Written evidence submitted by Promega UK Ltd (FSS042)

 

Does the Government have an effective strategy for forensic science in the UK and is it sufficient to support forensic science R&D and criminal justice?

 

    1. Historically, the UK has led the world in the application of DNA technology to forensic science. The first cases were analysed over 25 years ago by pioneers Sir Alec Jeffreys, Peter Gill and Dave Werrett using multilocus probes. Later, single locus probes were used by Cellmark and the Forensic Science Service for paternity and criminal casework analyses respectively.  The development of short tandem repeat (STR) technology, first implemented in the UK in 1994 allowed the idea of a simple to use DNA database to be conceptualised, and the development of a second generation multiplex (SGM) system for the simultaneous analysis of 6 STRs allowed the establishment of the world’s first DNA database. A new chemistry (SGM Plus) was introduced to the National DNA Database (NDNAD) in 1999 to include 4 additional STRs providing improved match statistics, and better performance in terms of sensitivity. The power of the NDNAD is of great value in forensic investigation. Since 1998, more than 300,000 crimes have been detected with the aid of the Database, reassuring the public that offenders are more likely to be brought to justice.  Indeed,  between 01 April 2012 and 30 September 2012 the NDNAD produced 61 matches to murder, 225 to rapes and 12,537 to other crime scenes [1]

 

    1. In 2006, the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) suggested that additional loci and more robust DNA chemistries would be required for forensic science, particularly with the proposed exchange of DNA data in accordance with the Prϋm treaty [2, 3].  This requirement for improved DNA systems was made a European Council Resolution in 2009 [4] with a requirement for member countries to implement the new chemistries as soon as practically possible, and no later than November 30 2012.  NPIA were fully aware of these timelines as they have representation at the ENFSI DNA meetings, and access to publicly available publications. 

 

    1. The development of new chemistries by leading manufacturers including Promega, Life Technologies and Qiagen has provided an opportunity to not only include additional loci as per the ENFSI requirement, but also to improve the robustness of the chemistries.  The new chemistries (let’s call them Next Generation Chemistries (NGC)) from each of these commercial suppliers are much more robust to inhibitors, have more “miniSTR” markers and are more sensitive, suggesting that meaningful results are more likely to be obtained from more challenging samples with new chemistries than the only chemistry that is currently approved for use on the database SGM Plus. The NGC chemistries developed by Promega (PowerPlex ESI / ESX) have been fully commercially available since 2009.

 

    1. Competition in the marketplace is likely to drive innovation and improvement of DNA analysis reagents which will be of benefit to the criminal justice system. Indeed, the NGC chemistries developed by Promega in response to the European requirement PowerPlex ESI / ESX have already been superseded on 2 occasions to date, with the implementation of direct amplification and faster amplification (PowerPlex 18D), and further robustness in amplification (PowerPlex 21; PowerPlex Fusion). Promega’s next generation (3 generations on from NGC, 4 from SGM Plus) will be available in April 2013 and will include all existing improvements, as well as the ability to rapidly cycle, reducing the amplification time from 1.5 hours to 45 minutes.

 

    1. Through red tape, and/or a lack of strategic planning or decision making and poor resource management causing delays to planning and implementation, the UK is now one of the very few European countries who have not implemented modern robust chemistries.  Whilst the new European NGC systems have been evaluated by a number of UK forensic science providers, and findings published [5-7], implementation of the improved systems is not yet possible as the results cannot currently be loaded to the NDNAD.

 

    1. In an attempt to put the UK forensic DNA marketplace into perspective: most of Europe are already using the “next generation chemistries”, including:

NOTE: This list is not intended to be definitive and other chemistries may also be in use in these countries.

 

France is currently using PowerPlex 18D for database samples and PowerPlex 21 for casework.  Spain will be implementing PowerPlex Fusion in the near future for casework and database samples. Belgium is already using European NGC STR systems and are considering moving to a global kit (such as PowerPlex Fusion or GlobaFiler) in the near future.

 

    1. It seems that the UK has moved position from “Pioneer” to “nowhere near” through the inability of the NPIA, and specifically the National DNA database to respond to changes in the forensic DNA marketplace and legislative requirements, despite having known that there were changes coming from as early as 2006.  The UK is currently using 13 year old STR chemistry and paying over the odds for the privilege, both in terms of pricing owing to a single supplier monopoly, and in success rates of crime sample DNA analysis. This constitutes a potential quality issue. Crime samples of low quality which will give poor or no results with the current chemistry have a high probability of giving more information or full profiles, with NGC or newer chemistries [6-8].  It is conceivable that such additional DNA information might prove the difference between solving a crime or not.

 

    1. In summary, the NPIA have been unable to respond to the requirements of the forensic market place, or to European Union Council Resolution.  There is a desire and a moral obligation for a forensic scientist to apply the best tools possible to his/her investigation. In the case of DNA analysis, the forensic community in the UK are currently being prevented from applying modern, robust chemistries which in some cases would provide information where the current system would provide little or no data.  The strategy and work flow for upgrading the database to allow the use of new STR chemistries has put the UK at least 2 years behind the rest of Europe, in terms of DNA analysis, in the forensic field.

 

Declaration of interests:

The Authors are employed by Promega UK, a supplier of reagents to the forensic community and a competitor to Life Technologies, the current sole supplier of STR Chemistry loadable to the National DNA Database. 

 

References

[1]  http://www.npia.police.uk/en/8934.htm Accessed 3rd Jan 2013

[2] P. Gill, L. Fereday, N. Morling, P.M. Schneider, The evolution of DNA databases – recommendations for new European STR loci, Forensic Sci. Int. 156 (2006) 242– 244.

 

[3] P. Gill, L. Fereday, N. Morling, P.M. Schneider, New multiplexes for Europe – amendments and clarification of strategic development, Forensic Sci. Int. 163 (2006) 155–157.

 

[4] Council resolution of 30th November 2009 on the exchange of DNA analysis results. Official Journal of the European Union 5.11.2009  (2009/C 296/01)

[5]  V.C. Tucker, et al., UK population data generated with the PowerPlex® ESI 16 system, Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. (2011), doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2011.08.005

[6] S. Kutranov Comparison study of four different 16-locus ''expanded ESS'' STR kits Forensic Science International Genetics Supplemental Series  3(1):0 (2011)

[7] V.C. Tucker et al., Forensic Validation of the PowerPlex® ESI 16 STR multiplex and comparison of performance with AmpFlSTR® SGM Plus International Journal of Legal Medicine 
126, (3) 345-356

[8] J. Hedman et al., Evaluation of three new forensic DNA profiling kits on PCR-inhibitory crime

scene samples, Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series 3 (2011) e457–e458

 

January 2013