Advanced Research in Forensic Genetics

Dear Colleagues,

There have been significant advances in forensic science in the last several years, and the development and application of genetics have revolutionized approaches to this field.

For the first time, in 1984, the term “DNA fingerprint” was mentioned by Alec Jeffreys, who analyzed polymorphic regions of DNA. Even though the gold-standard method for forensic genotyping is still the analysis of STR polymorphisms through capillary electrophoresis, forensic laboratories are gradually introducing complementary assays based on more advanced technological platforms. Both the scope and scale of DNA analysis in forensic science are set to continue expanding in the foreseeable future. Current research in advanced forensic genetics is aiming to enhance the accuracy, speed, and effectiveness of DNA analysis in legal contexts. Key objectives include improving identification precision, even with degraded, mixed, or limited samples, through advanced technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) and new individual biomarkers such as microhaplotypes. The NGS technique is also applicable to phenotyping, which comprises the prediction of a person's externally visible characteristics regarding appearance, biogeographic ancestry, and age using DNA from crime scene samples, to provide investigative leads to help find unknown perpetrators that cannot be identified through forensic STR profiling. Forensic genetics has become an important field in forensic science, helping in cause-of-death investigations and post-mortem interval estimation and introducing promising biomarkers such as microRNAs (miRNAs), which, with their small size, are a promising tool in various fields in forensic medicine. Another goal is to speed up forensic investigations by using faster, automated techniques, such as AI-assisted data analysis, to reduce turnaround times. This is particularly valuable in resolving cold cases. Lastly, the evaluation of the results of forensic genetic analyses is vital, given that activity level propositions represent an emerging discipline in forensic genetics; today, this is considered a critically important topic for the field of forensics. The increasing sensitivity of analysis techniques and advances in data interpretation using probabilistic models ('probabilistic genotyping') is increasing the demands on forensic biologists to share specialized knowledge to help recipients of expert information to address the mode and timing of the transfer and persistence of traces in court.

In launching this Special Issue, we aim to gather the most advanced research currently available in forensic genetics, to showcase the most interesting work in our field.

Dr. Mauro Pesaresi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• forensic genetics
• massive parallel sequencing (MPS)
• DNA quantification methods
• DNA extraction methods
• sudden cardiac death
• post-mortem interval
• microRNA
• DNA phenotyping
• individual identification
• genetic markers
• short tandem repeats (STRs)
• single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)
• mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)
• microhaplotype
• forensic statistics
• artificial intelligence
• activity level in forensics