an individual because every personal injury case is distinct.

Prime Suspenderbelt Resources

Classy lingerie makes the ideal gift and women love it. Men like nothing else than to look at females in stunning lingerie, and women adore the knowledge that they look fantastic, above all else those that are happy with how their body appears. There is a super selection of lingerie that is available online including the very popular retro style bra which has very much caught the imagination of both men and women.

to be sure, not all women are at peace with their body shape, in fact numerous women are shape-challenged and very self conscious of how they appear. They become caught up in the continual problem of buying clothing they are comfortable to wear, which is difficult because most will be aware and very shy and ill at ease. Every tiny bump and crease that may be protruding is a complication for every woman which is exagerated 10 fold as women are typically insecure and sensitive especially when it comes to image. Shapewear is an invisible body slimmer that suppresses and flattens and is best at covering curves. Shapewear garments are made to provide comfort and give women a shape they love and are pleased with, without feeling uncomfortable. A great choice of shapewear is available to satisfy all tastes.

There are many excellent lovely body shaping lingerie and sexy lingerie items now obtainable including seamed stockings and of course the ever approved men’s favourites suspenderbelt which are prized across the world. Buying on the net makes shopping lingerie a real pleasure with a choice of wonderful ranges of style and quality at the lowest costs. No sore feet trudging around the city, just shop in the cosiness of your own house comfortably, so before you hesitantly go to town to fossick through every lingerie store for the most sensuous item of lingerie, searching for shapewear or shelf bras or any other retro style lingerie you should search the web first. Internet shopping for lingerie is perfect for men who may appear uneasy in lingerie departments, and will provide private online buying with safe and discreet shipping.

Best  Ski In Chile Tips

Chile is a brilliant part of South America. A long, thin area of land that wraps itself around the foot of South America, it is a country of huge contrasts and offers marvellous extremes for visitors to marvel at. Wonderfully diverse, there is something for every person in Chile. In the north, Arica provides tropical climate conditions while down south close to Antarctica, Punta Arenas naturally has a cold climate with some breathtaking scenery. Chile enjoys a visual delight in numerous parts, for example if you are placed in the world’s driest desert near San Pedro de Atacama, in one direction you will notice snow capped mountain tops and just a matter of an easy turn and you will see the glorious Pacific. The Andes with grandiose mountains offer a astounding surrounding in many parts as well as the ancient forests of Parque Nacional Chiloé. Among the very leading parts of Chile is South Patagonia that boasts exquisite mazes of fjords, tiny islands and delightful milky blue glaciers. Santiago gives some of the most impressive scenery of any city in the world. The Santiago Chile traveling will offer you with views of circles of mountains and splendid Andean peak views that are breathtaking.

From the beginning you embark on your Chile travel you will accept that Chile provides a great range of outdoor activities and family fun. Enjoyable activities such as climbing an active volcano with a selection of 50 to take your pick from are plentiful. Like the sound of running white water rapids or paddling through ice-carved fjords or do you prefer other adventures such as hiking, skiing, horseback riding, surfing or the thrill of paragliding from desert to ice fields? Chile is a country of adventure an provides excellent skiing in Chile for all skill levels.

Enjoyable visual extremes and diversity and a plethora of things to delight yourself in, Chile is a real pleasure for tourists. The most convenient way to travel Chile is by car rental Chile and this enables you to travel to most areas of this wonderful country and enjoy its brilliance.

Professional Non Status Mortgages Solutions Available

The result of being self employed can achieve great advantages but also some disadvantages. Conventionally being self employed can cause a struggle acquiring a mortgage due to hitches in proving a regular wage. This has also been a battle for other workers also such as contractors and workers on commissions. In short, regardless of how valuable your profit was, it was deemed as being insecure and in most examples, unprovable unless using the assistance of professional accountants, which usually is a lengthy and costly progression. Surely there is no doubting that many millions of people have fallen under this sector and hurt from not having the ability of acquiring a reasonable mortgage.

As a result of the presence of  self cert mortgages this has all changed in what is now a much more aggresive and amenable mortgage marketplace. In the past affected workers now have the option of a  self employed mortgage which offers them far more choice and free will. It is an understatement to talk of the annoyance of workers possessing the understanding that they can comfortably pay for a mortgage but cannot get hold of one due to an absense of salary substantiation. The real self cert mortgage no verification at all is called for and in the application process the amount that you declare as your wage is recognized as being fact.

Fortunately due to a contest amid the lenders, interest rates are really very well priced and give a truly workable substitute. In order to meet demand and to endure their own business development, lenders also provide  non status remortgages which is also of great advantage to borrowers discovering they need swift caapital. The interest rate on offer on a  self certified remortgage is very good and has been shown to be a popular supply of funds from the lenders.

Taking advantage of a self cert mortgage to buy your home is a very rational and suitable way to acquire a home, but always take into account to act responsibly when stating your income and never over extend your resources.

Bridging Loan UK Presentation Presents Greatest Options

Numerous owners are organizing a secured loan which can also be named a second charge loan. A secured loan is a solution for property owners who are able to let go of residual equity from the appraisal of the home. Guaranteeing your loan using your home in exactly the same means you would with a mortgage intends that you can get a more competitive interest rate with your borrowing and you will not necessarily need to employ your loan on home improvements if you don’t wish to. Although it is not a mortgage if you ask for a  homeowner loans you should know that it operates the same way as one in that if you are irregular with installments your property is in jeopardy and could be taken by the funders. In contrast if you default on payments on an unsecured loan while your credit history may be harmed, your home is not touched.

Before you apply for a secured loan you will need to own a house that has available extra value in it so that the loan may be used as security. The bank will also want to see that you have an income with which you which allows you to make repayments on a secured loan. Should make application to obtain a secured loan your credit score will also be come under scrutiny - and the better it is the more providers and cheaper interest charges will become accessible to you. There are a number of good grounds why property owners submit an application for  cheap home improvement loans sooner than remortgaging and loosing the equity in the home. Initially your mortgage could still be endangered by tie-ins which if broken, may cause the loss of thousands of pounds in premature repayment charges. Should you be considering purchasing a new home  bridging loans are short term lending solutions for those people who have signed up for a home without completing the sale of their existing property.

Also hugely fashionable for their accessibility  debt consolidation loans are an excellent solution. Why fight against multiple small, high interest loans when you will be able to pay them all off in one go and you will notice yourself with more funds available to you every month. Having a secured loan gives you the ability to pay off all your annoying accounts like car loans, credit and store cards and hire purchase loans giving you with only one convenient simple installment every month.

Bad Debt Mortgages Answer Setbacks Of Acquiring A Home

It is quite possible you confronted snags obtaining a traditional mortgage due to adverse credit reports or have you had credit snags earlier and are asking for a mortgage? Unfortunately not all of us have appropriately good enough credit standings to take advantage of usual mortgage preferences. It is now a very frquent position that is still spreading. Many persons experience episodes which are major distractions such as unemployment, sickness, divorce, or a myriad of other reasons that can occaasionally instigate you to miss making payments on a mortgage or other financial agreements that you have been contracted to. From time to time difficulties have been bigger than a few skipped payments and these situations can take place at any time, certainly in the modern fast paced existence we lead now that seem to be always changing but as soon as any setbacks are in the past they should not stop you for applying for a mortgage.

