Battelle has received more than $800,000 in federal grants from the National Institute of Justice to assess and evaluate new tools for probing DNA evidence.
The company will test instruments, laboratory materials and software that forensic investigators use to obtain biological evidence based on the tools’ next-generation sequencing, Battelle said Oct. 9.
“Next-generation sequencing will significantly expand our technical capabilities to support forensic science, law enforcement, and ultimately the criminal justice systemâ€, said Rich Guerrieri, research leader for Battelle’s applied genomics.
The tools incorporate specific biomarkers to identify evidence and predict evidence characteristics for investigative support.
Battelle will use DNA samples from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to perform the 19-month inter-laboratory research at various forensic labs in Denver, Washington, D.C., California, Texas, Maryland and Pennsylvania.