In the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office implemented a new system to identify the victims of the wildfire: Rapid DNA technology. Continue reading Quickly Now! Using Rapid DNA Testing to Identify Wildfire Victims
Biotechnologists take a step forward in forensic DNA phenotyping with the prediction of freckles. Continue reading Freckle On: Predicting Freckles from DNA
Fibers are a common type of forensic trace evidence and can be used to link a suspect, scene and victim. But the general presence and composition of fibers prevents the specificity that detectives and crime scenes techs crave. Could a new statistical analysis called Lasso increase the evidentiary value of fibers? Continue reading Tying it all together: Lasso statistical analysis brings new power to fiber evidence
Traditionally, capillary electrophoresis is used to observe and detect STRs for the analysis of DNA profiles. Biotechnologists research massively parallel sequencing of STRs to increase throughput generating sequences for DNA profiles faster and more efficiently. Continue reading Back to the Future: Advances in DNA Analysis Using Massively Parallel Sequencing
Crime scenes can be messy and disorganized places, taking days to collect evidence and weeks to analyze in the laboratory. Analysts and researchers alike are working towards improving all parts of the crime solving process to speed up cases and provide better analysis methods. Continue reading Using machine learning to find patterns in blood
DNA is used to obtain information about an individual’s identity from all types of materials to aid in investigations from missing persons to homicides. But what goes into how we get the DNA from sources found at a crime scene into generating a DNA profile? Continue reading Behind the Scenes: DNA Processing
Researchers from the University at Albany construct a model that can be used to identify different species of blowflies. Continue reading Identifying forensic science’s “first responder”, the blowfly
Pharmaceutical companies are rolling out “tamper-resistant” medicines- but how do their claims stack up to reality? Continue reading Breaking the Bad: can medical companies prevent criminals from making drugs?
Private sector scientists working for Real-Time Analyzers, Inc (RTA) explore the possibility of enhancing the signal of cocaine to forensically relevant levels using gold nanoparticles. Continue reading Augmenting Cocaine Signals with Gold
Biochemists optimize direct PCR to cut down on sample manipulation and preparation time, obtaining full profiles with minimal effort. Continue reading Just a “Touch” of DNA Gives Full Identification of Skin Cell Donor
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