Comparing Five Forensic DNA Extraction Methods

Many different extraction protocols are used in the forensic community. Typically these extraction methods work well for the majority of samples encountered. However, not all extraction methods perform equally well with heavily inhibited samples. This scientific poster evaluates the efficiency of several commonly used protocols. Each extraction method had to have the ability of organic extractions to reduce the amount of inhibitors being co-extracted, while still obtaining a suitable quantity of DNA for STR analysis. To evaluate the efficiency of the procedures, both quantity and quality of DNA were compared. The ability to automate each of the methods is also discussed.