The Complete Guide to the ABC Molecular Biology Certification Exam

Tiffany Roy

• Editorial: CRC Press
• Año: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000033595
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Diritto
• Categoría: Scienza forense

In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) authored the report Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward. In it, the Committee expressed the need for accreditation and certification. Accreditation, long recognized by public labs as an important benchmark in quality, was recognized as an important way to standardize laboratories that provide forensic services. Certification can play an important role as a method of oversight in the forensic sciences—something also recommended by the - National Commission on Forensic Science in October 2014.

The Complete Guide to the ABC's Molecular Biology is a professional certification examination preparation text for forensic scientists taking the American Board of Criminalistics Examination in Molecular Biology. The book serves as a resource for forensic scientists—who are facing more and more pressure to become certified—to support them in their pursuit of forensic certification.

In the years since the NAS report was published, there has been increased discussion of forensic certification requirements. ABC's Molecular Biology exam is a quality certification, and learning the concepts for it will invariably help any professional working in the field. The book prepares readers in all relevant topic areas, including: accreditation, safety, biological screen principles, anatomy and cell biology, crime scene and evidence handling, concepts in genetics, biochemistry, statistics, DNA evidence, and DNA testing.

The book will be particularly helpful for forensic science laboratory technicians, police and investigations professionals, forensic serology and DNA analysts, attorneys, and forensic science students. This study guide follows the guidelines for the exam and presents all the information necessary to prepare individuals to pass the exam.

1

General Knowledge Introduction

1.1 History

According to the American Board of Criminalistics, a qualified forensic biologist must be able to demonstrate the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities. The following is a list the Board has published that delineates which knowledge, skills, and abilities one must demonstrate to be successful on the examination for the molecular biology specialty area certification:

• Apply principles of general, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, and statistics to the analysis of biological materials.
• Apply chemical, immunological, microscopic, and molecular biological methods in the assessment of unknown biological material.
• Apply specialized techniques to isolate and purify nucleic acids from various biological material.
• Apply specialized techniques to quantify DNA.
• Apply specialized techniques to develop profiles from the polymorphic regions in biological genomes.
• Apply principles of population genetics to then determine the significance of a polymorphic profile in the population.
• Stay abreast of current developments in the field of forensic biology.
• Recognize, collect, secure, and preserve physical evidence.
• Recognize the potential for forensic examinations in areas outside an area of specialization, prioritize the sequence of examinations, and handle evidence accordingly.
• Observe safe practices in the examination of biological evidence.
• Engage in impartial and ethical practices.
• Use and maintain laboratory instrumentation proficiently.
• Evaluate and interpret results of analyses.
• Thoroughly and accurately produce documentation to support results and conclusions.
• Effectively communicate scientific results through written reports.
• Provide sworn testimony regarding analytical methods, techniques, results, and conclusions.
• Employ quality assurance measures to ensure the integrity of the analyses.
• Understand and apply the validations for the introduction of new DNA technologies into the forensic laboratory.
• Be familiar with the documents Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories and Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic Databasing Laboratories.
• Understand uses and practices of the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
• Conduct second reads and technical reviews of the analytical work of other forensic biologists.¹

1.1.1 Significant Figures

To begin to accomplish these goals set forth by the ABC, one must become familiar with the historical figures and evolution of practice, not only in one’s subject-matter area, but in forensic science in general. An estimated 60% of the examination questions will focus on general forensic knowledge including topics like history, quality control and assurance, and law. Some of the important figures in the forensic sciences that should be studied for the purposes of the exam are:

Mathieu Orfila

Orfila was a Spanish native widely considered to be the father of forensic toxicology. In 1814, Orfila published the first scientific treatise on the detection of poisons and their effects on animals, establishing forensic toxicology as a legitimate science.²

Alphonse Bertillon

Bertillon is known as the father of criminal identification. He established the first scientific means of differentiating and identifying human beings using a series of biometric body measurements. His system, anthropometry, was used for nearly two decades as the first and only means of personal identification before it was replaced by fingerprints.³

Figure 1.1 Anthropometry was used to discriminate between individuals based on a series of body measurements. It was widely used until two men (pictured) with the same name and indistinguishable measurements arrived at Fort Leavenworth Prison. (Source: Shutterstock.com)

Hans Gross

Gross was an Austrian prosecutor and judge who authored the first treatise on the application of the sciences to criminal investigation. He introduced the journal Archiv für Kriminal Anthropologie und Kriminalistik, which is still used to publish new methods of scientific crime detection.⁴

Edmond Locard

Locard was a Frenchman who is best known for the postulation that every contact leaves a trace. This theory, known as Locard’s Exchange Principle, stated that there is a transfer of material between a victim, a suspect, and the crime scene.⁵

Figure 1.2 Locard’s exchange principle demonstrates that every time a person comes into contact with another person, place or thing, there is some transfer of material from each. “Every contact leaves a trace.”