This is where the  subprime mortgages can be of aid to many people. The adverse credit mortgage is also called  bad credit mortgage and is a solution that has been designed exclusively to help buyers that have bad credit ratings and to let them to come into the property market. It has been estimated that 25% of buyers in the UK will be refused a traditional mortgage due to bad credit records. This estimate may even demonstrate to be on the bottom end of the scale and it has encouraged numerous banks and niche lenders to put together a funding solution exclusively intended for adverse credit problems.

Naturally, there are also lots of times where people that presentlly possess a regular mortgage also discover themselves in an adverse credit condition and this is a very regular situation. Of course a plan has also been created for these situations. Numerous people take advantage of the  bad debt second mortgage or require  low rate debt consolidation mortgages depending on which problem they are experiencing. If you unhappily find yourself in adverse credit situation, do not fear as there are now many funding programs available thanks to the imaginative planning of banks and funders.

Best Choices For Buy To Let Mortgages

For a long time now we have all had a fascination with real estate. We see real estate values go up and bottom out in progressions fluctuating with the economic climate at the point in time. But real estate significance lasts and is confirmed to be a super money producer and profit earner for many investors and smaller purchaasers. In the course of a excellent economic cycle we can see real estate prices rise sharply and this improves the conceivable investment values.

Not long ago a very strong market has seen a swell in notice of buy to let properties. Even though we are experiencing a downturn and a very sluggish market, many smart investors look at this as the paramount stage to acquire a  property investment mortgage. To be sure there are still millions of people renting properties and this total continues to grow, so  landlord mortgages will always be a practical and workable investment. Certainly the extra advantage in down times is that real estate is cut price and this leaves a great position for major profits for those investors who can withstand the mayhem to better times.

Depressed times also provide other benefits for those that like to check out more sectors. A popular way to raise extra funding to buy additional properties for the BTL market is by way of  investment property remortgages. In quieter economic times the marketplace becomes more spirited and by enquiring around a simple change of lender may gain good savings in interest payments as well as impart a larger amount of funds to put to use.

playing the real estate market is an exciting market to be involved in but take heed that it should always be treated with caution and due regard. If you are contemplating a buy to let property it is essential that you do your inquiry and due diligence very thoroughly and check around for the  cheapest buy to let mortgage available.Definitely only investors who do far reaching research and go through with the purchase only when the sums make sense will come out a winner.

Well Informed Cheap Pension Transfer Solutions

Present pension provisions are a touchy topic nationwide and a great deal of people are searching for proven ways to advance it without any issues or peril. With a great amount of choices attainable, it is now commonplace for investors to speculate over transferring their pension to a different provider or into an autonomous fund to aim to achieve premium growth or provide greater control of their investment. With what may appear on the outside as a simple process, it is actually hugely puzzling. You must make sure that you are obtaining the same upswing, receiving the broad range of benefits and service that you were allowed and using with your involvement in your original pension scheme.

Most find the pensions market is major and complex and can seem to many to be horrifying once checking pension transfers schemes has been undertaken. Certainly choosing the right personal pension transfer scheme could mean the disparity between a normal retirement, or very agreeable retirement so of course we all seek the most responsible and best performing scheme.

Sensible investors will select to link up with a pension transfer expert because of the complexity of the pensions transfer markets. Pension transfer advisors are highly trained and allowed to act with pension schemes and solutions to be of benefit to the investor and can also assist with best pension transfer tips. Your pensions advisor will investigate your current pension and you should make sure that you have all the applicable papers to provide to the advisor. Your advisor will provide you with present transfer value and then attempt to place you and your funds into an enhanced pension scheme. Counsel will be plainly listed in writing with a course of action recommended under the careful gaze of the Financial Services Authority.

Another area that requires specialist advice is unlocking your company pension and this is an area where a great deal of investors select to move their company pension scheme into a different fund. If you are taking action transferring your pension, an independent expert will happily help you to assess the views of your current pension and provide a better program for your retirement planning.

Well Known Bank Account Mortgages Recommendations

Give me someone who doesn’t want to save funds above all when it comes to interest rates we pay to banks or lenders. Whilst most of us are glad to take and pay a mortgage debt often hence furnishing a roof over our family’s head, there is a very good system to allow further savings on interest and contract times of mortgages. A great thing that is even more superior is that this can be got simply and with no further trouble every month.

What we are talking about here is the flexible mortgages which has been released by an always increasing number of lenders in the open market. The idea of an offset mortgage is that you are approved to link credit and debt accounts allowing you to reduce the total of interest you shell out.

Several offset mortgage UK accounts offer also let you to link credit cards to your current account, or to link mortgages, credit cards, savings and loans together. Although all the accounts remain individual and may be controlled independently, offset mortgage account holders profit from the lower interest costs.

Low rate offset mortgages accounts are different from current account mortgages, that provide like flexibility. Moreover current account mortgage holders have just the one account with a very generous overdraft and handle all their borrowings and credit in one pot. Rather than gaining interest on your savings or on any extra funds deposited to your current account, you are liable for smaller interest payments with your loan. As a result your credit balances are not really earning you interest, there’s no tax to pay on interest. Certainly, it does not prevent you from possessing a separateindividual savings ISA - you will find it can’t be offset against the mortgage balance.

Homebuyers should also mull over checking the current account mortgage which are appearing as normal together with low rate flexible mortgages. The current account mortgage is often associated with an offset mortgage because of being structured similarly. People can use their credit balances against their accounts, so that they pay less interest.

Private Placement Offerings Solutions

Because of a very sluggish economy and a money market that is nearly at a standstill smart investors are pursuing new ways to make their assets work for them. Sky Capital Solutions have the perfect solution with their exclusive private equity placement which can be accessed by invitation only.

Private placement programs are generally not advertised to the public and even though they have been available for numerous years, they have only been able to be operated by the wealthiest people as lowest entry levels have been around 100 million dollars. However, private placements are now accessible at much lower minimum entry levels and this has enabled many more people to qualify and receive extremely high and very safe profit yields. These programs are very high class and can be accessed strictly by invitation only.

The private placement programs offer exceptional returns and the best thing about these is that your asset is completely safe and never leaves your account. The security is guaranteed 100% and the following are eligible for blocking of funds arrangement under the program:

* Cash Deposits (US Dollars & Euros)
* Certificates of Deposits
* Commodities - Oil, Natural Gas, Precious Gems, Diamonds, Platinum etc.
* Bank Guarantees issued by top international banks
* Medium Term Notes (MTN)
* Gold Certificates of Deposit
* Stand-by Letter of Credit issued by top international banks
* Treasury Bonds

Highly respected wealth managers, Sky Capital Solutions are industry leaders in innovative capital enhancement, wealth management and alternative finance structures and their shared network enjoys relationships with the top 25 world banks, private trusts, hedge funds and an exclusive access to premier private investor networks. Specialists in capital enhancement, economic stimulus packages and wealth management, Sky Capital Soultions offer the very best range of private placement packages in their role as wealth managers. If you are looking to access the very best returns on your investment or simply would like to know what are private placement programs, take advantage of Sky Capital Solutions trade groups who boast a combined PPTP experience of over 70+ years and offices in USA and across Europe, together with priviliged affiliations with the top 5 world bank platorms and foundations.

