RESTON, Va. — New technology may help law enforcement agencies resolve cold cases. Parabon Nanolabs’ product, Snapshot, is a DNA analysis service that can predict a person’s appearance.
Snapshot could help in cases that have no suspects or that have unidentified remains. This level of detail can help law enforcement agencies narrow down the field of possible suspects and/or pursue new investigative leads.
Ellen McRae Greytak, Ph.D., Parabon’s Director of Bioinformatics explained how the process works. “Human DNA encodes the genetic information that largely determines a person’s physical appearance. A copy of this genetic code, or ‘DNA blueprint,’ exists in every cell of the body, which makes DNA a potentially invaluable source of investigative information. However, traditional DNA forensic analysis ignores genetic content and treats DNA as simply a biometric identifier, a ‘DNA fingerprint’ that can be used for matching to a known individual.”
Snapshot takes advantage of modern DNA technology to read the parts of the genome that code for the differences in physical appearance between people. Using sophisticated computer algorithms that have been trained on thousands of reference samples, Snapshot translates this raw genetic code into predictions of physical traits. The company said these predictions are combined to create a highly accurate composite profile, or “digital mugshot” of an unknown suspect or unidentified remains.
With funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the company has been developing Snapshot for nearly four years.
Read more at http://snapshot.parabon-nanolabs.com/.
