MinElute® Post-PCR Cleanup - A Technology Transition Workshop

• NCJ Number: 236453
• Date Published: 2009
• Length: 4 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
• Publication Format: Film
• Publication Type: Training (Aid/Material)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), in conjunction with the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC), is sponsoring a series of workshops designed to help facilitate the transition of novel technologies into practice by operational crime laboratories. These Technology Transition Workshops, which highlight technologies developed under the NIJ’s forensic science research and development programs, are a critical component of NIJ’s research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) efforts.

Annotation

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce the method of post-PCR cleanup to forensic DNA analysts, and to provide information regarding instrumentation currently available to automate this process.

Abstract

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce the method of post-PCR cleanup to forensic DNA analysts, and to provide information regarding instrumentation currently available to automate this process. Post- PCR cleanup is a simple and inexpensive method that can be used to increase the low relative fluorescent units (RFUs) often observed in low level samples. The goal of the procedure is to increase the RFUs so they are above the laboratory's calling threshold. Samples that previously resulted in data that could not be used to make any forensically significant conclusions can now be subjected to post-PCR cleanup, allowing more definitive conclusions to be formed. With the expansion of the use of DNA to solve more property crimes and with some agencies choosing DNA over latent prints to determine who was holding an item, analysis of low level samples is becoming more and more common. This technology can significantly improve the results from these low level samples so statements that would formerly have been "inconclusive" can now be statements of "inclusion" or "match". Validation requirements and National DNA Index System (NDIS) admissibility issues will be addressed. This workshop will include both lecture and laboratory components.