Online Drug Store Reviews Help You To Buy Better

In the vicinity of year 2000 internet pharmacies have been distributing prescriptions globally by dispensing over your desktop. Many of the internet pharmacies provide in a similar fashion to your community chemist with just the face to face sale and posting a simple variance. For many people the  reviewed online pharmacy is great more convenient as well as is a low-cost option also.

Acquiring our medications on the net can give significant reductions when we detect a safe and discount site. Certainly, buying your scripts on the web is the clever fashion of purchasing for consumers and should provide you with large discounts. Being able to critique other buyers opinions regarding their experiences about buying on the web from the pharmacies is precious and can assist you to not only detect the very finest value but as well steer clear of unreliable online stores. By giving out info consumers can detect the top value and trustworthy  online pharmacy reviews summaries and it permits knowledgeable customers to express the excellent and suspicious experiences. All good internet pharmacies will provide  pharmacy reviews forum for the buyers help with helpful advice.

It is a necessary fashion to purchasing prescriptions on the net is to firstly guarantee that the internet chemist is safe and legal. Digging Up the top  online pharmacy directory site that will inform you and recommend how to buy your drugs securely and with the top price. Buying on the internet for best grade drug has never been and coupled with the fact that we can pursue your purchases after payment you can continually be advised of your order development. Should you have been wondering about buying your drugs on the net, don’t feel concerned simply read the customer’s testimonials and save on all your purchases.

In Recession Year, Exxon Shatters US Profit Record

Exxon Mobil reports a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago. The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world’s largest publicly traded oil company set in 2007.

Tags:

LimeWire Creator Brings Open-Source to Urban Planning

Entrepreneur Mark Gorton wants to do for people what he already helped do for files: move them from here to there in the most efficient way possible using open-source tools. You might call it a ”P2P-to-people” initiative — these efforts to make cities more people-friendly are partly funded by people sharing files.

Tags:

Surge of Nerds Rebuilds Afghanistan

A group of motivated geeks travels to Osama bin Laden’s old stomping grounds in Afghanistan Surge of Nerds Rebuilds Afghanistan to set up a rapid prototyping facility — and revamp the local economy.

Tags:

Make Your Own Scientific Super Bowl Snacks

This Sunday, skip the nachos and buffalo wings and try some beer ice cream or blue cheese whiz. Wired brings you the favorite finger foods of some of the top molecular gastronomists.

Tags:

Blind Hacker Pleads Guilty to Harassment, Eavesdropping, Fraud

Matthew Weigman, a legally blind 18-year-old Boston phone hacker, pleads guilty to Blind Hacker Pleads Guilty to Harassment, Eavesdropping, Fraud two federal felonies that could lock him up for 13 years.

Tags:

Watching the People Who Watch Their Ads

Using small cameras embedded in or near public video screens, a small but growing number of advertisers Watching the People Who Watch Their Ads are keeping tabs on who is watching their stuff for the purpose of targeting specific groups.

Tags:

Norway or the Highway: Poo Powers Oslo Buses

Norway’s capital harvests methane from sewage to fuel its buses.

Tags:

Pint-Sized Pico Projector Parties in Our Pants

The Optoma’s Pico projector is so small and shiny it looks good enough to eat. That may be true but a closer look at its capabilities make the tiny titan a bit hard to swallow.

Tags:

Ma.gnolia Suffers Major Data Loss, Site Taken Offline

The bookmark sharing site suffered a catastrophic loss of user data Friday it says will take ”days, not hours” to resolve. The failure has users questioning the reliability of other web-based storage services.

Tags:

Hummer Drivers Get More Tickets. A Lot More

A study confirms what you’ve long suspected: Hummer drivers think Hummer Drivers Get More Tickets. A Lot More they own the road.

Tags:

Exclusive Images Reveal McG’s ‘Terminator Salvation’ Vision

The director will bring new kinds of exterminator bots and a nuke-devastated planet to the Exclusive Images Reveal McG’s ’Terminator Salvation’ Vision screen this May as he paints a bleak picture of a post-Judgment Day world.

Tags:

Amazing Chemicals Invented by Nature, Rebuilt in Lab

:

Natural substances can treat cancer, prolong life and trigger amazing hallucinations.

But although nature can make a remarkably wide variety of chemicals — far more than the best molecule-making robots — it does not always deliver them in bulk. Drug companies and medical researchers often turn to organic chemists when they need something that is too rare or too difficult to harvest from the wild.

Many researchers enjoy the challenge of building complicated molecules from scratch in their laboratories, testing their skills in service of a worthwhile goal. Duplicating Mother Nature isn’t easy, and sometimes the journey is almost as impressive as the chemicals themselves.

Click through the gallery for some of the most remarkable chemicals that have been rebuilt in the lab.

:

When the flu medication Tamiflu was on back order in 2005, fears arose that in the event of a pandemic there would not be enough of the medication to go around. The substance used to make the drug, shikimic acid, is found in Chinese star anise and was in short supply.

Years before the crisis, John Pawlak and Glenn Berchtold made the precious acid in their lab at MIT. But, while impressive, their approach was not commercially viable.

Luckily, over the last few years several labs have figured out how to make the drug without using any shikimic acid. Time will tell whether the pharmaceutical companies will employ these techniques.

Credit: Arria Belli/flickr

:

Drinking red wine in moderate amounts is supposedly good for you, but scientists don’t know exactly why. Some of them think that resveratrol, a chemical found in the skin of grapes, makes the body operate as if it were on a low-calorie diet. Other researchers suspect that the health benefits come from antioxidants or procyanidins.

Any substance that might increase longevity is bound to attract interest. Thus a small army of scientists has been brewing batches of resveratrol, and similar chemicals, since it is believed to have life-extending properties.

Credit: Noël Zia Lee/flickr

:

For some ailments the treatment of choice is medicinal marijuana. But its active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is hard to make.

Many researchers have made the psychoactive substance, but their brews were often contaminated with chemicals that are slightly different from THC and don’t have the same properties. Barry Trost and Kalindi Dogra at Stanford University were able to avoid that problem and other pitfalls in building the chemical by using a molybdenum catalyst. They eventually produced the substance successfully.

Their research, funded by Merck and the National Institutes of Health, demonstrated the effectiveness of their catalyst, but growing marijuana is still by far the most-efficient way to produce THC.

Credit: Jaypeg21/flickr

:

Eat the wrong fish and you will start to notice that cold things feel burning hot, and warm objects feel uncomfortably cold. This unusual ailment is caused by ciguatoxin, which may be the strangest poison on earth.

Ciguatoxin is a huge molecule, which is made by microbes and found in the flesh of predatory tropical fish — like these red snapper. Because of its size and complexity, organic chemists love the challenge of making ciguatoxin, but it’s also essential to have a renewable supply on hand to test for a cure. Luckily, Masayuki Inoue and Masahiro Hirama, researchers at Tohoku University, have successfully built the molecule and its relatives.

