A Novel On-Chip Method for Differential Extraction of Sperm in Forensic Cases.

ABSTRACT: One out of every six American women has been the victim of a sexual assault in their lifetime. However, the DNA casework backlog continues to increase outpacing the nation's capacity since DNA evidence processing in sexual assault casework remains a bottleneck due to laborious and time-consuming differential extraction of victim's and perpetrator's cells. Additionally, a significant amount (60-90%) of male DNA evidence may be lost with existing procedures. Here, a microfluidic method is developed that selectively captures sperm using a unique oligosaccharide sequence (Sialyl-Lewis^X), a major carbohydrate ligand for sperm-egg binding. This method is validated with forensic mock samples dating back to 2003, resulting in 70-92% sperm capture efficiency and a 60-92% reduction in epi

SUBMITTER: Inci F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6145299 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature