This Week in Forensic Science

No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door! ‘A Killer in the Family’: Former Denver DA Co-Founds Familial DNA Search […]
What Does the General Public Know About Forensic Science?

Do you think the average person knows what a forensic scientist does or what DNA stands for? We went to the Memorial Union Terrace in Madison to find out! WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS? SUBSCRIBE TO THE ISHI BLOG BELOW! SUBSCRIBE NOW!
Using Environmental DNA to Find Sharks

Sharks are often known as one of the fiercest predators in the ocean. Yet they are also one of the most threatened marine species—largely because they are hunted by humans for their highly valuable fins. How do we know they are being threatened? written by: Johanna Lee, PRomega Traditionally, researchers have estimated the […]
Under the Microscope – Kyleen Elwick

Missing persons’ cases, unidentified human remains, and mass disasters are problems faced not only within the United States, but also many other countries worldwide. Routinely in missing persons’ cases, challenging skeletal remains (bone and teeth) are the only samples available for DNA analysis. However, some samples are more challenging to process than others because of their […]
Under the Microscope – Tim Augsback

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) confronted a state-wide Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) testing initiative to eliminate the backlog of untested kits. As part of this initiative, over 13,000 kits were submitted. In order to process these kits in-house, BCI developed a tiered approach that enabled scientists to complete processing in a five year […]
This Week in Forensic Science

No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door! Familial DNA Testing Helps Identify Serial Rapist (WDTN News 2 – 9/7/2018) An […]
Under the Microscope – Kate Stevenson

SWGDAM outlines validation requirements for individual laboratories which include concordance, reproducibility, accuracy and precision, sensitivity and stochastic effects and mixture studies. The details of these requirements are informative but balancing of sample numbers versus robust results to establish conclusions and subsequent guidelines is more tricky. In her presentation at ISHI, Kate Stevenson (a Senior Scientist at the […]
Optimizing Your Scientific Conference Experience

When I was in graduate school (a really long time ago), I remember going to my first big conference—American Society for Cell Biology—and being completely overwhelmed. I walked in with my Annual Conference Proceedings (back then it was all paper—no apps—and those books were thick, heavy and took up a ridiculous amount of space in your luggage). I […]
This Week in Forensic Science

No one has hours to scour the papers to keep up with the latest news, so we’ve curated the top news stories in the field of Forensic Science for this week. Here’s what you need to know to get out the door! Saving the ‘King of Birds’ with DNA (BBC – 8/31/2018) Scientists believe the […]