Dan Krane, Professor, Wright State University
PCR-based DNA tests have greatly improve the capabilities of forensic laboratories. The great successes of these tests have inevitably led to efforts to characterize smaller and smaller amounts of material. As the quantity of DNA template associated with a DNA profile test decreases, the likelihood that the results of the test will be compromised by stochastic effects increases. Questions about the significance of results in such circumstances will be addressed
-- particularly as they pertain to a prominent acquittal in the United Kingdom where low copy number test results played a central role in the prosecution's case.