Thumbnail of Houston Public Media Website "inDepth from PBS and NPR. Headline reads "Omicron could be tougher against the COVID-19 vaccine than other variants, Rice research shows"
December 3, 2021

Houston Public Media Interviews Gene Godbold About Research on Omicron Variant

December 3, 2021 • SigSci Senior Scientist Gene Godbold was interviewed by Houston Public Media today about his research on the Omicron variant's transmissibility and its ability to evade vaccine protections. In the interview Godbold says "the takeaway message is that the omicron variant has more immune evasive mutations than... MORE
Photo of Jan Newton
September 30, 2021

Ms. Jan Newton Joins Signature Science’s Managers Committee

Newton previously served as President of AT&T Texas. AUSTIN, TEXAS – September 23, 2021 – Signature Science, LLC is pleased to announce the election of Ms. Jan Newton to its Managers Committee. Her career includes over 30 years of executive experience in finance, sales, marketing, regulatory affairs, and corporate governance.... MORE
Close-up of skin with representation of protein

SigSci Scientists Co-author Study Published in “Journal of Proteomics”

Abstract We present an efficient protein extraction and in-solution enzymatic digestion protocol optimized for mass spectrometry-based proteomics studies of human skin samples. Human skin cells are a proteinaceous matrix that can enable forensic identification of individuals. We performed a systematic optimization of proteomic sample preparation for a protein-based human forensic identification... MORE
Photo of Disney castle with text "Horizon: September 2021"

HORIZON Newsletter – September 2021

Looking Ahead to ISHI 32 on September 14–16 in Orlando, FL Signature Science is attending the upcoming ISHI Conference with two of our scientist presenting their latest work. Curt Hewitt, Ph.D. will be speaking on the topic “A Proteos Program Retrospective: Establishing Protein Sequencing for Forensic Analysis.” David Russell, M.S.... MORE
Image of a family tree and genetic data plot. Text reads "skater: This work was funded by the National Institute of Justice in collaboration with the University of North Texas Health Science Center"
August 30, 2021

skater: An R package for SNP-Based Kinship Analysis, Testing, and Evaluation

Abstract: Motivation: SNP-based kinship analysis with genome-wide relationship estimation and IBD segment analysis methods produces results that often require further downstream processing and manipulation. A dedicated software package that consistently and intuitively implements this analysis functionality is needed. Results: Here we present the skater R package for SNP-based kinship analysis, testing, and... MORE
Photo of travelers in an airport and the text "TESSA: Trace Explosives Sampling for Security Applications
July 15, 2021

Trace Explosives Sampling for Security Applications (TESSA) Study

Abstract: The detection of trace amounts of explosive materials is critical to the security at mass transit centers (e.g., airports and railway stations). In a typical screening process, a trap is used to probe a surface of interest to collect and transfer particulate residue to a detector for analysis. The collection... MORE