title: GHEP-ISFG collaborative simulated exercise for DVI/MPI: Lessons learned about large-scale profile database comparisons.
abstract: The GHEP-ISFG Working Group has recognized the importance of assisting DNA laboratories to gain expertise in handling DVI or missing persons identification (MPI) projects which involve the need for large-scale genetic profile comparisons. Eleven laboratories participated in a DNA matching exercise to identify victims from a hypothetical conflict with 193 missing persons. The post mortem database was comprised of 87 skeletal remain profiles from a secondary mass grave displaying a minimal number of 58 individuals with evidence of commingling. The reference database was represented by 286 family reference profiles with diverse pedigrees. The goal of the exercise was to correctly discover re-associations and family matches. The results of direct matching for commingled remains re-associations were correct and fully concordant among all laboratories. However, the kinship analysis for missing persons identifications showed variable results among the participants. There was a group of laboratories with correct, concordant results but nearly half of the others showed discrepant results exhibiting likelihood ratio differences of several degrees of magnitude in some cases. Three main errors were detected: (a) some laboratories did not use the complete reference family genetic data to report the match with the remains, (b) the identity and/or non-identity hypotheses were sometimes wrongly expressed in the likelihood ratio calculations, and (c) many laboratories did not properly evaluate the prior odds for the event. The results suggest that large-scale profile comparisons for DVI or MPI is a challenge for forensic genetics laboratories and the statistical treatment of DNA matching and the Bayesian framework should be better standardized among laboratories.
authors.affiliation: Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF), Córdoba, Argentina. Electronic address: cvullo@yahoo.com.ar.
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Vullo
authors.affiliation: Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF), Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.affiliation: Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF), Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Catelli
authors.affiliation: International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP), USA.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Šakić
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Genética Forense, SML, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
authors.forename: Victor G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Saragoni
authors.affiliation: Unitat Central de Laboratori Biològic, Divisió de Policia Científica, Policia de la Generalitat-Mossos d'Esquadra, BCN, Spain.
authors.forename: María Jose
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Jimenez Pleguezuelos
authors.affiliation: Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF), Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Carola
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Romanini
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal e Ciências Forenses, I.P., Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria João
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Anjos Porto
authors.affiliation: LabGenetics, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Puente Prieto
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Toxicología y Ciencias Forenses (INTCF), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bofarull Castro
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Toxicología y Ciencias Forenses, (INTCF), Canarias, Spain.
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Toxicología y Ciencias Forenses, (INTCF), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Farfán
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Toxicología y Ciencias Forenses, (INTCF), Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Prieto
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de ADN, Unidad Central de Análisis Científicos, Comisaría General de Policía Científica, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Análisis de ADN (COFyBCF), CABA, Argentina.
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Penacino
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Laboratorio NASERTIC & Policia Foral, Navarra, Spain.
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zabalza
authors.affiliation: Análisis ADN Forense, Depto. Ciencias Forenses, Poder Judicial, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hernández Bolaños
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Genómica-SGIker-Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Spain.
authors.forename: Irati
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Miguel Manterola
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencias Forenses, Grupo de Medicina Xenómica, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prieto
authors.affiliation: International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP), USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Parsons
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D056667:Biometric Identification / Q000379:methods*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D004190:Disasters; D053803:Forensic Genetics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D010375:Pedigree; D011174:Portugal; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: DVI; Database comparisons; Disaster victim identification; MPI; Missing person identification; Simulated identification exercise