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AFDAA
MEETING MINUTES
January
20 - 21, 2005
DAY
1
The
meeting was called to order by Chair George Schiro. New members and
applicants were welcomed. Shelly Steadman from the Sedgewick County
Forensic Science Center gave the first presentation. Her lab has
converted from the FMBIO to the ABI 3100 Avant platform. She related
that some details are often overlooked (such as space, wiring, and
temperature control) and can add significant c ost to the project.
Validation parameters were discussed including: RFU threshold,
stutter percentage, sensitivity, injection times, heterozygous peak
height ratios and mixtures.
Lisa
Gefrides from the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office spoke
about the validation of the ABI 3100-Avant. One notable detail is
that a variation was noted in the sensitivity between capillaries
within an array.
David
Young from the Texas Department of Public Safety reported on the
validation of the ABI 7000 and the Quantifiler Kit. A "Salad
Spinner" was converted into a centrifuge by securing two tray
bases at an angle with epoxy into the inside of the bowl. This has
proven to be a low cost solution (less than $20) for removing bubbles
from the trays. It was noted that pipetting reproducibility was
extremely important and that electronic pipettes helped in this
matter. The internal PCR control (IPC) is used to monitor inhibition.
Parameters validated by David included: precision, reproducibility,
and sensitivity. His study concluded that the Quantifiler kit was
more sensitive than the Quantiblot kit.
Chairman
George Schiro called the AFDAA Business Meeting to order at 11:22
am. The Summer 2004 meeting minutes were presented. Secretary Aliece
Watts proposed to amend the meeting minutes to include the names and
agencies of the individuals that had been accepted for membership at
the last meeting. Wil Young proposed a motion to accept the meeting
minutes with the amendment. The motion was seconded by Joe Warren and
accepted by voice vote. Catherine Caballero gave the Treasurer's
report with a current balance of $5,216.68. Numerous members had to
be dropped from membership for failure to pay dues for more than one
year. A motion to accept the Treasurer's report was proposed by Garon
Foster, seconded by Joe Warren and was passed by voice vote. A plaque
was presented to Wil Young for his years of service as AFDAA
Vice-Chair. Vice Chair Brady Mills presented the following list of
new applicants to be voted upon for membership:
-Kerry
Bernal, University of Nebraska Medical Center
-Diana
Garcia, Texas Department of Public Safety - Austin
-D.
Jody Koehler, Texas Department of Public Safety - Austin
-Robin
Olson, Texas Department of Public Safety - Corpus Christi
-Ryan
L. Porter, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
-Barbara
M. Scales, Scales Biological Laboratory
-Bo
Scales, Scales Biological Laboratory
-Rick
W. Staub, Orchid Cellmark - Dallas
-Emma
J. Swartout, Identigene, Inc.
Brady
Mills reminded the group that as of October 6, 2004, a person must
attend at least one meeting prior to being accepted as a member of
AFDAA. A motion to accept the new applicants as AFDAA members was
made by Lonnie Ginsberg, seconded by Gary Molina and passed by voice vote.
A
proposed change to the by-laws that would require a member to attend
one meeting every three years was again discussed. References for new
AFDAA members must be an active member. Proposed by-laws changes
would define "active member", meeting attendance
requirements and reference requisites. Joe Warren asked for
clarification about the meeting requirement. The amendment was
restated. Lisa Gefrides asked if inactive members should continue to
pay dues indefinitely. Shelly Steadman asked if an inactive member
would become active by attending a meeting. The consensus for both
questions was "yes". The proposed changes will be voted on
at the next meeting.
Topics
for the next meeting were solicited by George Schiro. Some
suggestions included: a prominent defense expert speaker, details on
post-conviction DNA defense motions, ISO accreditation, how to
complete more cases, outsourcing challenges, and lab efficiency.
-George
Schiro proposed the creation of an AFDAA Historical Committee.
Aliece Watts will head up this committee with Joe Warren's
assistance. Anyone with information regarding the origins of this
organization is asked to contribute.
-David
Young suggested that we compile a salary scale list to be made
available to the members of this organization.
-Aliece
Watts asked for a list of labs that would be open to have interns
from area Universities.
-There
will be a statistics workshop at Reliagene in January.
-Joe
Warren said that there were several of UNTHSC-FW Master's students
that were available for internship projects, especially validation studies.
-Joe
also reported that he was in need of assistance in reviewing older
cases that had ABO and enzyme analysis. George Schiro volunteered to assist.
Wil
Young moved for adjournment of the business meeting.
After
lunch, Danielle Blecha from Myriad Genetics spoke about the
advantages of automation in the DNA lab. They have developed a
robotics system that is automated and includes: extraction,
quantitation, normalization, and amplification. This would greatly
increase the productivity of DNA labs.
Dennis
Loockerman from the Texas Department of Public Safety CODIS Lab
talked about the criteria for putting samples into SDIS. An update of
the CODIS database statistics included (approximate):
215,000
total samples received to date
33,000
offender samples received in 2004
182,000
offender samples received to date
17,000
offender samples analyzed in 2004
8,000
forensic profiles to date
370
offender hits to date
86
forensic hits to date
He
reported that there have been a lot of forensic profiles added to
the database, but there is still a significant backlog.
Ron
Urbanovoski from the Texas Department of Public Safety said
announced that there were no current bills before the Texas
Legislature that would affect CODIS. However, there is a proposed
bill to include a requirement for a DNA sample from all felons. This
bill would create a comprehensive list of individuals who would be
required to give DNA samples.
J.
Shewale from Reliagene spoke about the advantages and limitations of
Y-STR analysis. Reliagene has released the Y-Plex 12 kit. Interesting
cases were also presented.
An
open discussion about "how much validation is too much?"
took place. Some of the problems or suggestions have been addressed
in the new SWGDAM validation guidelines.
DAY
2
The
second day began with Laura Post from Applied Biosystems giving us
updates on several products and services. Laura related that the
Y-filer kit for Y-STR analysis has undergone developmental validation
and has been shown to be effective in detecting male DNA even in the
e-fraction of differential extractions. Some important details that
she noted include:
-17
loci in one amplification, increase to 30 amplification cycles,
61°C annealing temperature, and an 80 minute 60°C hold cycle.
-The
optimal quantity to amplify is still 0.5 to 1.0 ng. The ladder is
now cloned to give balanced peak heights.
-Included
in the 17 loci are tri-, penta-, and hexa-nucleotide repeats.
GeneMapper ID has been modified to include evaluation of these loci.
-There
is a haplotype database containing approximately 3500 profiles that
can be accessed online to assist in statistical evaluation of profiles.
-GeneMapper
ID v3.2 is Microsoft XP compatible.
-The
ABI Prism 3130 and 3130XL have incorporated automatic polymer
injection that has eliminated syringes as well as other improvements.
-Software
wizards and electronic security are new software enhancements.
-Demonstration
CDs of GeneMapper are available.
J.
Shewale from Reliagene spoke of Y-Screen, a rapid and sensitive
screening method to detect male DNA in forensic samples that utilizes
alu mobile elements on the Y chromosome. He reported that the
process, currently in the developmental stage, amplifies a single 272
bp fragment that will indicate the quality of DNA present. If this
fragment amplifies, you will almost always detect a complete profile.
The peak height will give an estimate of the quantity of male DNA
present. He said a 96-well plate format will give rapid and accurate
information that potentially could replace screening for fluids.
Angela
Tanzillo-Swarz from Texas Department of Public Safety presented
information on the Biomek 2000/ DNA IQ system for automated
extractions. She related that several modifications from the
manufacturer's recommendations, most notably an initial Proteinase K
digestion, have improved the instrument's performance.
An
open forum included the following topics:
-Discussion
about the occurrence of laboratory personnel DNA profiles showing up
in DNA samples took place. Many labs have experienced this over the
years. Some labs have incorporated a contamination log in order to
keep a record, help identify sources, and detect trends. It was
agreed that requirement of reagent/extraction/amplification blanks
help monitor possible contamination.
-Joe
Warren related that the contamination possibilities have prompted
their lab to prohibit defense attorneys or experts from watching
analysts work unless the experts provide a DNA sample for exclusion
purposes. In addition, the defense is charged for the tests.
-George
Schiro said that the CDC reported that UV sterilization does not
eliminate all traces of DNA on surfaces. Lisa Gefrides reported on a
study she made that indicated the UV lamp distance from the target
and time exposed influences the amount of DNA remaining on the
surface or in the liquid. Swipe tests are performed by several labs
to monitor for possible amplified DNA contamination. Increased bleach
exposure time helps the situation.
The
meeting was adjourned at 11:35 am.
Minutes
respectively submitted by Aliece Watts, Secretary |
