Developing an Empirically-Based Ranking Order for Bone Sampling: Examining the Differential DNA Yield Rates between Human Skeletal Elements over Increasing Post Mortem Intervals

The proposed research project would develop empirically based bone-sampling standards to maximize the success rate of identifications from bone DNA of varying post mortem intervals. The goal of this project is to analyze the DNA yield rates of different skeletal elements from three recently skeletonized individuals. Researchers propose to test all of the skeletal elements in the skeleton and rank the most successful elements. Next, additional skeletons from increasing post mortem intervals will be tested to assess whether the same bones successfully yield sufficient DNA for identification 0-3, 3-10, 10-20, and 20+ years post mortem.

ca/ncf