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Briefcase Sized DNA Analysis System

Posted by samzenpus on from the portable-paternity dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Japan's NEC Corporation along with Aida Engineering have developed a briefcase-sized DNA analysis system that enables the police to perform comprehensive DNA testing at crime scenes in as little as 25 minutes. The same test would take at least a day to a week (if re-testing or conformation is required) in the lab. The system is compact enough to be carried to crime scenes or other locations where quick DNA analysis is required, making it the world's first portable DNA analysis system."

4 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, yippee!! by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Can't wait to see the minimum-wage TSA employees using this.
    Coming soon! To an airport near you!!

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    1. Re:Oh, yippee!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Can't wait to see the minimum-wage TSA employees using this.
      Coming soon! To an airport near you!!
      The parent might have said something to fire up the crowd, but in all honesty, don't be suprised if it appears at passport office as a part of getting your passport, then becomes a part of your driver's license acquisition, then lands in every police car and station and finally at the checkout counter as part of using your credit card or purchasing certain items. The real flamebait is going to be when a true patriot spits in the eye of the first bureaucratic employee to tell him they have to have a DNA sample from him. Ptui, there is your sample.

      Even the article states this can be used by law enforcement, so don't be suprised when DHS decrees that the parent is correct. Hope the samples aren't taken via blood as enough errors have proven fatal in the past in that regard and by professionals, much less low wage bullies at the airport. I hope this doesn't happen and perhaps the parent should have waited to say anything till it did, but I fear he is most prophetic in this regard. His prophecy may fire up the crowd, but we honestly should fear such abuse of our rights by the government and it is absurd that we put up with what they are already doing.

      Everyone here knows of certain Ben Franklin quotes, but here is something he probably would agree on, a little manipulation of some of his old quotes: A liberty saved is a liberty earned. Take care of minor liberties and the major liberies will take care of themselves.
  2. Confirmation by cataclyst · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the blurb:

    The same test would take at least a day to a week (if re-testing or conformation is required) in the lab.

    Um, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the 1-7 days is still gonna be the case if/when you're verifying your results. This is just a "quick and dirty" test that will gain more acceptance and weight that it will deserve (::cough::POLYGRAPH::cough::). My guess is that it will just be a tool that Homeland Security/Your Average Cop will use to hold you until other tests *conclusively* provide a definite presence/absence answer (like PCR done by an ISO certified lab, HPLC done by an ISO certified lab, GCMS done by.. well you get the point.)

    Just my $0.02 here.

    --
    E = m * c^(Hammer)
  3. Re:Awesome! by daniorerio · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Indeed, I had a lecture from the director of our national forensic institute (Dutch) once, explaining the whole procedure of obtaining DNA, what they actually analyze and how they verify the validity. There is a reason why these tests take up to 2 weeks to give a result: Once you as a scientist say "we have DNA evidence, we got him!" it pretty much seals the deal. So you got to be damn sure you are right: -what are the odds that an identical DNA pattern from someone else came there (no they don't sequence your DNA, so there's a small chance that another person with a similar pattern was on the crime scene, usually the chance is close to zero though) -how was the evidence collected, could it be contaminated etc. etc. -is there other evidence that contradicts the results And after that an analyzis has to been done estimating the chances that you are wrong in saying that the DNA is from the person you are accusing, and that he/she actually commited the crime. I wouldn't be very happy to let an untrained (in forensics) police officer do those things, because most of them hardly known what DNA is, and what exactly is analyzed. Another reason why you wouldn't wnat that: in the lab everythinh is done anonymous, the analyst just has sample numbers and suspect, X, Y, and Z. The police will know the name of the suspect and stop looking as soon as they think they can nail him, regardless of the presence of any other evidence contradicting this. PS. This forensics guy wasn't too happy with CSI, it creates really unrealistic expectations about what cases the police can actually solve (and the amount of time it takes them to do so).