st. LOUIS COUNTY (KMOV) — The St. Louis County Police Crime Lab is deploying new DNA technology software that will allow scientists to make more definitive DNA matches.
The software, STRmix, helps crime labs interpret DNA profiles previously thought to be too complex or too sparse to be manually interpreted.
“Less inconclusive results mean more conclusive results, which means more clues to our researchers and more confidence. , is undoubtedly going to be a game-changer in DNA interpretation coming out of this lab,” Justin said. Lautz, a forensic investigator at the Crime Lab.
The division secured the new software through a competitive grant from the 2017 Forensic DNA Laboratory Efficiency Improvement and Capacity Building Program Grant. The department implemented the software and began training analysts in December.
The software brings more objectivity to the interpretive process and removes much of the natural human subjectivity, Rautz said. Without it, scientists made cautious mistakes, often leading to “inconclusive” decisions. Lautz hopes the software will produce more consistent results and produce more “conclusive” results.
“Crime labs across the country are constantly fighting to keep up with the backlog,” he said. “That doesn’t allow us to spend a lot of time on R&D. So if we want to implement something in the lab, it’s a long process. must be balanced.”
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