Travis chats with Kevin Lord, Director of Lab and Agency Logistics for the DNA Doe Project. He updates Travis on the number of solves that the non-profit has assisted with and shares why an agency may turn to forensic investigative genetic genealogy (FIGG) rather than traditional investigative techniques. Kevin also discusses the technologies and methods employed in FIGG.
One of the largest barriers to FIGG is the cost as extracting DNA from old or degraded samples requires advanced testing. To alleviate some of this financial burden, those at DDP realized that blood cards created by the medical examiner’s office for those who are recently deceased could be used to generate a DNA profile through sequencing and filling in missing information using bioinformatics. Kevin shares the benefits of using a blood card, the process for obtaining a profile from blood cards, and his hope for standardizing this in the future.
Travis and Kevin also discuss channels for funding cases and how the public can assist and one of the recent cases that has stuck with Kevin.
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