Projektleitung
Dr. Martin Zieger, Forensische Molekularbiologie, Institut für Rechtsmedizin, Universität Bern
Projektbeteiligte
Prof. Dr. Gerald Heckel, Populationsgenetik, Institut für Ökologie und Evolution, Universität Bern
Projektdaten
Förderinstitution: UniBE ID Grant
Förderungsdauer: 01.05.2022-30.04.2024
Förderbeitrag: CHF 112'000
Abstract
One of the main questions arising during criminal investigations is often the one about physical presence at the crime scene. We might already know the scene and a possible perpetrator, but lack a proof of presence at the scene. However, it is also possible that the police has some evidence about the perpetrator, but lacks information about the crime scene.
Forensic botany can help to address such questions. The progress in environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis that has been made by massively parallel sequencing in recent years, has the potential to largely promote the usage of botanical evidence in criminal investigations within the near future. Concerning the identification of crime scenes via the eDNA mixture in soil samples, the most common approach that has also already been successfully employed in casework, is a direct comparison of a trace sample with reference samples from several distinct pre-defined locations. A successful linkage of a suspect to a crime scene can also be achieved by direct comparison of a single plant fragment to individual plants at a suspected scene.
However, such a comparative approach is useless, if nothing is known about the location of the crime site. Here, an investigative approach is needed that allows identification of the potential crime scene with no or very little contextual information. Therefore, we would like to develop a probabilistic approach to the geographic tracking of forensic samples based on eDNA, in order to achieve a mapping of forensically relevant soil trace samples without the need for case specific reference samples. The present project is intended to set the methodological grounds for the development of such a tool and to provide the basis for a larger externally funded project.
