Forensic kit will help label old DNA / Cindy TumielExpress-News, 22 Feb 2007
http://digbig.com/4rpjb
"The skeletal remains of thousands of unidentified people rest in crime labs and police evidence lockers around the country, waiting for the day when a forensic investigator connects the bones with the name of a missing person and sends a grieving family the sad news it has waited to hear. Often, the bones belong to the victim of a violent crime, who has lain months or years in the outdoor elements before being discovered. By that time, even the best forensic tools available sometimes can't find enough intact genetic material in the remains to help identify the victim. A California company announced in San Antonio this week that it has developed techniques for analyzing this so-called degraded DNA with a chemistry kit that it is putting on the market in the coming weeks."