FY 2008 Forensic DNA Unit Efficiency Improvement - University of North Texas Center for Human Identification Laboratory for Molecular Identification

The University of North Texas Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI) Laboratory for Molecular Identification has identified several steps in the analysis of mtDNA that can be modified to significantly reduce labor in both the laboratory and in data review, reduce the reagent costs, and reduce the overall analytical time. A reduction in labor, reagents, and processing time will improve efficiency and increase the overall capacity of mitochondrial DNA testing by the laboratory. The areas of improvement addressed in this project include amplification and sequencing chemistry; 2) enhanced automation and process control; 3) data analysis with expert system tools; and, 4) future technology.
The objective of this project is to develop an integrated workflow from laboratory processing to report generation for mtDNA haplotype analysis. This will be accomplished by addressing several bottlenecks in the processing and analysis of mtDNA as it is currently performed in the UNTCHI laboratory. The development of a new laboratory process with efficient amplification, sequencing, and analysis of mtDNA will greatly enhance throughput capabilities, decrease unit cost of sequencing, and significantly impact the amount of time for data review by the analyst. All of this will accomplished by integrating the laboratory's automation platform, expand current LIMS capabilities, and the development of expert system tools for assembly and analysis of mtDNA sequence data.

ca/ncf