Francis Galton

Galton was an English statistician and psychologist who wrote Fingerprints, the first treatise describing and classifying the unique qualities of fingerprints. This work, written in 1892, laid the foundation for modern-day dactylography.⁶

Leone Lattes

Lattes, a professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Turin in Italy, developed a procedure for determining the blood group of a dried blood stain in 1915. The test, called the Lattes Crust Test, was groundbreaking because blood-group testing could only be performed on liquid blood prior to its discovery. This test was immediately useful in criminal investigations.⁷

Calvin Goddard

Goddard is recognized as the father of modern firearms analysis. As a U.S. Army colonel, Goddard was the first to use the comparison microscope to compare bullet markings in order to determine the weapon of origin. From the mid-1920s, Goddard’s work established the comparison microscope as an indispensable tool in modern-day ballistic examination.⁸

Figure 1.3 Comparison microscopes remain the cornerstone of forensic firearms analysis. (Source: Shutterstock.com)

Albert S. Osborn

Osborn is considered the father of questioned document examination. In 1910, he penned the first significant text in the field, Questioned Documents, which is still considered a primary reference in the field today.⁹

Walter C. McCrone

McCrone is considered to be the father of modern microscopy. McCrone, a skilled American chemist and instructor, combined microscopic examination with analytical techniques to characterize various types of evidence. He trained thousands of scientists, wrote hundreds of articles and books, and gave thousands of lectures and presentations on light and electron microscopy over the course of his career.¹⁰

August Vollmer

Vollmer, a police chief from Berkeley, California, created the first forensic laboratory in the United States at the Los Angeles Police Department. Vollmer started the lab in 1923 and in the 1930s he began the first university institute for criminology and criminalistics at the University of California at Berkeley.¹¹

Paul L. Kirk

Kirk is known as one of the most pre-eminent criminalists of modern times. A microscopist and forensic scientist, he was head of the Criminalistics Department at the University of California at Berkeley, where he authored several books in the areas of criminalistics, microscopy, biochemistry, and forensic science. He is best known for his involvement in the bloodstain pattern analysis performed in the Sam Sheppard case.

Karl Landsteiner

Landsteiner was an Austrian-born doctor and chemist who created the modern-day blood-typing classification system using agglutination. His description of the ABO system and Rhesus factor was groundbreaking for the medical field. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in 1930. This discovery allowed for the successful transfusion of blood and transplant of organs, as well as being a means of identifying blood types of donors who may have left blood behind at crime scenes.

1.1.2 Evolution of the Practice

Much of the practice of modern forensic science began in Britain in the mid-to-late 1800s. Criminal investigation was a burgeoning field in that time: cities were becoming more populous and crime was more prevalent. This increase in crime required more advanced techniques for criminal investigation and crime detection. The identification of the value of fingerprints and the creation of a method for their classification, advances and studies in firearm and bullet markings, forensic pathological examinations, and toxicological tests all paved the way for modern forensic science. Around the turn of the century, American and British investigators began to exchange ideas on the organization of investigative forces and the use of modern techniques for advanced crime fighting and detection. Since then, the practice of forensic science has continually expanded and improved as many joined together to develop the different disciplines of forensics.

Perhaps the most significant advancements in the early stages of forensic biology were the discovery of ABO blood typing and its application to medicine and criminalistics, as well as the ability to perform this type of testing on both fresh liquid and dried bloodstains left at crime scenes. These advancements laid the foundation for blood protein analysis and body fluid identification. These tests were the precursor to modern DNA testing, which is widely regarded as the “gold standard” for forensic analysis.

The basis for DNA analysis was established with the ability to differentiate blood at crime scenes based on type. With the knowledge that there are four main types of...

Índice

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Purpose of This Book
• Authors
• 1 General Knowledge Introduction
• 2 Quality Assurance and Quality Control
• 3 Basic Legal and Scientific Concepts
• 4 Principles and Concepts of Biological Screening
• 5 Anatomy and Cell Biology
• 6 Concepts in Genetics, Biochemistry, and Statistics
• 7 Concepts in Genetics, Biochemistry, and Statistics cont.
• 8 History and Standards of DNA Evidence
• 9 DNA Testing Process Part 1
• 10 DNA Testing Process Part 2
• Index