Credit: Amazing Chemicals Invented by Nature, Rebuilt in Lab href=”http://flickr.com/photos/guywithcamera/289140139/”>Bruce_Lee/flickr

:

Diviner’s sage is more powerful than any other natural hallucinogen, and it may have some antidepressant effects, too. Its active ingredient, Salvinorin A, can mess with your mind by triggering proteins called kappa opioid receptors which have been shown to effect mood, appetite, pain and addictive behaviors. The possible applications for the drug are unclear, but promising.

Steps to produce the drug synthetically are already well underway. Researchers at Niigata University made the drug from scratch in a 20-step process.

Another team of scientists, led by Thomas Prisinzano at the University of Iowa, pioneered a method to make similar chemicals, which could be used to study the nervous system. Each chemical has a slightly different effect on the mind, and animal testing has already lead to useful insights about Salvinorin A’s use.

Credit: epistis/flickr

:

Eat a deathcap mushroom, and your next stop is the morgue. It contains a chemical called amantin, which destroys the liver and kidneys.

But that’s not all. It has another poison, called phalloidin, that sticks to the scaffolding of cells. That substance is less deadly and has a useful purpose: By attaching the toxin to a fluorescent dye, researchers can study the inner workings of cells, and watch how they divide. Those observations can shed some light on how cancer works and the way tissues grow.

Scott Lokey and Laura Schuresko, chemists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, made the deadly substance with a technique called solid-phase synthesis. Instead of mixing the chemicals in a flask and letting them float around freely, one of the chemicals is held in place during the reactions. That gives the researchers much more control during the complicated procedure.

Credit: Archenzo/Wikipedia

:

In the crater of the retired Berkeley Pit copper mine, not far from the Montana Tech campus, sits a lake of poison. Its water is highly acidic, loaded with heavy metals and filled with exotic fungi.

It also contains a microbe that produces what might be a cure for ovarian cancer. The potentially lifesaving chemical produced by the microbe was discovered by Don and Andrea Stierle in 2006, and they named it Berkelic Acid after the mine.

Three years later, Barry Snider and his colleagues at Brandeis University made the precious substance from scratch. His 13-step recipe is not terribly efficient, but it does offer the world a way to make more of the potential medicine.

Credit: The Lebers/flickr

:

One of the most powerful cancer drugs on the market — Taxol or, generically, paclitaxel — comes from the Pacific yew tree. It was discovered in the 1960s during a massive government program to find medications in plant extracts. It worked remarkably well in its first human trials, but environmentalists realized that harvesting more Taxol could drive the Pacific yew into extinction. The race to create the drug in a lab was on.

French researchers led by Pierre Potier learned in 1988 that they could make the drug by modifying a chemical from European yew trees, but their approach was too inefficient for mainstream production. Robert Holton, a medicinal chemist at Florida State University, built upon their work and developed the first viable approach to making Taxol in the lab in 1994.

Other researchers have followed suit, and some have tried to improve upon the original drug with better delivery systems. Several cousins of the medicine, including Docetaxel, are on the market today and in clinical trials. Abraxane, which is Taxol wrapped in a protein nanoparticle, has been approved by the FDA. Another nano-packaged Taxol, Xyotax, is in Phase III clinical trials.

Credit: pellaea/flickr

:

A chemical called 225H, found in amphibians, is an ion-channel blocker. That means it can alter the main switches of the nervous system, which makes it useful for neuroscience researchers. It could also be used as a pain drug, or to help people quit smoking. The problem is that 225H is scarce in nature.

Enter Mark Trudell of the University of New Orleans. Trudell happens to specialize in two serendipitous fields of study. He makes chemicals that fight cocaine addiction, and he also synthesizes molecules from poisonous dart frogs.

By combining these two areas of expertise, he was able to create 225H in his lab — a process that involves transforming cocaine into the desired compound through a series of chemical reactions. Now testing of 225H need not be dependent on these cute-but-slimy creatures.

Photo: Strawberry poison dart frog.
Credit: threefingeredlord/flickr

:

The unmistakable scent of rain comes from bacteria, not clouds.

As raindrops fall, they agitate the soil and bring out a chemical called geosmin, which is made by microbes in the dirt. It has an earthy aroma, and sometimes ruins the flavor of food ? particularly water, wine, beets and fish ? by making it taste dirty.

James Marshall and Alan Hochstetler were able to make the pungent substance at Northwestern University in 1968, but their batch was rather impure. David Cane and his colleagues at Brown University learned in 2003 that some microbes have a gene that lets them make geosmin from a relatively common chemical called farnesyl diphosphate.

With no clear motivating application, it took three decades of tinkering before other chemists learned how to prepare it with ease. Geosmin’s future is uncertain ? perhaps dirt-scented cologne?

Credit: aussiegall/Flickr

:

Phil Crews’ team from the University of California, Santa Cruz, identified a chemical in sea sponges in 2004 that can devastate tumors. They called it psymberin. Another group, led by George Pettit from the University of Arizona, found the same substance near the coast of Malaysia in a different sponge the same year.

The ocean is full of cancer drugs. More than two dozen chemicals from sea life, or inspired by it, have made their way into human clinical trails. Crews and his students extract promising exotic chemicals from sea creatures and then test their ability to kill cancer and fight other diseases.

Psymberin is a large, and somewhat complicated, molecule. But that did not stop organic chemists from making it in the lab by the summer following its discovery. And just this year, a team at the Schering-Plough Research Institute reported a new, improved way to make the experimental drug.

Credit: Sarah Robinson, Katie Watts/Crews lab

See Also:

Researchers Hope Creatures From Black Lagoon Can Help Fight Cancer

How Hallucinogenic Sage Works

Santa Cruz Scientists Make Fluorescent Mushroom Chemical

The Treasure of Mumbai — Generic Tamiflu

Tags:

DIY DNA: One Father’s Attempt to Hack His Daughter’s Genetic Code

Hugh Rienhoff with his daughter, Beatrice.

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

Family life came late for Rienhoff, after decades devoted to science. He earned an MD from Johns Hopkins University, where his mentor was Victor McKusick, arguably the greatest medical geneticist of the 20th century. After residency, Rienhoff took a post as a genetics researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle before entering the business realm. He spent most of the 1990s as a partner at New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm, then founded DNA Sciences, a Silicon Valley company that developed genetic screening tools. He left DNA Sciences in 2001, two years before the company filed for Chapter 11 and was sold off; today he advises biotech startups on drug-development strategies.

Rienhoff married Lisa Hane, a union organizer, in 1998. Later that year she gave birth to their first son, Colston, who was followed by a brother, MacCallum, two and a half years later. By early 2003, Hane was pregnant yet again. She was 41, her husband 50.

Because older parents (both men and women) are more likely to have children with genetic disorders, Hane’s pregnancy was closely monitored. An early fetal ultrasound revealed a large nuchal translucency—a thickness at the back of the neck that indicates an increased likelihood of chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome. But encouraging results from other tests, including amniocentesis and an electrocardiogram, allayed the family’s fears.

Beatrice was born that December, and seconds after her birth, Rienhoff knew something was wrong. Her fingers were tightly clenched, there was a big port-wine stain splashed across her face, and her feet were abnormally long. Long feet are indicative of Marfan syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder that Rienhoff had often encountered while training at Johns Hopkins. Marfan patients grow up to be unusually tall and long-limbed, with dangerously enlarged aortas. (Historians have long debated over whether Abraham Lincoln suffered from the disease.)

