Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Dr. Sykes Makes Conflicting Statements - Takes Credit for Hair Cleaning Process That was used in Kecthum DNA Study - Handles Hair Samples without Sterile Gloves/Face Mask

In my opinion it appears Dr. Skyes has a hard time being consistent when talking about many aspects of his research. One area where Sykes has an obvious conflict is the ability to decontaminate hair.

In the Bigfoot Files - Yeti episode Dr. Sykes confirmed and validated the decontamination protocols used by the Ketchum DNA Study to ensure the hair samples were pure and not contaminated. Below is the statement from Dr. Sykes:

The fact is hair is very resilient. You can clean any suggestion of contamination from the surface of the hair without damaging the DNA that lies within. This is something we have only known in the past couple of years.

Yet in the most recent installment of the three part series Bigfoot Files - Bigfoot episode Dr. Sykes has this to say about human contamination:

What has really bugged any serious attempt to identify any species, up until the last couple of years, is that there always human contamination.  And I can tell you, it’s damned difficult to get rid of. 

I am confused, in the first special about the Yeti he talked about how easy it was to remove the contamination when he only had two samples that showed he had "discovered" a new species of hybrid bear. Now when he goes to the United States and begins testing for Bigfoot removing the "human contamination...is damned difficult". How convenient for Dr. Sykes to have this lapse in his memory. It appears to me Dr. Sykes has an agenda.

In the special the narrator also makes what in my opinion is a blatantly false and misleading statement:

Sykes has developed a unique multistage cleaning system that removes all contamination and he is using his cutting edge technique to take on the world of Bigfoot USA.

 This "unique multistage cleaning system" has been used in crime labs across the United States for years! Dr. Ketchum also used this process many years before Dr. Sykes claims to have developed it. Below is an excerpt from Dr. Ketchum's DNA Paper "Supplemental Data - Material and Methods


 DNA Isolation

Since the presence of normal human DNA contamination of submitted samples was a primary concern throughout this study, all samples were thoroughly cleaned in a manner consistent with forensic testing procedures. In order to further rule out contamination from human personnel and lab workers, samples from submitters and scientists working with the samples were collected for comparison with the results obtained in the various DNA tests.

Hair samples were then sorted into two groups for extraction at DNA Diagnostics. DNA from those samples containing 5-50 or more single hair roots were selected and the roots clipped into 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tubes. The hair roots were thoroughly cleansed with water and ethanol prior to extraction to remove any extraneous DNA.

Hair roots were placed in microcentrifuge tubes for DNA extraction and ATL buffer (Qiagen) was added. These samples were digested with proteinase K (PK, 20 mg/mL) and dithiothreitol (DTT, 1.0 M) at 56°C overnight, followed by a three-step organic extraction procedure using phenol:chloroform:isoamyl alcohol (25:24:1) with an additional PCI extraction. This process was followed by a butanol wash and buffer exchange/concentration into TE-4 buffer (10 mM Tris, 0.1mM EDTA, pH 8.0) using Microcon®-100 ultrafiltration devices (Millipore, Billerica, MA)93-94.

So in my opinion Dr. Sykes has a serious issue with telling the truth and taking credit for things he did not do.

I was also very disturbed by a scene in the special where Dr. Sykes appears to be handing hair samples on his office desk with NO sterile cloves on and NO mask to prevent human contamination that in his words are " damned difficult to get rid of."

Below is the sequence from the special where Dr. Sykes appears to be handling his Bigfoot study hair samples with his bare hands with no mask on:







 
If we apply the same standards that Dr. Ketchum was held to then any and all samples Dr. Sykes processed are contaminated. His processes are flawed and in error. He is hoaxing and falsifying his results. What is "good for the goose is good for the gander".  Of course I am sure this was just a "demonstration scene" from the show and not the real hair samples????????? 

2 comments:

  1. I'm not sure if DNA tests would confirm this, but over the past few years I have watched too much politics on TV. And it has come to my
    attention that certain members of our species have the remarkable
    ability to lie, destort the truth, and anything it takes to further their
    agenda all without batting an eye. So it is my observation that there
    is no reason it expect anything more or less from this battle of hair
    samples. As some guy once said " The truth is common sense,
    clarified ". In the end the truth will come out and hopefully the right
    individual will be credited for it's establishment. In the meantime we
    can all cheer for our team and hope the referees are paying attention.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well Scott,this is hard news to digest. But,can we say we were all waiting patently for this wizard of DNA and genetics to save the day? Or possibly verify something that's already been done? I can say I was,for the most part hopeful,this would pan out. But it's not looking good.
    I am ashamed some days lately,of the state of affairs a large part of our community is in. There is some folks out there,that know "everything" practically about this subject,they can tell anyone that will sit still long enough to listen,all the who,why,where and what exactly these beings are. And,some of the "big time" Bigfoot bloggers know so much,they video tape themselves in their basement,or bedroom,and rant,talk,and gibber ravenously for hours upon hours,about how they are right,everyone else is wrong,and everyone else needs to get over it.
    LOL!!!! How does this happen?!? It's obvious they have no clue,and perhaps couldn't even buy one. These poor fools claim so much is flawed,and incomplete,but yet they cannot even *act like,or fake the fact they can't even give a certain example of how wrong something is,or how they reached the conclusion. If the community is to be judged by the rest of the world,to see if all this talk about DNA has proven Bigfoot/Sasquatch a reality,were all in big trouble. Still,the ones who tried to set the record straight,and let the data and findings be known(and not the drama,politics,and nonsense) will be remembered by us,,the ones invested in this for understanding,and hopefully that will make up for a bit. I truly see the Study getting the recognition,and honor as it's deserved. Just not as soon as anyone would like,and,we could say that it would've done been in the light,if it wasn't for so much drama,rumors,and ignorance by the hands of a few folks,for all the various and painfully obvious reasons.
    Thanks Scott,and keep up the amazing,and outstanding work out there!!!

    ReplyDelete