The Applied Genetics Group at NIST has been actively involved in developing and testing assays targeting markers of forensic interest. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS, also known as Massively Parallel Sequencing) has revolutionized molecular genetic research and clinical diagnostics over the past decade. Appropriately scaled, this technology can also provide information of interest in criminal investigations, such as improved ability to identify individuals; prediction of an unknown individual’s ancestry, hair/eye color, or age; and non-human applications such as microbe strain identification in cases of bioterrorism. Projects focus on the development of NGS assays, bioinformatic methods, and data interpretation models for forensic applications.

References

Gettings KB, et al: STR Allele Sequence Variation: Current Knowledge and Future Issues. Forensic Science International: Genetics 18: 118-130, 2015

Gettings KB, et al: Sequence variation of 22 autosomal STR loci detected by next generation sequencing. Forensic Science International: Genetics 21: 15-21, 2016

Gettings KB, Kiesler KM, Vallone PM: Performance of a next generation sequencing SNP assay on degraded DNA. Forensic Science International: Genetics 19: 1-9, 2015