Reliable evidence with DNA analysis
The securing of technical evidence from crime scenes is undergoing rapid development. Today it is possible to extract evidence from extremely small amounts of DNA. One of the experts is Marie Allen, a researcher in forensic genetics at Rudbeck Laboratory.
Her research is about developing better methods for analyzing tiny amounts of DNA and degraded samples, for example, what is left following a fire, or in strands of hair found at a crime scene.
Marie Allen has been involved in research and routine analyses for the police since the early 1990s.
“Research has taken huge strides in the last few years, and as the technology advances, the demand for analyses is growing.”
In the autumn of 2008 she was involved in starting the new master’s program in forensic science. In this program students become acquainted with forensic technologies, learn about forensic medical examinations, and stay abreast of the very latest analytical methods for gleaning evidence from crime scenes.
“This is clearly a burgeoning job market. There is an ever growing need for specialists to do these types of analyses, which are becoming more and more advanced,” says Marie Allen.
She is one of many scientists at Uppsala University whose research is important to police work. Other examples are criminal and procedural law, sociology, gender research, and IT.
In early 2010 the Center for Police Research was started at Uppsala University, to gather together all of this research under a common umbrella. The Center will pursue and coordinate research, arrange seminars, receive visiting researchers, and work to some extent with course development and further education, among other assignments. Activities will be directed both inward, toward the University’s own researchers and students, and outward, toward police operations and researchers with other institutions of higher learning.
Read more:
Anna Malmberg