Assessing the Viability of Rigid Agar Gels for Applications in Forensic DNA Collection and Surface Sampling
Location
Poster Session 2 (Henderson Library)
Session Format
Poster Presentation
Your Campus
Statesboro Campus- Henderson Library, April 20th
Academic Unit
Department of Chemistry
Research Area Topic:
Natural & Physical Sciences - Chemistry
Co-Presenters and Faculty Mentors or Advisors
Jami Sullivan
Seth Dever
Sydney Slaughter
Jami Sullivan
Shainaz Landge
Abstract
Heat compromised surfaces present a distinct challenge in DNA collection methodologies. Due to DNA’s thermal instability at temperatures present in house fires, acquiring viable DNA samples from common household surfaces such as tile, wood, and carpet drastically decreases in likelihood. In this paper, a comparative analysis will assess the efficacy of standard DNA swab sampling methodologies and a novel technique utilizing 7% w/v rigid agarose gel sheets. Samples collected will be assessed via the Phadebas test which tests for the enzyme activity of ��-amylase. This allows for the use of ultraviolet-visible light spectroscopy to calculate the concentration of saliva present. This process will be used to determine whether a DNA sample will be further quantified using fluorescence spectroscopy. Both the agarose gel sheet and swab sampling technique are hypothesized to perform similarly when the DNA is being collected from unheated and nonporous simple samples. However, it is expected that the agarose gel technique may be superior to the swab technique when collecting DNA from the heated and complex or porous samples. If this gel surface sampling technique is proven to be superior to the traditional swab methodology, a new avenue of nondestructive forensic techniques and technology becomes available for experimentation and exploration.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Presentation Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Start Date
4-20-2022 1:30 PM
End Date
4-20-2022 3:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Loos, Elizabeth; Dever, Seth; Slaughter, Sydney; and Sullivan, Jami, "Assessing the Viability of Rigid Agar Gels for Applications in Forensic DNA Collection and Surface Sampling" (2022). GS4 Georgia Southern Student Scholars Symposium. 33.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/research_symposium/2022/2022/33
Assessing the Viability of Rigid Agar Gels for Applications in Forensic DNA Collection and Surface Sampling
Poster Session 2 (Henderson Library)
Heat compromised surfaces present a distinct challenge in DNA collection methodologies. Due to DNA’s thermal instability at temperatures present in house fires, acquiring viable DNA samples from common household surfaces such as tile, wood, and carpet drastically decreases in likelihood. In this paper, a comparative analysis will assess the efficacy of standard DNA swab sampling methodologies and a novel technique utilizing 7% w/v rigid agarose gel sheets. Samples collected will be assessed via the Phadebas test which tests for the enzyme activity of ��-amylase. This allows for the use of ultraviolet-visible light spectroscopy to calculate the concentration of saliva present. This process will be used to determine whether a DNA sample will be further quantified using fluorescence spectroscopy. Both the agarose gel sheet and swab sampling technique are hypothesized to perform similarly when the DNA is being collected from unheated and nonporous simple samples. However, it is expected that the agarose gel technique may be superior to the swab technique when collecting DNA from the heated and complex or porous samples. If this gel surface sampling technique is proven to be superior to the traditional swab methodology, a new avenue of nondestructive forensic techniques and technology becomes available for experimentation and exploration.
