Workshop Overview:

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), in conjunction with the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC), is sponsoring a series of workshops designed to help facilitate the transition of novel technologies into practice by operational crime laboratories. These Technology Transition Workshops, which highlight technologies developed under the NIJ’s forensic science research and development programs, are a critical component of NIJ’s research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) efforts.

The purpose of this Technology Transition Workshop is to provide laboratory managers with an introduction to biological mass spectrometry, the Ibis™ PLEX-ID™ platform, and its applications and assay protocols. Attendees will also receive instruction regarding future directions of biological mass spectrometry.

Use of the Ibis™ PLEX-ID™ Mass Spectrometer Platform will be demonstrated.

Learning Outcomes:

At the completion of the STR and Mitochondrial DNA Analysis by Mass Spectrometry for Managers Using the Ibis™ Biosciences, Inc. Platform, Technology Transition Workshop the participant will acquire the knowledge to:

• Explain the applications of mass spectrometry to biological analyses
• Understand the applications of the Ibis™ PLEX-ID™ platform
• Describe the Ibis™ STR DNA assay, including a comparison to traditional STR analysis and the sensitivity and reproducibility of the analysis
• Discuss the application of mass spectrometry to Y-STR, mtDNA and SNP analyses and mixture detection
• Explain the statistics of polymorphic STR alleles, including population and statistical implications of expanded allele definitions
• Discuss future directions of biological mass spectrometry