DNA testing for investigative purposes: description of the perpetrator

The results of research projects to understand the diversity of the human genome have opened up new avenues of biomedical research and provided new tools for human identification studies. Genome wide association studies and epigenome wide association studies have enabled the identification of DNA markers that have been implemented and validated as predictive tools in the field of forensic DNA phenotyping. In the age of genomics, the study of biological traces can reveal the biogeographical ancestry, physical appearance, age and lifestyle of the perpetrator. The combination of different methods, including forensic genetic genealogy and prediction of phenotypic features, offers the possibility of significantly narrowing down the pool of suspects, thereby significantly improving the process of solving criminal cases. In general, a limitation is the availability of effective methods for large-scale DNA analysis that would ensure the forensic level sensitivity of the test.