New forensic science will identify Brazil's "disappeared"
Collaboration between forensic scientists from Sheffield and Brazil using a new DNA extraction technique has identified two homicide victims whose skeletonised bodies were found dumped in sugar cane plantations near Sao Paulo in the late 1990s. The same technique is now to aid the task of identifying the remains of hundreds of victims of Brazil's former military governments.
Dr Marco Guimaraes from the University of Sao Paulo (Faculty of Medicine Ribeirao Preto) has been working with Dr Martin Evison of the Academic Unit of Forensic Pathology at the University of Sheffield on methods of DNA recovery from forensic and ancient skeletons.
Dr Evison explained, "DNA recovery from the skeleton is a very difficult technique, especially when the material originates from a climate as extreme as Brazil's. Usually there's hardly any DNA left, and what there is is extremely difficult to recover. In these cases we've been using a DNA extraction technique that I originally developed in Sheffield to analyse ancient DNA from archaeological skeletons.
"We're also applying a 'third generation' DNA profiling method, which is theoretically able to distinguish a single individual in the entire population of the planet."
The scientists are now turning their attention to older forensic cases: those of the desaparecidos-or disappeared-from the periods of military government in Brazil from 1964 to 1985. As a result of their preliminary research, a skeleton recovered from a clandestine cemetery discovered on the outskirts of Sao Paulo city in 1990 is believed to be that of an individual last seen alive in 1972.
When he returns to Brazil, Dr Guimaraes will be sharing the techniques he has developed in Sheffield with forensic pathologist Dr Daniel Muoz, appointed by the State of Sao Paulo to oversee identification of a further twelve hundred skeletonised bodies recovered from the same clandestine cemetery.
The collaboration is one of the first fruits of a new University of Sheffield initiative to promote wider collaborative research in human identification science and to support the investigation of human rights abuses. Experts in forensic science, chemistry and molecular biology at the University are working with colleagues from other universities to develop sophisticated new human identification techniques and technologies and make them available worldwide for use in cases similar to the Brazilian investigation.
Dr Marco Guimaraes and Dr Martin Evison are working together to produce the first, revolutionary method of extracting DNA from skeletons. Working from the University of Sheffield, where Dr. Evison works, Dr. Guimaraes, of Brazil has been helping to perfect the process. The interest in creating this technique and teaming up with scientists from Brazil come from wanting to solve the murder of two bodies dumped in a sugar cane field in Brazil in the 90’s, whose DNA has been successfully extracted. The technique will now be more commonly used, to identify victims of Brazil’s former government and to id the remains of older remains. It is the first step in using forensics to identify human right’s abuses and a creation that both Dr. Guimaraes and Dr. Evison are very excited about. I think this new technique will become extremely helpful to forensic anthropologists across the country, it will no longer require people like Dr. Bass to try and identify skeletons by their features, unless their DNA isn't in the system, but it will be a great asset to faster identifications.
http://www.brightsurf.com/news/headlines/13573/New_forensic_science_will_identify_Brazils_quotdisappearedquot.html
2 comments:
I thought your review was very well presented. The first part of the review that I liked was that your summarizse all aspects of the review without adding details that were unecessary. The second thing i liked was that you picked an article that nobody else chose and talked about the importance of it. The final example that I liked was that you included important and clear examples that made the article feel more interesting. I feel the one thing you could've done at was making the review shorter and leaving out some parts that weren't needed. Also I think that you could've explained more of the important details. I was impressed by how Brazil is using the sugar cane to figure out what happened to all the missing people.
I thought that the review of this current event was well presented in many ways. One thing that was presented well was how you used quotes from the article to give examples of what you were talking about. Another way that your review was presented well was that i liked the how the topic directly tied into forensic scientists and was straight to the point about what we are going to be learning this year. A third and final thing that was presented well was how this technique that they found will effect many cases that will follow and how it has such a great significance in the world of forensics. The only suggestions i would make about this review is to get your point across more succinctly and shorten your ideas a little more. Another suggestion i would make was probably to choose shorter parts of the quotes because some of the words in the quotes were unnecessary and unneeded. The one thing that i found extremely interesting from this article and its review was how they have no found a way to test old bodies and be able to retrieve DNA about these bodies.
Post a Comment