Forensic DNA Applications: An Interdisciplinary Perspective – a new book in forensic science

Abstract

To the Editor: Forensic DNA Applications: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (2014; Edited by Dragan Primorac and Moses Schanfield. CRC Press, Taylor Francis Group. 23 Chapters, 621 pages) is intended for different types of audiences interested in forensic medicine. It could be both a textbook for forensic molecular biology students and a reference book for practitioners of forensic molecular biology. Moreover it is expected to be used by lawyers and judges dealing with civil and criminal cases involving DNA technology. The book covers the ever-growing field of forensic DNA testing, and an effort has been made to present state of the art knowledge on each topic at the time of submission (March 2013). The book was developed as an outgrowth of the Sixth ISABS Conference on Human Genome Project Based Applications in Forensic Science, Anthropology and Individualized Medicine, bi-annual educational conference of the International Society of Applied Biological Sciences (ISABS) held in Split, Croatia, June 1-5, 2009. It should also be noted that the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ) is the official publication of ISABS and thus far ISABS has published 9 thematic issues of the CMJ, each issue related to one of the conferences. It was felt at these conferences that there was a need for a new book that would be used as a textbook but also as a reference book for people working in the field of forensic molecular biology as well as individuals investigating and adjudicating cases involving DNA evidence, regardless if they are civil or criminal cases. The approach is international, and therefore the information given could not be considered relevant to analysts only working in the US or Europe. Moreover as the title states the approach is “interdisciplinary.” The majority of authors are speakers and participants at the ISABS bi-annual meeting (1). The next meeting will take place on June 22-26, 2015 in Bol, island of Brac, Croatia. This will be a new opportunity to present to the CMJ new submissions related to the leading trends in forensic science. In the book, there are many texts on forensic molecular biology, some authored by a single author, others by a team of experts. This particular volume is unique in the sense that the 51 authors that provided the 23 chapters are experts in their particular areas, meaning that they work in the areas that they are writing about (Table 1-​-4).4). This edition has 4 sections and 23 chapters, representing all aspects of forensic DNA methodology, ethics, law, and policy. This book encompasses the period before DNA testing was done through the present and therefore can provide a unique perspective on the history and practice of forensic DNA testing. The authors come from Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United State of America. This book is important because it brings together all of the current areas of interest and research in a single up-to-date volume (2). Table 1 SECTION 1. GENERAL BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGICAL CONCEPTS (Mitchell M. Holland, Theresa Caragine, Section Editors) Table 4 SECTION 4. LAW, ETHICS AND POLICY (Fredrick Bieber, David H. Kaye, Section Editors)