Advancing Fundamental Technologies from the Crime Lab to the Crime Scene

Since the development of RFLP as the first crude methodology for forensic DNA fingerprinting by Alec Jeffreys in 1985, the methods for creating court-defensible DNA profiles have evolved tremendously. With that evolution, there has been a corresponding increase in the demands for more rapid analysis with improved specificity and sensitivity. This meeting addresses the challenges facing forensic scientists and technology development scientists focused on sensitive STR profiling from DNA extracted from a broader range of sample types and with increasingly lower copy number. The focus will be on current forensic DNA analysis chemistries and instrumentation used for STR profiling, as well as next gen sequencing platforms that potentially offer enhanced capabilities for generating data for human ID. This will be an attractive discussion environment for stimulating discussions between the scientists and molecular biologists developing the technology, and the analysts using it in the criminal justice system. These discussions will be critical in synchronizing the needs of the analyst with the development capabilities of those in the research and development sector.

The uniqueness of this conference will be the fundamental discussions between user and developer, analyst and scientist, court defenders and data generators, all within a scientific framework defocused from casework scenarios. The diverse perspectives of those in the criminal justice system (lab managers, analysts, prosecutors) and those developing the technology critical to them, will lead to discussions that benefit all, regardless of seniority. These discussions will enlighten us and expand our scope on the utility of the chemistries that currently exist, as well as the areas that need intense focus from the research and development communities, both academic and industrial. The uniqueness of the GRC format, through oral and poster presentations, will assure a discussion experience unlike any available to those in the forensic DNA community with the conferences that exist today.