<div id="subtitle">Amid doubts about anthrax suspect, FBI asks scientists to review evidence</div><div><p>The FBI will ask a group of independent scientists to review evidence from the government's anthrax investigation that concluded an Army researcher masterminded the deadly 2001 biological attacks.</p><p>The FBI and National Academy of Sciences have been discussing whether to do an independent review, likely costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, of the DNA analysis that led investigators to Dr. Bruce Ivins.</p><p>On Tuesday, FBI Director Robert Mueller says he will request the review.</p><p>Ivins, a scientist at the Army's biodefense lab at Fort Detrick, Md., killed himself in July as prosecutors prepared to indict him for murder in the letter attacks, which killed five people.</p><p>"We're in discussions with and are going to request the National Academy of Sciences review the work that was done in the course of this investigation," Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee. "And it is an independent review by a panel of scientists that will be pulled together by the National Academy."</p><p>About 60 scientists who belong to the group helped the FBI track the DNA of the anthrax spores back to a flask from Ivins' lab. None of them will be allowed to participate in the independent study, said NAS spokesman William Kearney.</p><p>Mueller added: "Many of the scientists the National Academy ordinarily would seek to have on a panel are scientists that were already used in the course of this investigation. But as I say, the National Academy is an independent entity and will be conducting a review."</p><p>Using new genome technology, scientists working on the FBI's "Amerithrax" investigation looked at samples of cells from the 2001 victims to identify the kind of anthrax Ames strain that killed them. They noticed very subtle differences in the DNA of the strain used in the attacks than in other types of Ames anthrax.</p><p>The science is known as DNA fingerprinting. Although any two samples of anthrax bacteria will likely share roughly the same DNA structure, there are tiny differences from sample to sample. Scientists used those "fingerprints" to trace the anthrax used in the attacks back to Ivins, who oversaw the highly specific type of toxin in his Fort Detrick lab.</p><p>The scientific discovery gave the FBI its first solid break in one of the nation's most high-profile unsolved crimes after years of pointing the finger at the wrong suspect.</p><p>Kearney said it will likely take several weeks to develop a project scope before the review is under way.</p><p>Generally, Academy studies take six to 18 months to complete, and are done by teams of volunteer and staff scientists, he said. Studies of the size and expertise that is expected for the anthrax review usually cost at least several hundred thousand dollars and possibly up to $1 million, and are funded by the federal government, Kearney said.</p><p>Although the National Academy had been discussing the possibility of a study for several weeks, it wasn't until Mueller's testimony that scientists learned it would go forward. "We expect to be asked officially to conduct this review," Kearney said.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>FBI: http://www.fbi.gov/</p><p>National Academy of Sciences: http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=32907919&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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