A Novel On‐Chip Method for Differential Extraction of Sperm in Forensic Cases. Issue 9 (15th June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Inci, Fatih; Ozen, Mehmet O.; Saylan, Yeseren; Miansari, Morteza; Cimen, Duygu; Dhara, Raghu; Chinnasamy, Thiruppathiraja; Yuksekkaya, Mehmet; Filippini, Chiara; Kumar, Deepan Kishore; Calamak, Semih; Yesil, Yusuf; Durmus, Naside Gozde; Duncan, George; Klevan, Leonard; Demirci, Utkan
• Is Part Of: Advanced science. Volume 5:Issue 9(2018)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2018-06-15
• Subjects: bioinspired materials -- differential extraction -- DNA casework backlog -- forensic cases -- microfluidics; Science -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.201800121
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2198-3844

Abstract

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 epithelial fraction. Captured sperm are then lysed on‐chip and sperm DNA is isolated. This method reduces assay‐time from 8 h to 80 min, providing an inexpensive alternative to current differential extraction techniques, accelerating identification of suspects and advancing public safety. Abstract : An easy‐to‐use and inexpensive method to capture sperm from aged forensic mock samples with high efficiency within a shorter assay time, and this method also significantly reduces epithelial fraction, allowing efficient downstream genomic analyses for further investigations.