Scientists Prove DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated

Thursday, August 20, 2009 - 11:14 in Biology & Nature

Time to order extra black lights and sun glasses, because crime scene investigation just got a whole lot harder. A group of Israeli scientists have proven that DNA evidence can be faked and even created, all without tissue samples. In a paper in the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics, geneticist Dan Frumkin outlines how, using information in a genetic database, he recreated and amplified someone's DNA, and mixed it with DNA-less red blood cells, and created fake blood that could contaminate a crime scene. Frumkin then sent the fake blood to a lab in the US for analysis. The American lab sequenced the sample, and did not figure out that the blood was fake. Interestingly, Frumkin actually founded a company that hopes to sell a method for detecting fabricated DNA to crime labs. Fancy coincidence, that. For everyone who didn't play for the Buffalo...

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