DNA rewriting our memory: Recovering missing people through their genetic profile

Authors

  • Ángel Carracedo Álvarez University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain).
  • Mercedes Aler Gay University of Valencia.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.10.13691

Keywords:

missing persons, genetic profile, methylation profile, phenotypic profile, biogeographic profile

Abstract

Continuous advances in DNA analysis for forensic purposes have set milestones in the search for genetic identity in criminal cases, disasters, and disappearances. Technological advances in the study of our genome now allow us to infer whose remains have been found, for example, at a mass grave or an anonymous tomb, and to extrapolate where they lived, their physical appearance, or their family origin. Thanks to a series of fixed variations between individuals, the analysis of DNA of forensic interest allows the identification of individuals via their genetic profile. This identification can be carried out by comparing the profile of the human remains with those of known profiles or by their compatibility with DNA inherited by their relatives.

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Author Biographies

Ángel Carracedo Álvarez, University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain).

Full Professor of Legal Medicine of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). He was the director of the Institute of Legal Medicine of the University of Santiago de Compostela between 1994 and 2012. He currently coordinates the Group of Genomic Medicine and directs the Spanish National Genotyping Centre. He is a research team leader at the Rare Diseases Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERER), and has received many awards, such as the Jaume I Award for Medical Research and the National Genetics Awards. He has been given honorary doctorates from different universities.

Mercedes Aler Gay, University of Valencia.

Doctor, PhD in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Valencia. Specialist in forensic genetics with over twenty years experience in civil and criminal expert reports. Practitioner at the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Valencia (Spain). Founding member of the Scientific Communication Association Piratas de la ciencia.

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Published

2020-01-08

How to Cite

Carracedo Álvarez, Ángel, & Aler Gay, M. (2020). DNA rewriting our memory: Recovering missing people through their genetic profile. Metode Science Studies Journal, (10), 119–125. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.10.13691
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Issue

Shades of science (2020)

Section

The memory of bones. Science at the service of history

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