Building STRmix™ from the Ground Up: A Q&A with ISHI Student Ambassador Kiersten Fultz and Dr. Jo Bright
Building software for probabilistic genotyping is technically demanding. Building it so it holds up in court systems across multiple countries is something different. That distinction drove much of how STRmix™ was designed. Dr. Jo Bright is a Senior Science Leader at the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science, formerly known as ESR. […]
Cold Case, Complex Mixture: How a 1963 Homicide Was Solved with Probabilistic Genotyping
Kari Danser joined Cybergenetics as an intern fresh out of Duquesne University’s forensic science program. She was filling in for someone on maternity leave. Two years later, she’s a primary analyst on 89 cases, has testified three times in court, and recently helped build a statistical link between a suspect and a murder weapon. Cybergenetics […]
What If You Could Screen for Mixtures Before the STR Profile? A Q&A with ISHI Student Ambassador Kiersten Fultz
Forensic DNA workflows are built around the STR profile. It’s also where analysts first learn a sample has a problem — a mixture they didn’t anticipate, a template too low to produce usable results. By then, the options for adjusting the approach have narrowed considerably. Kiersten Fultz, a master’s student in Forensic Science at Virginia […]
Genetic Diversity and Forensic DNA Mixture Analysis: A Closer Look at the Challenges of Lower Genetic Diversity Groups
This article was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence. However, all content has been thoroughly reviewed and curated by a human editor before posting to guarantee accuracy, relevance, and quality. Forensic DNA analysis has long been heralded as a cornerstone of modern criminal investigations, particularly in cases where DNA samples contain contributions from multiple […]
Sample Analysis Using Prediction Modeling for Early Mixture Detection
Analysis of evidentiary samples containing DNA from multiple contributors (“mixtures”) is a time intensive process for a forensic analyst and one where the contributor nature of a sample is not revealed until the end of the traditional forensic workflow. Often, at this stage, retesting or additional testing of mixture samples may not be possible, […]
Sex-Based Targeted Recovery of Cells in a Heterogeneous Mixture: Separating Male and Female Like-Cell
Today’s guest blog is written by Michael Marciano, Ph.D and Amber Vandepoele, Syracuse University Mixture interpretation remains a central challenge in the forensic DNA field. Much research and development has focused on methods to improve the interpretation of complex samples including software solutions. These methods are used to improve mixture interpretation on the “back-end” […]
Enhanced Mixture Interpretation with Long-Read Sequencing
Today’s guest blog is written by Jianye Ge, University of North Texas Health Science Center Deconvoluting mixture samples is one of the most challenging problems in forensics. Efforts have been made to provide solutions regarding mixture interpretation. The probabilistic interpretation of the Short Tandem Repeat (STR) profiles can increase the number of complex mixtures […]
Previewing the Posters of our ISHI Student Ambassadors: Chastyn Smith
Analysis of evidentiary samples containing DNA from multiple contributors (“mixtures”) is a time intensive process for a forensic analyst and one where the contributor nature of a sample is not revealed until the end of the traditional forensic workflow. Often, at this stage, retesting or additional testing of mixture samples may not be possible, particularly […]
Under the Microscope – Nicole Richetelli
DNAmix 2021 is a rigorous, large-scale study conducted to evaluate the extent of consistency and variation among forensic laboratories in interpretations and statistical analyses of DNA mixtures, and to assess the effects of various potential sources of variability. To this end, this study utilized a four-phased approach: Policies and Procedures (P&P) Questionnaire — Online […]