In episode seven of the 2020 R&D Season, Just Science interviews Kimberly Sturk-Andreaggi, a Research Scientist at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, about the development of entire mitogenome reference data using an automated high-throughput sequencing workflow.

Disaster victim identification comes with a unique set of hurdles. Poor-quality DNA, decades-old samples, and a lack of relative referential data can make the identification of victims from current and past conflicts challenging. This is the reason that the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory uses mitochondrial DNA as their primary testing method. Stay tuned as our guest discusses the utility of mitochondrial DNA and a method for developing entire mitogenome reference data in this episode of Just Science.

This season is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence.