Advanced Technology in DNA Analysis and Profiling

NIST is the National Institute of Standards and Technology. They have taken the STR method one step further to assist in identifying DNA from very small amounts of the sample. By use of the "mini-STR assays" they are able to better find "good" areas of the strand of the decayed or damaged sample. They are then able to take very small pieces and make more for a large enough samples to test. (News from NIST)

DNA can be obtained from items such as: "chewing gum, steering wheels, welding masks, cigarette butts, beverage cans, automobile air bags, bite marks, sunflower seeds, clothing with perspiration, ski masks, envelopes, car dash boards, work gloves, pistol grips, tooth brushes, skull and femur bones, fingernail clippings, saliva from breast and neck swabs, clothing submerged in water, straws, and hair." By testing these items using STR (short tandem repeat) the results take ten to twenty business days. Using mitochondrial DNA testing takes twenty to thirty business days. (Human Identification Technologies, INC)

Some of the projects in Forensic Biology are; "development of Y SNP analysis systems, development and implementation of low copy number (LCN) DNA analysis, refinement of techniques for the analysis of bones and hair subjected to gross physical insult, and novel techniques for the collection of samples and the extraction of DNA from them", to name a few. (ESR) In rape cases, the process of Y- STR sorts out the male halotypes in a vaginal swab. It also helps sort out multiple male donors in "mixed semen stains". There are two systems that can do this: the multiplex I (MPI) and the multiplex II (MPII). (Hall and Ballantyne, 2007)

References

1) News from NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). Advances in DNA Analysis Help Identify 9/11 Victims.

2) Human Identification Technologies, INC. http://www.hitdna.com/casework/htm. Retrieved on September 1, 2007.

3) ESR. The Future of Forensic DNA Analysis. http://www.esr.cri.nz/competencies/forensicscience/dna/DNAfuture.htm. Retrieved on September 1, 2007.

4) Hall, A. and Ballantyne, J. Journal Article. The Development of an 18- locus Y- STR System for Forensic Casework. Springerlink. http://www.springerlink.com/content/lyp38plg1k394eux/. Retrieved September 1, 2007.