The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.
“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”
Scary.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html?_r=2
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Hmmm...Benjy, better be careful...In two more years I will be one of those undergraduate biology majors....
ReplyDeleteBut on a serious note, there goes the concept of irrefutable DNA evidence. I wonder how many cases are no going to have to be re-opened to appeals, or how many future cases may fail because of doubt from this finding... Oh well, there never will be a surefire thing, at least not for ever.
Not to nitpick, but I'm fairly sure you already are an undergraduate biology major.
ReplyDeleteGood point... Misread it as biology graduate...
ReplyDeleteHmmm...So we should start the plot NOW Dan!