DNA Collaboration16 Jan 2021 00:57
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Epistem Holdings signs up to help police with DNA identification
Biotech firm Epistem Holdings (LON:EHP) is collaborating with the National Policing Improvement Agency to help develop a human DNA identification system.
The two organisations will evaluate Epistem’s Genedrive molecular device as part of the NPIA’s ADAPT (Accelerated DNA Profiling Technology) programme.
The NPIA was set up to provide critical national services to support frontline policing. It is aimed at helping the police to save money and operate efficiently.
The organisation plans to use Genedrive to target the ‘amelogenin’ sex gene and other single tandem repeats (STRs) that create the human DNA fingerprint. If trials are successful, the NPIA could use Genedrive to enable rapid and accurate DNA analysis at a crime scene, leading to improved speed of identification and reduced cost.
Epistem says its Genedrive technology provides a “breakthrough in molecular diagnostic testing” by providing a rapid, low cost, simple-to-use device with high sensitivity and specificity. Developed as a handheld device, it brings a “point of need” approach to disease diagnosis and identification across a broad spectrum of DNA-related areas from human identification for policing purposes to pharmacogenomic use in oncology, virology, ophthalmology and the detection of infectious diseases.
The ADAPT evaluation programme in the NPIA is planned to continue into next year, and if successful it will be rolled out into a number of police forces in the UK.