DNA Analysis for Missing Person Indentification in Mass Fatalities

Beginning with a concise overview of DNA analysis methods and their use in identifying victims of mass fatalities, this volume provides comprehensive training in these techniques. The book discusses DNA sample collection from family members and other DNA reference samples. Readers learn different methodologies that can be used in the laboratory to extract DNA and generate profiles. A chapter on STR data analysis provides everything needed to understand the many complexities involved in the comparison of DNA profiles from the human remains to the reference samples. An accompanying CD-ROM includes example forms.

Amanda Sozer, Ph.D., president of SNA International, received her B.A. from Rutgers University and her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee–Oak Ridge Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Sozer has worked in forensics for over 20 years directing forensic laboratories and programs. In addition to directing forensic DNA laboratories, she served as a technical contractor to the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and worked on the DNA backlog reduction programs for no-suspect forensic cases and convicted offender outsourcing programs, which resulted in the processing of millions of samples. She has worked on numerous local, state, and federal forensic projects within the United States and forensic projects and human identification initiatives in Guatemala, Cyprus, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Lebanon, the Philippines, and Libya.