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 S'£o 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 Guimar'£es from the University of S'£o Paulo (Faculty of Medicine Ribeir'£o 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 S'£o Paulo city in 1990 is believed to be that of an individual last seen alive in 1972.
When he returns to Brazil, Dr Guimar'£es will be sharing the techniques he has developed in Sheffield with forensic pathologist Dr Daniel Mu'oz, appointed by the State of S'£o 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.
3 comments:
Sam, very nice job. This is a very interesting article because it discusses something that you really do not hear about everyday -- recovering DNA from old bones to identify the missing people of Brazil! I liked your descriptions of the technique, how it's helping people, along with the details you used to embellish your review. In my opinion, the review does not require any changes. It is great overall.
This was a very interesting article, and I agree with alex that this is an unusual technique. I found the explination of these discoverys in brazil very extensive. Also the way it shows how it is being used to discover the identies of these forgotten people. Overall the article was very well written and descriptive.
I liked Sams article on missing brazillians. I thought he did a good job of copying and pasting the entire article. I also liked how Sam covered all the essential details, and didnt leave out any sentences that were in the article. Overall it was very good.
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