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Local Professor Part Of Group Working To Develop Program To Improve How DNA Evidence Is Examined

By David Madden 

CAMDEN, NJ (CBS) -- This may sound like something ripped out of an episode of CSI, but it's all too real. A Rutgers-Camden computer scientist is part of a work group trying to develop a program to improve the way DNA evidence is examined.

Professor Desmond Lun is working with counterparts from Boston University and MIT to develop a software program that will definitively state how many people--contributors he calls them--are found in DNA evidence recovered from a crime scene.

professor lun
Professor Desmond Lun (credit: Bob Laramie)

"Today, a lot of this is done by expert opinion. We want to be able to come up with a systematic and accurate way of doing that."

At first, for the Army. They're paying for the $1.7 million dollar project, but assuming they're successful, this could be used in crime labs all over the place. No more scientific debate. Just put the DNA strain through a laptop computer, assuming they devise the right program.

They have two years to come up with one.

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