Forensics and forensic science are highly popular terms nowadays thanks to famous TV series and films. Most people, inspired by these series, normally associate these terms to crime scene investigation (CSI), ocular inspection and evidence recovery. However, forensics involves much more than CSI, including a vast number of sciences, disciplines and studies such as forensic genetics, chemistry, ...

Second generation sequencing (SGS) may revolutionize the field of forensic STR typing. Two of the essential requirements for implementation of an SGS based approach for forensic investigations are (1) establishment of adequate frequency databases and (2) adoption of a new STR nomenclature. We report the STR sequences and allele frequencies of three STR loci: D3S1358, D12S391 and D21S11 in 197 u...

(2012) A cautionary note on switching mtDNA reference sequences in forensic genetics. Assessing a novel room temperature DNA storage medium for forensic biological samples. of novel 'mini-amplicon' STR multiplexes to high volume casework on degraded skeletal remains. rates of nuclear STR typing from different skeletal elements. A highly effective DNA extraction method for nuclear STR testing of...

Allelic quantification of STRs, where the presence of three or more alleles represents mixtures, provides a novel method to identify mixtures from unknown biological sources. The allelic stutters resulting in slightly different repeat containing products during fragment amplification can be mistaken for true alleles complicating a simple approach to mixture analysis. An algorithm based on the a...

Molecular biology tools have enhanced the capability of the forensic scientist to characterize biological evidence to the point where it is feasible to analyze minute samples and achieve high levels of individualization. Even with the forensic DNA field's maturity, there still are a number of areas where improvements can be made. These include: enabling the typing of samples of limited quantity...

We estimate the population genetics parameter FST (also referred to as the fixation index) from short tandem repeat (STR) allele frequencies, comparing many worldwide human subpopulations at approximately the national level with continental-scale populations. FST is commonly used to measure population differentiation, and is important in forensic DNA analysis to account for remote shared ancest...

In 2000 a new policy concerning the publication of population genetic data was set up in Forensic Science International [1] with the introduction of a new section entitled ‘‘Announcement of population data’’. Subsequently in 2010 [2] a new section on ‘‘Forensic Population Genetics’’ was introduced, and recommendations were redefined. FSI: Genetics is one of the few journals still considering po...

Molecular investigations gain increasing interest in forensic medicine. Examination of gene expression levels at the time point of death might have the power to become a complementing tool to the current methods for the determination of cause and circumstances of death. This includes pathophysiological conditions of disease and injury as well as the duration of agony or other premortem factors....

the invention of polymerase chain reaction (pcr) has been a milestone in the history of biological and medical sciences. the applications of pcr have not only completely revolutionised the research in the field of molecular genetics as well as animal and plant biotechnology, but the technique has also proved its relevance and ingenious utility in other fields of forensic sciences, molecular sys...

The ISFG membership consists of scientists and medical professionals specialized in using genetic testing for kinship analysis and the individualization of biological material. This expertise makes the forensic geneticist a resource of advice to international and national organizations dealing with human identifications and causes many DNA laboratories to get involved in DVI tasks. The present ...