Advancing forensic RNA profiling

Author(s):
Berge, M.W. van den
Published
2018
Publication type
Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

In forensic science, next to the question of who

contributed to the trace (DNA analysis), knowledge regarding the cellular

origin of the evidentiary trace, thus what cell type contributed to the trace,

is often key to facilitate inference of activities. To this aid, RNA-based approaches have shown their up come in forensic investigations since 1999. RNA profiling techniques rely on the fact that different cell types, such as blood, express a characteristic pattern of genes, such as haemoglobin beta (HBB) expressed in the red blood cells. This thesis describes studies that assisted the expanding and advancement of forensic RNA profiling assays used for the inference of body fluids and organ tissues.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) profilingCell type identificationBody fluid identificationOrgan tissue identificationForensic science
Defense date
2018-06-28
Language
English
Supervisor(s)
Knijff, P. de
Advisor(s)
Sijen, L.M.T.
Committee member(s)
Tijsterman, M.; Kayser, M.; Harbison, S.A.
Qualification
Ph.D.
Degree granting institution
Medicine / Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden University, Leiden
hdl
1887/62865
ISBN(s)
9789082749038

Funding

Sponsorship
The research described in this thesis has been performed within the Research group of the Biological Traces division at the Netherlands Forensic Institute. This work was financially supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013) under grant agreement n° 285487 (EUROFORGEN-NoE). Publication of this thesis was financially supported by the Netherlands Forensic Institute.