Rienhoff’s dread subsided, however, after receiving good news from the delivery-room staff: Beatrice had aced the Apgar test—an exam that measures a newborn’s respiration and reflexes—and her height and weight were normal. Relieved, Rienhoff let himself get swept up in the elation of becoming a father for the third time.

Ten days after the birth, Rienhoff and Hane took Beatrice to an orthopedic surgeon to evaluate her contracted fingers. The doctor noted that the girl seemed to have some of the symptoms of Beals syndrome, a condition related to Marfan but far less serious and caused by a slightly different mutation—the alteration responsible for Marfan is located in the gene for fibrillin-1 (FBN1), whereas the Beals alteration is in the gene for fibrillin-2 (FBN2).

After carefully observing Beatrice over the next few days, Rienhoff wondered whether the diagnosis fit. Her fingers aside, the girl was quite flexible; such agility is never found in Beals patients, who cannot extend their long joints. Rienhoff eventually emailed the syndrome’s namesake, orthopedic surgeon Rodney Beals, who concurred that Beatrice probably didn’t have the disease

At around eight weeks, Beatrice’s limbs and torso were still almost entirely devoid of muscle tone. By the 12-week mark, she exhibited virtually no head control when propped upright. ”She was supposed to firm up by about three months, but she just stayed limp,” Hane says. Worst of all, Beatrice also wasn’t putting on any weight.

In April 2004, Beatrice was admitted to the hospital for ”failure to thrive,” a catchall condition. The medical team took the unusual step of ordering an MRI of the infant’s head, to determine whether a neurological deformity was causing her muscle-tone issues. But her brain was fine.

With the doctors hopelessly bewildered, Rienhoff hit the books. ”Hugh’s way of dealing with the stress was to say, ’Let’s figure out what’s going on,’” Hane says. ”He’s a very action-oriented person; he’s a problem solver.” The family attic soon brimmed with dog-eared copies of Science and primers on genetic syndromes.

Rienhoff’s attic doubles as a genetics lab.

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

For a while, Rienhoff wondered whether an intestinal parasite was gobbling up Beatrice’s food before she could digest it. Later he suspected that she might have a mitochondrial disease. He started her on a regimen of coenzyme Q10, an over-the-counter treatment. There was no improvement.

Rather than visit yet another Bay Area physician, Rienhoff emailed an acquaintance from his Johns Hopkins days, David Valle, director of the Institute of Genetic Medicine at the university. Valle agreed to see Beatrice, so father and daughter flew to Baltimore in March 2005.

Beatrice was examined by Valle and a bow-tied colleague named Tyler Reimschisel. To Rienhoff’s puzzlement, the two geneticists spent an inordinately long time peering down Beatrice’s throat. Eventually they called for a third doctor, a Belgian named Bart Loeys, to join them.

Loeys seemed gravely concerned by what he saw in Beatrice’s throat. ”I have a pretty good idea what this might be,” he said. ”We need to do an echocardiogram right away—today, this afternoon.”

Loeys explained that Beatrice was likely suffering from a disorder named after himself and Harry Dietz, yet another Johns Hopkins geneticist. Loeys-Dietz syndrome is characterized by many of the same symptoms as Marfan DIY DNA: One Father’s Attempt to Hack His Daughter’s Genetic Code and Beals syndromes, but the mutation is not found in the FBN1 or FBN2 genes but rather in two receptor genes for transforming growth factor beta, or TGF-ß. (A receptor is a structure on a cellular wall that provides a binding site for molecules.) All of these genes play vital roles in the same metabolic pathway, the TGF-ß signaling pathway, which regulates the growth and proliferation of cells.

One telltale sign of Loeys-Dietz is a forked uvula—the cone-shaped blob of tissue that hangs at the entry to the throat. Other examiners had noted that there was nothing peculiar about Beatrice’s uvula, but the Johns Hopkins team discovered otherwise.

By coincidence, Rienhoff had already scheduled an echocardiogram back in San Francisco for later in the week. He promised to keep Loeys apprised of the results; Loeys, in turn, gave Rienhoff a paper on the syndrome that had recently appeared in the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

Most of the plane ride home was spent playing games with 15-month-old Beatrice, whose illness has had no effect on her intellectual development. But toward the end of the flight, Rienhoff finally managed to scan the Loeys-Dietz paper. It was a horrifying read: The syndrome, which warps the aorta and twists the arteries, is far deadlier than Marfan. The average patient dies before the age of 27. ”Even though I’m not a religious guy,” Rienhoff says, ”I was praying that she didn’t have it.”

She did not. The echocardiogram showed that Beatrice’s aorta was fine. Follow-up genetics tests confirmed she didn’t have the specific TGF-ß receptor mutations characteristic of the disease, either.

But after the Loeys-Dietz scare, Rienhoff became convinced that the TGF-ß signaling pathway must be involved in Beatrice’s case. She now had verified symptoms from three diseases linked to abnormalities in the pathway—the Marfanoid feet, the clenched fingers from Beals, and the bifurcated uvula from Loeys-Dietz. But the problem most affecting her day-to-day quality of life was simple weakness. Rienhoff was determined to figure out whether there was any connection between skeletal muscle and TGF-ß signaling.

He turned his attention to myostatin, a protein that prevents muscles from growing too wildly and which is a chemical cousin of TGF-ß. Mice stripped of myostatin become rodent versions of Arnold Schwarzenegger circa Pumping Iron. Perhaps Beatrice was suffering from a genetic defect that was affecting her myostatin production.

As it happens, Rienhoff knew the man who discovered myostatin, a Johns Hopkins molecular biologist named Se-Jin Lee. The two had first crossed paths during Rienhoff’s residency. ”He called to describe his daughter and her circumstances,” Lee says, ”and told me that he was thinking about the role of myostatin in the TGF-ß pathway.” Lee sent Rienhoff a journal article on the protein; he was amazed at Rienhoff’s voracious appetite for the complex topic.

DIY DNA

Convinced his daughter’s illness was connected to the protein myostatin, Hugh Rienhoff decided to examine the genes that affect myostatin production himself.

Step 1
Rienhoff took vials of Beatrice’s blood to a Stanford lab, where he extracted the girl’s DNA by spinning the blood in centrifuges.

Step 2
Back home, Rienhoff ran the DNA through a polymerase chain reaction machine. It starts by heating the samples, splitting the double-stranded DNA into two single strands.

Step 3
Rienhoff applied chemical primers to the split DNA. These primers, which he designed and purchased online, flagged the genes Rienhoff was targeting. The PCR machine then used a type of enzyme called a DNA polymerase to amplify just the marked segments.

Step 4
Rienhoff sent 50-microliter tubes of the amplified DNA to a contract lab, which posted the sequence data on a secure server.

Step 5
Rienhoff printed out the data?20,000 base pairs of DNA?and compared it with a reference genome stored on Ensembl, an online British database.

In the spring of 2006, the Rienhoffs made another trip to Baltimore to meet with Harry Dietz, who remained intrigued by Beatrice’s case despite her normal echocardiogram and genetic tests ruling out Loeys-Dietz disease. Dietz still worried that the girl might have a fatal heart defect, and he asked Rienhoff to schedule a CT scan of her cardiovascular system.

