Spermatozoa Capture During the Differential Extraction Process for STR Typing of Sexual Assault Evidence

• NCJ Number: 197532
• Author(s): Arthur Eisenberg Ph.D.
• Date Published: February 2002
• Length: 4 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2000-IJ-CX-K009
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Technical)

Annotation

This document is a progress report on a study funded by the National Institute of Justice to develop a cellular sorting method to recover sperm from sexual assault evidence.

Abstract

This progress report states the progress and results of a study designed to develop a cellular sorting method for recovery of sperm from sexual assault evidence. The progress of the study is presented in four phases, representing the four goals of the first year of this research project. During phase one of the study, the researchers evaluated three different anti-sperm antibodies that could be used against sperm in order to bind together sperm heads. In phase two of the study the researchers evaluated magnetic beads and then developed a chemical substance that would bind the anti-sperm antibodies to the magnetic beads. During phase three, the researchers chemically modified the antibody/magnetic beads to allow the formation of a permanent bond in order to retain and photoactivate the sperm. Finally, phase four allowed the researchers to amplify the photoactivated DNA from the sperm with the CODIS core STR loci, which was the goal of the research project. The project was thus successful in demonstrating the usefulness of a sperm specific antibody/magnet bead reagent. More funding is necessary in order to optimize the photoaffinity labeling process and to incorporate the reagent into an automatable process for easy recovery of sperm from sexual assault evidence.