Parabon NanoLabs has been selected to recalibrate the U.S. Army’s Snapshot Kinship Inference software as part of an effort to expand the range of the DNA forensics tool.
The Snapshot software will be standardized on a wide array of reference samples to extend its sensitivity to include distant kinship relationships under the Defense Department’s Past Accounting Mission program, Parabon said Tuesday.
“It is an honor to be selected for this project and we look forward to delivering Snapshot technology that will help [Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory] with this important mission,” said Steven Armentrout, co-founder of Parabon and principal investigator on the project.
Parabon will also determine how far genome-wide genotyping can predict distant kinship based on degraded samples in collaboration with AFDIL.
Parabon and AFDIL plan for the updated Snapshot software to identify missing veterans who served during World War II, Vietnam War, the Korean War and the Cold War.