Rienhoff balked; CT scans use x-rays, and Rienhoff was reluctant to expose Beatrice to a large dose of radiation. The two men compromised: In lieu of a CT scan, they scheduled another MRI. And they deferred the appointment until the following January.

But Rienhoff didn’t like the MRI plan either—because of her age, Beatrice would have to undergo general anesthesia to ensure she remained still in the machine. He had about eight months to come up with a good reason to cancel the appointment. He focused more keenly on myostatin.

There are three receptors, known as activin receptors, that are thought to be critical to myostatin regulation: ACVR1B, ACVR2, and ACVR2B. Rienhoff wondered whether one of these genes was flawed in Beatrice, causing her body’s myostatin system to go haywire. There was one way to find out: Examine her DNA. Activin receptors are fairly well-understood genes, so a problematic alteration would likely stand out.

Rienhoff first asked Lee to do the DNA sequencing. But Lee declined on bureaucratic grounds. Professors who wish to work with human genetic material need clearance from their university’s institutional review board. This onerous approval processes can take months, and there was no guarantee Lee would get the OK.

Rienhoff was also turned down by several other doctors, including some acquaintances, who were frankly troubled by the request. They pointed out that myostatin had never been associated with human disease, so Rienhoff’s hypothesis was far-fetched, bordering on foolish. The sequencing venture struck them as futile. ”There were a few people who didn’t want to get involved,” Rienhoff says. ”They think it’s peripheral or wacky science.”

Some skeptics were also disturbed by the notion of a father conducting, in essence, an experiment on his child: ”When you start telling people it’s your daughter, it weirds them out,” Rienhoff says. ”They’re thinking that maybe you’re going over the line a bit in your zealousness, maybe you’re sacrificing your commitment to good science. ”

By late 2006, it was clear to Rienhoff that if he wanted to get Beatrice’s activin receptors sequenced, he’d have to do it himself.

As any fan of CSI knows, polymerase chain reaction is a method for replicating a snippet of DNA, amplifying it over and over until there’s enough genetic material to be sequenced. By making inquiries with local surplus brokers, Rienhoff discovered he could buy a secondhand PCR machine for less than a MacBook. He ended up purchasing a full working model for just $750.

Obtaining additional supplies, like the PCR reagents, for his experiment was tougher. Some chemical companies didn’t want to ship to a private address, so Rienhoff pretended his house was the headquarters of the fictional Institute for Future Study.

Rienhoff went to friend’s lab at Stanford and used the centrifuges there to extract DNA from a sample of Beatrice’s blood. He then took the genetic material home and put his PCR equipment to work. The machine first blasted the genetic material with heat, splitting the double-stranded DNA into two separate strands. Then chemical primers, which Rienhoff had designed and purchased on Integrated DNA Technologies’ publicly accessible PrimerQuest Web site, were added to the mix. They were coded specifically to amplify the genes that Rienhoff was focused on—the three activin receptors. This process, repeated many times over, created millions of copies of Beatrice’s activin receptor genes, giving him a sample large enough for reliable sequencing.

While Rienhoff could spring for his own PCR machine, a used gene sequencer (assuming he could find one) would cost around $100,000. So he found a university lab (which he declines to identify) that would sequence the genes he had amplified, for $3.50 per 50-microliter sample. In spring 2007, Rienhoff mailed in more than 200 samples.

The sequencing results came back organized into charts resembling seismographs of a minor earthquake, with each sharp spike indicating an individual nucleotide. Rienhoff printed out everything and stored the sheets in white three-ring binders. He combed through these pages while logged on to Ensembl, a public database jointly funded by the UK’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the European Bioinformatics Institute. Launched in 2000, Ensembl contains complete genomes for about 50 species, from alpacas to zebrafish. The Homo sapiens section is based on a full assembly of the genome compiled by the National Center for Biotechnology Information; this data is supplemented by annotations submitted by researchers, who identify genetic variants suspected of causing diseases. Rienhoff compared Beatrice’s DNA with the information on Ensembl, looking for any base-pair variants that hadn’t been previously recorded on Ensembl. He was operating on the assumption that Beatrice’s genetic blip was completely unknown, which would explain why she’d been so hard to diagnose.

The job was daunting: The printouts contained data for approximately 20,000 base pairs, and there was no feasible way to automate the hunt for variants. After putting in a full day of consulting and then getting the kids to bed, Rienhoff would retire to his attic and spend hours checking Beatrice’s adenines (A), thymines (T), guanines (G), and cytosines (C) against the Ensembl reference genome. Sometimes he would fall asleep on the floor, only to awaken at 1 am and go right back to work. He would imagine Beatrice sitting by his side, patiently observing as he sorted through the data that defined her.

Progress was slow, but after a decade in the boardroom, Rienhoff enjoyed doing pure science again. Mostly, though, it felt good to be an active seeker rather than an anxious parent at the mercy of an overburdened doctor. The process of combing through Beatrice’s DNA printouts became a form of meditation, a way for Rienhoff to steel himself against the sadness of seeing his little girl struggle up and down the stairs each day. It began to feel quasi- spiritual—he started referring to his work as ”my journey.”

Confident that he was making headway, Rienhoff canceled Beatrice’s MRI. Two months later, in March 2007, he completed his study. He had identified about 20 places where the DNA for Beatrice’s activin receptors didn’t match the reference genome. Of those, only one, in the ACVR1B gene, was not mentioned anywhere in the genetic literature. As far as Rienhoff could tell, the variant was unique—an adenine on one chromosome and a guanine on the other, whereas only two adenines had ever been reported.

But the variant was far removed from the area most obviously involved with myostatin. It seemed doubtful that such an oddly placed hiccup could cause Beatrice’s serious disorder. Rienhoff decided to look at his own ACVR1B gene to see how it compared. He later repeated the process with his blood, from centrifuge to sequencing; when the results came back, he discovered he also had an A and a G in that position. This ran contrary to Rienhoff’s theory—a variant in that location couldn’t cause an illness as severe as Beatrice’s, if he was in perfect health.

Though his homebrew genetic analysis had been a bust so far, Rienhoff still believed that Beatrice’s disorder was linked to TGF-ß. And there was a piece of good news: During his research, he read a study in which Marfan mice were given losartan, a common blood-pressure medication. The drug was intended to prevent aortas from dilating, but an Italian group had discovered that it might strengthen skeletal muscle, too. Rienhoff persuaded Beatrice’s cardiologist to start her on losartan, figuring that they had little to lose—the potential side effects were minor; the potential upside huge.

Beatrice soon started to move with more confidence. It’s difficult to say exactly why the losartan worked, or even if it was, indeed, the reason for her newfound grace. But Beatrice’s physical therapist, unaware of the treatment and surprised by her improvement, pulled Rienhoff aside after one session and asked, ”Has anything changed?”

In July 2007, a few months after wrapping up his analysis of Beatrice’s activin receptors, Rienhoff attended the National Marfan Foundation’s annual conference in Palo Alto. His main interest was a workshop dedicated to people like himself, parents whose children exhibited Marfanoid symptoms but did not have the disease.

The parents took turns introducing themselves and describing their various frustrations—insurance companies that wouldn’t pay for genetic tests, doctors who prescribed unsuitable treatments. When Rienhoff’s turn came, he spoke about his saga, from the early days of the Beals syndrome hypothesis to his sequencing of Beatrice’s three activin receptors.

