Decoding the Encoded Evidence: DNA in Forensic Science

Abstract

Sherlock Holmes said “it has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important”, but never imagined that such a little thing, the DNA molecule, could become perhaps the most powerful single tool in the multifaceted fight against crime. 30 years after the development of DNA fingerprinting, forensic DNA analysis is to the conviction or exoneration of suspects and identification of victims of crime, accidents and mass disaster. As necessity is the mother of all invention, it drives us in the development of modern methods in molecular genetics, statistics, and the use of massive intelligence database.