UNT Health Science Center DNA lab featured in Popular Science

January 6, 2009

The UNT Center for Human Identification’s DNA lab, housed at UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth, was featured in the January 2009 issue of Popular Science.

"America is haunted by 100,000 missing persons and 40,000 sets of unidentified missing remains. Only one lab can truly connect the lost and the dead — and it’s revealing secrets of serial killers in the process," the 10-page article begins.

Titled "Killer Connection," it outlines how the lab makes DNA matches by following the case of "Debbie Deer Creek" – an unidentified young woman whose remains were discovered in Montana in 1984. The lab made the DNA match that identified Debbie Deer Creek as Marci Bachmann, a teenage runaway who disappeared the same year her remains were discovered.

The process of DNA extraction and the lab’s role as the only academic DNA lab in the country dedicated to solving missing person’s cases is examined.

The lab’s participation with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs, is also explained in the article.

HSC’s Dr. Kari Northeim and Parker County collaborators awarded SAMHSA grant for rural EMS training and education

Dr. Kari Northeim, School of Public Health assistant professor of population and community health at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, has been awarded the SAMHSA Rural EMS Training and Education grant in conjunction with HSC community partners, Parke...

Research

|Sep 28, 2023

SBS researchers publish innovative study in Nature Scientific Reports

People with leg amputations, including those with diabetes, run the risk of overuse injuries like osteoarthritis, muscle atrophy or bone breaks in their intact limbs. Now, new research is quantifying the impacts of amputations and diabetes, a leading cause of amputation, on those overuse ...

On Campus

|Sep 28, 2023

HSC’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine to host symposium on ‘Creating Change in Health Care Delivery’

Americans have soured on the U.S. health care system, according to a Gallup poll taken earlier this year. Most of those surveyed rate health care quality as subpar, including 31% saying it is “only fair” and 21% — a new high — calling it “poor.” The U.S. ranked nearly last compared w...

On Campus

|Sep 26, 2023

SaferCare Texas empowers Community Health Workers to complete HSC Mental Wellness microcredential

Tarri Wyre saw the growing need to expand her mental health education. The community health worker and ambulatory care manager for Memorial Hermann Health in Houston turned to the Mental Wellness microcredential, offered by The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth’s SaferC...

Newsroom