The attendees were both amazed and eager to hear more about Rienhoff’s genetic exploration. But the doctor moderating the session, Dianna Milewicz, was apprehensive. Director of the division of medical genetics at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Milewicz couldn’t fathom why Rienhoff would pursue such a long-shot experiment. For starters, his focus was on genes that had never been shown to play a role in Marfan-like diseases, rather than more probable culprits such as fibrillin-2. And even if he succeeded in identifying a genuinely novel variant, that was only a tiny first step in a long diagnostic process.

”Then you have to prove the variant you’re seeing is truly causing the disease,” Milewicz says. ”Understanding how a variant relates to a disease is often very difficult. And if you’re sequencing genes that we don’t even know cause disease, that’s where it becomes a nightmare, even for those of us who have dedicated our lives to this.”

As soon as Rienhoff wrapped up his presentation, Milewicz cautioned the workshop’s attendees against following his do-it-yourself lead. ”I said, ’This is not a good idea to recommend to parents,’” she recalls. ”They’re not trained to analyze diagnostic tests.”

Rienhoff bristled at Milewicz’s dismissive tone. ”I remember thinking, ’Who the fuck is this person?’ I have never been in a situation where it was so obvious that a doctor had contempt for the curiosity of her patients. It was striking how insensitive she was to their dilemma.”

Such a prickly reaction is out of character for Rienhoff, a soft-spoken man who normally exudes an easy calm. But he has developed a cynical streak about doctors, especially those who are quick to dismiss inquisitive parents as nuisances. ”Medicine in general is a slightly paternalistic activity,” he says. ”You hear these stories about patients bringing in all sorts of information from the Internet and doctors being exasperated. And part of that is because there is so much they don’t know, and they’re supposed to be omniscient.”

Far from taking Milewicz’s warning to heart, Rienhoff was preparing to do something even more radical than his activin experiment. In summer 2008, he launched a second, more ambitious phase in his effort to diagnose Beatrice—he started sequencing her transcriptome.

The transcriptome, as Rienhoff puts it, is ”the business end of the genome.” In order to produce proteins, a small portion—about 1 percent—of the DNA in a particular gene is transcribed into messenger RNA. This mRNA, also known as a gene transcript, then passes along instructions to ribosomes, the cellular machines that make proteins.

Analyzing a transcriptome is essentially a low-cost alternative to sequencing a person’s entire genome. It provides a glimpse at small yet vital scraps of thousands of genes. And since the transcriptome represents only a cross-section of a person’s DNA, there shouldn’t be too many variants to sift through. A typical human genome will have between 100 and 300 mutations that weren’t present in the subject’s parents; a transcriptome should have five or fewer.

Rienhoff asked a lab to extract mRNA from Beatrice’s white blood cells, in which more than half of human genes are expressed. Then a reverse transcriptase enzyme was used to convert this single-stranded RNA into double-stranded DNA, suitable for sequencing. The procedure yielded fragmentary snapshots of as many as 15,000 of Beatrice’s genes. (A full human genome contains 20,000 to 25,000 genes.) As a last step, Rienhoff repeated the process for himself and his wife; he figured that the mutation in Beatrice’s genome must have arisen spontaneously, rather than being inherited from either parent.

”Hardcore scientists would say this is a bad experiment,” Rienhoff admits. ”You’re sampling only a portion of the genes—you’re not casting your net over whole oceans; you’re just casting it over the Pacific Ocean. But from my point of view, that’s a pretty damn good start.”

Rienhoff is still in the midst of this project, which he dubbed his triad transcriptome experiment—the ”triad” consisting of mother, father, and offspring. He has tentatively identified three genetic variants so far that Beatrice alone possesses. To his consternation, none are directly related to the TGF-ß signaling pathway: One is in a gene that codes transport proteins; one is in CRNKL1, a gene that’s barely been studied in humans; and the third is in a gene so obscure that it has yet to be named.

One of Rienhoff’s heroes is Borgny Egeland, a Norwegian mother of two mentally retarded children. In 1934, she contacted an Oslo doctor, Asbjörn Fölling, and informed him that her children’s urine was emitting a powerfully musty odor. At Fölling’s request, she collected urine samples from the children every other day for two months straight—more than 5 gallons in all. Fölling found that these samples contained high levels of phenylpyruvic acid, a substance that was subsequently found in the urine of many other patients suffering from retardation. It turned out that a genetic disorder was preventing these children from properly metabolizing phenylpyruvic acid, and the buildup causes brain damage. The discovery led to the most effective treatment for the disease (now called phenylketonuria)—a diet low in phenylalanine, which the body converts to phenylpyruvic acid. To Rienhoff, the story of PKU’s discovery is a perfect example of how a concerned parent can press doctors to solve seemingly intractable problems. Countless afflicted children now live normal lives thanks to Egeland and Fölling’s teamwork.

To encourage this kind of collaboration, Rienhoff created MyDaughtersDNA.org. The Web site, launched in October 2007, invites parents to post the clinical histories of their undiagnosed children. The hope is that geneticists will also frequent the site, to help identify rare disorders and use the case studies to further their own research.

One of the first people to post to the site was a Bulgarian man named Stefan Petkov, who wrote about his 12-year-old daughter. The girl had weak limbs and speech problems; she also lacked the ability to shed tears. Doctors in Bulgaria were stumped, and DNA tests done in both Belgian and Bulgarian laboratories didn’t point to any known genetic conditions.

Gary Gottesman, a geneticist at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri, came across Petkov’s saga after reading about MyDaughtersDNA.org in the journal Nature. The girl’s inability to cry made him think of a disorder known as Triple A syndrome. He suggested that Petkov have his daughter checked for the disease.

Less than a month later, in March 2008, Petkov wrote again. His daughter had finally been diagnosed with two of the pillars of Triple A syndrome, the most notable being Addison’s disease, which limits production of the hormone cortisol. Shortly thereafter, Petkov’s daughter began receiving medicine to replace the hormone, which should help build her muscle strength.

Rienhoff realizes that most parents lack the resources to operate PCR machines or jet around the country in search of a diagnosis. But he points to Petkov’s story as proof that they can still play a role in their children’s care by seeking answers outside traditional medical channels—embarking, in a sense, on their own Rienhoff-like journeys.

Rienhoff’s personal quest has yet to produce any meaningful insight into Beatrice’s condition, but his efforts have not been totally in vain. At the very least, he claims to have now conducted more work on human transcriptomes than anyone else. According to Rienhoff, there have been only two peer-reviewed papers on human transcriptome sequencing, and both have their shortcomings. ”Certainly, no one has done the triad,” he says, ”which is the Holy Trinity of genetics.” A genomics lab at UC Berkeley wants access to Rienhoff’s data and is in the process of obtaining review board approval to examine Beatrice’s transcriptome.

Rienhoff hopes that someone will eventually commercialize his triad transcriptome experiment, so that parents like Petkov will have a quick if crude tool for peering inside their children’s genetic code. But such a diagnostic product may soon be moot: Complete Genomics, a Mountain View, California, company, recently announced that it plans to start sequencing entire human genomes for $5,000. Just a few years ago, such a massive undertaking couldn’t be done for less than $1 million.

