New Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories

New standards have been developed and published for forensic DNA testing laboratories by the Biology/DNA Committee of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) and the DNA Consensus Body of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) American Standards Board (ASB).  This presentation will focus on two of the published standards:

• ANSI/ASB Standard 020, Standard for Validation Studies of DNA Mixtures, and Development and Verification of a Laboratory’s Mixture Interpretation Protocol, First Edition, 2018, and
• ANSI/ASB Standard 040, Standard for Forensic DNA Interpretation and Comparison Protocols, First Edition, 2019.

These two standards specify requirements for DNA validation studies, laboratory protocol development, and verification steps that provide the foundation and bases for the interpretation and comparison of DNA profile data, especially for DNA mixtures, within each DNA testing laboratory.  These documents are publicly available and are published by ANSI/ASB and are also on the OSAC Registry.

During this presentation, attendees shall learn more about the interrelationship of these two standards and the specific requirements of each. This presentation will also include additional information regarding the OSAC and ASB standards development processes along with guidance on how to get involved with the development of future standards and best practices documents. Information regarding additional standards and best practices documents that have been published or are under development will also be presented.