U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

NIST interlaboratory studies involving DNA mixtures (MIX05 and MIX13): Variation observed and lessons learned

NCJ Number
308539
Journal
Forensic Science International: Genetics Volume: 37 Dated: 2018 Pages: 81-94
Author(s)
J. M. Butler; M. C. Kline; M. D. Coble
Date Published
2018
Length
14 pages
Annotation

This article describes the design of, observations of, and lessons learned from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) interlaboratory studies.

Abstract

This paper describes National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) interlaboratory studies, including the design of these studies, the variations observed among laboratory results, and lessons learned. Interlaboratory studies are a type of collaborative exercise in which many laboratories are presented with the same set of data to interpret, and the results they produce are examined to get a “big picture” view of the effectiveness and accuracy of analytical protocols used across participating laboratories. In 2005 and again in 2013, the Applied Genetics Group of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted interlaboratory studies involving DNA mixture interpretation. In the 2005 NIST MIX05 study, 69 laboratories interpreted data in the form of electropherograms of two-person DNA mixtures representing four different mock sexual assault cases with different contributor ratios. In the 2013 NIST MIX13 study,108 laboratories interpreted electropherogram data for five different case scenarios involving two, three, or four contributors, with some of the contributors potentially related. (Published Abstract Provided)