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Focus on Third Party Testing to Support TSA Acquisitions
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has an interest in streamlining their acquisition process for new detection technologies. Manufacturers of detection technologies desire to get their products to market as fast as possible while also ensuring that equipment meets the TSA’s detection requirements. External testing (i.e. testing performed by third party... MORE
Increasing Sexual Assault Kit Workflow Efficiency Through Automation
Signature Science, a private Forensic DNA Laboratory based in Austin, Texas, validated a suite of robotics and associated methods for sexual assault kit processing in 2018 with the goal of increasing throughput while also delivering a more quantitatively robust product to our clients. Our internal assessment led to the selection... MORE
Validating Metagenomic Analyses Through Simulated Direct and Indirect Healthcare-Related Pathogen Transmission Events
Abstract: The prevalence of healthcare-acquired infections (HAI) places a significant economic burden on modern healthcare systems. Cultures are typically used to diagnose HAI; however, culture-dependent methods provide only limited presence/absence information and are not applicable to all pathogens. Next generation sequencing (NGS) has the potential to detect a wide variety... MORE
Signature Science Team Awarded Phase 2 Funding for IARPA’s Fun GCAT Program
AUSTIN, TEXAS – April 23, 2019 – Signature Science, LLC has been awarded funding for Phase 2 of their work supporting the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity’s (IARPA) Functional Genomic and Computational Assessment of Threats (Fun GCAT) program. The research team will continue development of their Sequence to Functional Analysis... MORE
Probabilistic Genotyping Brings Benefits to DNA Casework
The interpretation of DNA mixtures continues to be a pervasive topic in the field of forensic DNA analysis. With the long awaited publication of the NIST MIX05 MIX13 study, and an increasing number of DNA laboratories turning to probabilistic genotyping, it’s worth stopping for a moment to consider just how the... MORE
SigSci Awarded Contract to Support JPEO-CBRND’s Multi-Phase Chemical Agent Detector Program
AUSTIN, TEXAS — February 12, 2019 — Signature Science, LLC has been awarded a contract from the Department of Defense (DOD) Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) in support of the Multi-Phase Chemical Agent Detector (MPCAD) program. The Other Transaction Authority (OTA) award is... MORE
Stephen Turner, Ph.D. Joins Signature Science, LLC as Senior Informatics S&T Advisor
Dr. Turner will apply his informatics and genomics expertise to the development of leading-edge forensic genomics solutions for national security, defense, and law enforcement challenges, such as cold case investigations. AUSTIN, TEXAS — Feb. 5, 2019 - Signature Science, LLC is pleased to announce that Dr. Stephen Turner has joined... MORE
SigSci’s Austin TX DNA Forensics Laboratory Participated in an Interlab Study of STRmix™ Probabilistic Genotyping...
Title: STRmix™ collaborative exercise on DNA mixture interpretation Summary: An intra- and inter-laboratory study using the probabilistic genotyping (PG) software STRmix™ is reported. Two complex mixtures from the PROVEDIt set, analysed on an Applied Biosystems™ 3500 Series Genetic Analyzer, were selected. 174 participants responded. For Sample 1 (low template, in the... MORE