AIM To carry out a deeper forensic and anthropological evaluation of the short tandem repeat (STR) D9S1120 in five Mestizo populations and eight Amerindian groups from Mexico. METHODS We amplified the STR D9S1120 based on primers and conditions described by Phillips et al, followed by capillary electrophoresis in the genetic analyzer ABI Prism 310. Genotypes were analyzed with the GeneMapper ...

In recent years, jurisdictions across the United States have expressed a growing interest in aiding criminal investigations through the use of familial DNA searching (FDS)a forensic technique to identify family members through DNA databases. The National Survey of CODIS Laboratories surveyed U.S. CODIS laboratories about their perceptions, policies, and practices related to FDS. In total, 103 c...

For years, law enforcement personnel have compared DNA found at crime scenes with that of a convicted offender. Recently, a new technique has begun to focus on the genetic similarity of biological relatives. Now, if a crime scene sample partially matches the DNA profile of a previous offender, law enforcement can investigate and possibly arrest that person’s family members. This process is call...

Samples containing DNA from two or more individuals can be difficult to interpret. Even ascertaining the number of contributors can be challenging and associated uncertainties can have dramatic effects on the interpretation of testing results. Using an FBI genotypes dataset, containing complete genotype information from the 13 Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) loci for 959 individuals, all poss...

In 2012, the US Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues issued a report on Privacy and Progress in Whole Genome Sequencing (1 ). This report made recommendations on the balance between research advancements and privacy risks derived from whole-genome sequencing. Some of the recommendations from the Commission included strong data protection, informed consent, and the establis...

In this abstract we will present work in progress on the annotation of Italian Corpora carried out at the Interfaculty Center for Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (CILTA) University of Bologna. The project aims at tagging the 100-million-words synchronic corpus of contemporary Italian, CORIS/CODIS, with syntactic information. In particular, we will focus attention on our first task, namely t...

Time-of-flight mass spectrometry offers a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective means for high-throughput DNA analysis. Using proprietary chemistry and robotic sample preparation, GeneTrace has demonstrated that several thousand DNA samples may be processed daily with a single mass spectrometer. This mass spectrometry approach is a potential solution to the processing of samples currently being g...

RapidHITTM 200 by IntegenX® (Thermo Fisher Scientific) is an integrated system for fast human identification based on STR analysis, providing a number of advantages over traditional DNA profiling methods in terms automation, speed analysis and mobility. However, before rapid technology could be implemented into routine forensic applications, both workflow its results would have to rigorously va...