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Person at TSA screening station
June 14, 2019

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
Male symbol on illustration of a male figure in front of DNA helix and laptop and QIAgility device
June 4, 2019

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
False color image of pathogens
May 29, 2019

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
Cityscape surrounded by a DNA helix and the text "S2FAST: Sequence to Functional Analysis of Threats"
April 23, 2019

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
Question mark over an Illustration of a male figure with DNA helices
March 5, 2019

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
Photo of Stephen Turner
February 1, 2019

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
DNA helices with the text "STRmix Probabilistic Genotyping"
January 24, 2019

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
Technician swabbing a shell casing
August 12, 2018

SigSci Awarded $2.3M IARPA Contract to Develop Novel Forensic Identification Methods that Sequence Protein Instead...

AUSTIN, TEXAS — August 08, 2018 — The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) awarded Signature Science, LLC, a $2.3M contract for the development of the Proteo-ID method. Proteo-ID aims to accurately identify people via protein sequencing from human skin cell samples. The Proteo-ID methodology will significantly expand human forensic... MORE