Accelerated aging of forensically relevant biological materials on swabs

• NCJ Number: 304007
• Journal: Biotechniques Volume: 70 Issue: 4 Dated: 2021
• Author(s): Abigail S Bathrick; Jon M Davoren
• Date Published: March 2021
• Length: 6 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2015-R2-CX-K037
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: Preventing Hydrolytic and Oxidative Damage to Biological Evidence with Antioxidants and Chelators

Annotation

This study evaluated accelerated aging as a method to reduce the duration of studies that examine the stability of DNA in forensic evidence-type samples.

Abstract

The preservation of DNA in biological samples is important for forensic testing, since samples can be tested years or even decades after collection. Generally, the DNA within biological evidence is stable over shorter time frames but can degrade over extended periods. In the current study, evaluation of the DNA extracted from cells stored at 37 and 50°C for 194 or 79 days, respectively, showed similar quality metrics to cells stored at 25°C for 548 days. (publisher abstract modified)