Forensic genetic research is a highly specialised field of science. It focuses on extracting DNA from biological crime scene samples to help criminal justice professionals with the identification of victims and suspects. Current routine forensic genetic research methods are relatively slow and inefficient with respect to the total amount of information one could potentially extract from the samples.
To substantially improve routine forensic genetic research, the Forensic Genomics Consortium Netherlands (FGCN) was founded in 2008.
FGCN represents the strategic alliance of three Dutch forensic genetic research laboratories: the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI); the Forensic Laboratory for DNA Research of Leiden University Medical Center (FLDO-LUMC) and the Department for Forensic Molecular Biology of the Erasmus Medical Center (FMB-EMC).
This strategic alliance plans to achieve major improvements in six genetic deliverables:
- The improvement ofmixed-stains DNA analyses
- The relative age of the sample
- The cellular origin of the biological sample
- The geographical origin of the cell donor
- The externally visible characteristics of the cell donor
- The construction of detailed DNA reference databases
The plans of the consortium primarily involve developing techniques for
dedicated crime cases. But eventually these methods could also be used for more routine high-volume crime cases. This will have a substantial positive impact on the criminal justice systemby enabling the recovery of more crucial evidential value from crime scene traces. At the same time it will become possible to extract new types of information from these traces. This will enhance the value of forensic genetic analysis for investigative and intelligence purposes.
