METHOD FOR FORENSIC ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

摘要

Current procedures for the analysis of sexual assault kits are labor intensive, time consuming and deliver a success rate lower than 40%. This has resulted in rape kit backlogs of thousands. The primary challenge crime laboratories face in analyzing these cases is the separation of purified male DNA from the mixture of primarily female DNA from gynecological swabs. Effective elution of the sample from the swab and efficient separation of intact sperm cells from epithelial and other cellular debris, allow for a successful PCR amplification and short tandem repeat (STR) DNA analysis for perpetrator identification. The disclosure provides an effective and economically accessible technology for the separation of male and female cells and DNA, for example, from a gynecological swab by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE).