Missing persons on Technology's radar

NEW YORK, US: GlobalOptions Group, Inc., a provider of domestic and international risk management services, today announced that Bode Technology, one of the world's largest forensic DNA analysis firms, has been awarded three distinct grants from the National Institute Of Justice (NIJ) to assist in their ever-expanding forensic work.

The three grants, totaling over $1 Million and initiated in early October, are titled: Targeted Non-Destructive Evidence Detection and Collection, Effective Long Term Preservation of Biological Evidence, and Using DNA Technology to Identify the MissingWe are very pleased to have the NIJ continue to recognize the progressive work we are doing as a leader in the field.

These important research grants will enable us to accelerate the creation of new techniques that are essential in crime fighting while the missing persons grant will assist in identifying the remains of missing persons found in the U.S.,” said Bode CEO and President Barry Watson. “Bode is committed to advancing DNA forensics and to the identification of the missing, and this funding will help us in taking another step to achieving these goals.”

The three grants cover three distinct project areas. They include: Targeted Non-Destructive Evidence Detection and Collection: The ability to successfully detect, collect, and process individual biological samples from various evidence substrates without causing integral surface damage continually proves to be a difficult challenge in the field of forensics. Bode Technology will evaluate several novel non-destructive DNA collection tools. Bode’s innovative DNA collection methods have shown positive results in preliminary experiments and if developed successfully would afford forensic scientists the ability to gain more information from sensitive evidence type items by allowing multiple full-scale examinations to be performed. These proposed non-destructive DNA collection methods would provide advanced, yet affordable, alternatives in the forensic laboratory.

Effective Long Term Preservation of Biological Evidence: The goal of this project is to identify optimum methods to preserve DNA associated with forensic evidence using commercial off the shelf chemical preservatives, thus making the process more efficient and cost effective for the long term stability of samples. This can prove to be very important and useful to projects where conclusions cannot be obtained in a short period of time as well as preserving evidence for later evaluation.

DNA Technology to Identify the Missing: This is the largest grant, and includes some of Bode’s most effective work to date, which has been in the identification of missing persons in areas of disaster, human rights violations and mass casualty. This funding targets a large number of unidentified remains and will give Bode the additional wherewithal to effectively match the remains through DNA testing with samples provided by families, thus effectively helping to bring closure to a large number of cases which have been left open for an extended period of time for domestic missing persons cases which can not be addressed with current state or municipal resources.

The grants continue to validate Bode’s position as a leader in the field of Forensic DNA innovation worldwide, adds a press releae. Bode staff have assisted in missing persons’ identification projects for countries that include Bosnia, Mexico, Argentina, Kuwait, Guatemala, Haiti, East Timor, and Peru as well as South Africa, Iraq, Colombia and others. Bode has responded to and assisted in the identification of the missing from mass loss of life incidents, including the World Trade Center, the tsunami in Indonesia, and Hurricane Katrina, as well as both domestic and foreign airline crashes.

Bode Technology Group serves the U.S. and international law enforcement and identification markets and is unique in providing both state-of-the-art human DNA analysis and innovative DNA collection products.