A Comparative Evaluation of the MinION and MiSeq Sequencing Platforms for the Analysis of Human Hand Microbial Profiles for Forensic Investigations.

Florida International University proposes to implement a comparative evaluation of MinION and MiSeq sequencing platforms for the analysis of human hand microbial profiles as a potential forensic investigative tool. The purpose is to assess the use of hand microbiomes as supportive, investigative tool for human individualization. Common evidence found at the crime scene often contain partial or no DNA profiles due to Low Copy Number, limiting the value of the evidence Microbial cellular matter on the human body instead, especially the skin, is found in high concentrations and can be exploited as supplemental data that can lead to investigative leads.

The study will answer two questions: (1) can the MinION generate more accurate and reproducible microbial profiles with higher discrimination power than those obtained with the Illumina MiSeq and (2) can microbial touch samples profiles assessed with either of the two platforms be associated with an individual, therefore representing a powerful investigative tool for forensic purposes.

Project activities include comparing the performances of MinION and MiSeq in a large dataset of 100 individual profiles from a diverse community. Each individual will provide multiple samples resulting in 300 profiles over the span of one week. In addition, 10 of the 100 participants will be required to provide daily samples for 30 days and subsequent monthly sampling for 6 months for the analysis of temporal changes in microbial profiles, resulting in approximately 650 samples for sequencing using MinION and MiSeq. Touch samples will be collected from a subset of 10 individuals and analyzed with the optimized platform to test the usefulness of this approach for providing investigative leads in case work.

Expected outcomes include increasing the knowledge of the hand microbiome for forensic purposes. It is expecting that one of the two platforms will give more insights and ability to associate a microbiome to an individual.

The forensic community is the Intended beneficiary. The publications including the methodology and the algorithms for profile classification will be available for the larger community and will form a starting point for building the robust methods and statistical analysis needed for microbial profiles to be considered viable for use in forensic cases.

Subrecipient activities include supporting NIJ final project reports, peer reviewed journal articles, presentations at national meetings and any possible intellectual property filings and potential patents. In addition, it will support graduate and undergraduate published theses/dissertations and help educate our future workforce. CA/NCF