But even when labs can sequence a person’s genome for less than $1,000, it will still likely be years before such tools help children suffering from complex syndromes. It’s one thing to process vast amounts of DNA data; quite another to turn that data into insight about an illness—let alone use it to develop therapies. ”Certainly, our science cannot help Beatrice anytime soon,” says Marc Vidal, a Rienhoff confidant and director of the Center for Cancer Systems Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Deep down, Hugh Rienhoff knows this. And he realizes that his DIY search for a diagnosis may never pan out. ”I never pretend to know what’s going on, because I don’t,” he says. ”You can see—anybody can see if they look closely enough—that I don’t have the answer to the story.”

But he keeps hacking his way through Beatrice’s genome, mostly because it’s the only way he has of feeling some measure of control over an uncontrollable situation. Rienhoff compares his work on Beatrice’s DNA to journalist Peter Matthiessen’s search for the snow leopard, documented in an award-winning book. Matthiessen never found the big cat in the mountains of Nepal, but his futile quest helped him come to terms with his wife’s death from cancer.

The altered nucleotide at the root of Beatrice’s problems ”is as elusive and mysterious as the snow leopard,” Rienhoff says. ”And like Matthiessen, I may not find it. Curiously, it may not be important at all.”

The journey, in other words, is its own reward. Of course, Rienhoff knows he can afford to be philosophical because Beatrice’s condition isn’t dire, at least not at the moment. ”I am not watching my child melt away, which is the most desperate situation to be in,” he says. ”I can’t even imagine that—I’d be working 24 hours a day.”

Contributing editor Brendan I. Koerner (brendan_koerner@wired.com) is the author of Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier’s Flight From the Greatest Manhunt of World War II.

Tags:

Feb. 2, 1046: There’s a 400-Year Nip in the Air

1046: English monks record the onset of a cold snap so harsh that ”no man then alive could remember so severe a winter as this was.” Little do they realize that they are chronicling what might have signaled the beginning of a centuries-long cooling period now referred to as the Little Ice Age.

The monks set down their observations in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a loose collection of historical records kept in monasteries across England between the eighth and 12th centuries. The full weather report, given amid the lives and deaths and comings and goings and various perils facing the Anglo-Saxons, read:

And in the same year, after Candlemas, came the strong winter, with frost and with snow, and with all kinds of bad weather; so that there was no man then alive who could remember so severe a winter as this was, both through loss of men and through loss of cattle; yea, fowls and fishes through much cold and hunger perished.

Remember, this was before the advent of heated barns and Gore-Tex.

Although modern climatologists agree that the Little Ice Age began after a warming period known as the Medieval Warm Period, they’ve been unable to fix exact dates for either its beginning or end. Nor do they have a consensus regarding its reach. The Little Ice Age was originally believed to have been a global phenomenon; subsequent research suggests that it may have been confined mainly to the Northern Hemisphere and was not nearly as severe as previously thought.

For dating purposes, the main part of the Little Ice Age can be said to have lasted from roughly 1250 to 1650. During this time, a growing Atlantic ice pack was observed, along with a consistent decline in summer temperatures across Northern Europe. During the mid-1500s, there were reports of expanding glaciers in both hemispheres.

In contrast to today’s global warming phenomenon, human impact on the environment played little, if any, role at all in the Little Ice Age. The cause is generally ascribed to a combination of diminished solar activity and large volcanic eruptions.

Still, referring to it as an ”ice age” at all may be an overstatement. Research suggests that, overall, the mean temperature decreased less than 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the affected areas.

You want an ice age? Science identifies four periods that qualify, including the biggest one that occurred roughly 700 million years ago. Now that was an ice age.

Source: Various

Tags:

Hill Hopping Electric Bike Grabs Great Grades

A mountain bike with an electric motor? Really? The Ohm Cycles XS700, an off-road warrior, has a zippy engine that’ll get you up the steepest inclines when mere leg power won’t do.

Tags:

How to Lay Someone Off

It’s a dirty job, but no one said being a Valley prince is easy. Here are four key notes to hit when your employees are about to get the ax. Log in and contribute to our guide.

Tags:

Melting Arctic Prompts Calls for ‘National Park’ on Ice

With the Earth warming, a group of scientists wants to establish a home for polar bears near Melting Arctic Prompts Calls for ’National Park’ on Ice the North Pole in the area they project will remain filled with sea ice the longest.

Tags:

Robot Rights for Battlefield Bots

A Navy-funded report wanders into sci-fi territory as it asks when robots will begin to ”deserve Robot Rights for Battlefield Bots moral consideration of their own” as entities with human decision-making capabilities.

Tags:

Tropical Turtle Fossil Discovered in High Arctic

The fossil of a tropical Asian turtle species discovered in the Canadian High Arctic suggests that animals may have migrated across an ice-free North Pole to arrive in North America 90 million years ago, rather than by coming around Alaska as was previously believed.

Tags:

The 4 Worst Super Bowl Ads by Quarter

Did you watch the Super Bowl with your kids? Do you regret letting The 4 Worst Super Bowl Ads by Quarter them see the ads?

Tags:

False Hopes: Adobe Desperate to Install Flash on the iPhone?

Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayan is making noise about Flash on the iPhone again and says False Hopes: Adobe Desperate to Install Flash on the iPhone? his company and Apple are collaborating. But, does the iPhone need Flash?

Tags:

Here We Go Again: Congress Expected to Delay Digital Television

Taxpayers, prepare to whip out your pocketbooks once again. Problems with the nation’s shift to digital television mean Here We Go Again: Congress Expected to Delay Digital Television Congress will likely delay the official transition at an unknown cost to broadcasters, wireless companies and, of course, you.

Tags:

Review: ‘Killzone 2′ a Thoughtful, Atmospheric Shooter

Intense combat against space Nazis from the planet Helgan lifts this game above the fray, and wicked multiplayer options help make it a first-class, first-person shooter.

Tags:

Google Glitch Brands Entire Internet as Malware

For just under an hour Saturday morning, Google’s search engine mistakenly labeled almost every search result as Google Glitch Brands Entire Internet as Malware a site suspected of spreading malware. The company, which promptly corrected the problem, blamed the gaffe on human error.

Tags:

Human Clones May Be Genetically Viable

Cloned human embryos, using eggs from in vitro fertilization, appear to develop normally and could be a viable source of therapeutic stem cells using a patient’s own DNA. And, theoretically, the research is the first step toward a cloned human.

Tags:

NATO Wants Sim Afghanistan to Test War Plans

NATO commanders in Afghanistan want a virtual version of the country, to test out battle plans NATO Wants Sim Afghanistan to Test War Plans and forecast future unrest. Critics say ”they are smoking something they shouldn’t be.”

Tags:

Rising Ocean Acidity Could Disorient Fish

The continued increase in ocean acidity predicted to accompany the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide may rob fish of their ability to smell, a sense that many species use to navigate.

Tags:

Fluid Motion: JetLev-Flyer H20-Propelled Jet Pack

A German entrepreneur develops a ”jet pack” that uses water pressure to keep you Fluid Motion: JetLev-Flyer H20-Propelled Jet Pack aloft for hours. Provided you don’t leave the lake.

Tags: