Revolutionary DNA technology will soon be used at the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) thanks to an innovative partnership.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Battelle President and CEO Jeffrey Wadsworth announced the joint venture between BCI and the global research and development organization headquartered in Columbus.
Forensic scientists from both organizations have begun working together at the BCI lab in London to run tests on Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology and then to seek FBI approval for the use of NGS to solve missing persons cases.
“This will position BCI to be a national leader in DNA forensics,” DeWine said. “I am proud to work with Battelle on the future applications of this cutting-edge technology because it’s a clear benefit to Ohio families of missing loved ones. With NGS at BCI, we hope to generate faster DNA results and obtain an expanded range of DNA information to help investigators make identifications.”
Battelle has spent five years implementing NGS technology for the U.S. Department of Defense and was chosen to lead a National Institute of Justice project evaluating NGS methods in forensic labs.
“Collaborating with the Attorney General’s Office and the illustrious BCI laboratory is a great opportunity for our scientists who are advancing the important technology to see it have further applications,” Wadsworth said. “It puts Ohio in the leadership position of doing what others in the nation have not yet achieved.”
Currently, specialized DNA testing is necessary in most missing persons cases, which BCI sends to a federal lab in Texas. Results sometimes take up to six months. With this partnership, NGS testing will be done at BCI, which could speed results to a week or less.
Project LINK (Linking Individuals Not Known), in which family members of the missing submit their own DNA to compare to DNA samples from human remains, is seeking matches for 118 missing Ohioans. At least 90 sets of remains are awaiting identification in Ohio. Case descriptions are available at
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov. Public tips are welcome.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office is urging law enforcement and coroners to send unidentified human remains to BCI. For assistance, call 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446).
To find out more
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office maintains Web pages devoted to Ohio missing persons and unidentified human remains.
To read about, see photos of, or offer tips about missing persons, visit:
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/Ohio-Missing-Persons.
To read about, see likenesses of, or offer tips about unidentified human remains, visit:
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/UnidentifiedRemains.
For help finding a missing person, file a missing person report with local police and call 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446).