STRmix Launches New Application to Rapidly Calculate DNA Likelihood Ratios

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The team that created STRmixtm ? sophisticated forensic software used to resolve mixed DNA profiles previously thought to be too complex to interpret ? is launching DBLRtm, an application for rapidly calculating likelihood ratios (LRs).

Used in conjunction with STRmixtm, DBLRtm (which stands for database likelihood ratios) can calculate millions of LRs in seconds. Likelihood ratios are used to assess the strength of DNA evidence and how likely it is that DNA found at a crime scene belongs to specific individuals.

"Because it uses efficient algorithms, DBLRtm will enable forensic labs using STRmixtm to do extremely fast database searches and LR calculations," says Dr. Maarten Kruijver, developer of DBLRtm.

"Perhaps more importantly, labs will be able to get more value from DNA evidence because they will be able to visualize the value of DNA mixture evidence and undertake mixture-to-mixture matches," Dr. Kruijver continues.

DBLRtm also provides increased accessibility since it can run on a user's PC without the need for high-speed computing.

Specific features of DBLRtm include the ability to:

• Undertake direct comparison of one or many components of a forensic DNA mixture to a database of known individuals;
• Carry out familial searches for a range of different relationships, including siblings, half-siblings, parents, and children;
• Search for common contributors between mixed DNA profiles;
• Determine the profiles of the most likely contributors to a profile;
• Visualize the value of evidence by calculating expected LRs for one or many components of forensic DNA profiles for true and non-contributors using randomly generated individuals;
• Manage automated searches for one or many DNA profiles against one or many databases of known individuals;
• Manage databases of known contributors and STRmixtm deconvolutions from unsolved casework for easy matching.

STRmixtm was developed by John Buckleton, DSc, FRSNZ, and Jo-Anne Bright of the New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), and Duncan Taylor from Forensic Science South Australia (FSSA).

To date, STRmixtm has been used successfully in numerous U.S. court cases, including 28 successful admissibility hearings. It is currently being used by 44 federal, state, and local agencies in the U.S., and is in various stages of installation, validation, and training in more than 60 other U.S. labs.

Internationally, STRmixtm has been used to interpret DNA evidence in more than 100,000 cases since 2012. It is currently being used in all nine state and territory labs in Australia and New Zealand, as well as 11 forensic labs in England, Scotland, Ireland, Finland, Dubai, and Canada.

For more information about STRmixtm visit www.strmix.com.

Contact: Ray Weiss or Jessica Tiller 
410-303-5019 or [email protected]

SOURCE STRmix