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A Novel On‐Chip Method for Differential Extraction of Sperm in Forensic Cases
Advanced Science
  • Fatih Inci, Stanford University
  • Mehmet O. Ozen, Stanford University
  • Yeseren Saylan, Stanford University
  • Morteza Miansari, Stanford University
  • Duygu Cimen, Stanford University
  • Raghu Dhara, Stanford University
  • Thiruppathiraja Chinnasamy, Stanford University
  • Mehmet Yuksekkaya, Harvard Medical School
  • Chiara Filippini, Harvard Medical School
  • Deepan Kishore Kumar, Harvard Medical School
  • Semih Calamak, Stanford University
  • Yusuf Yesil, Stanford University
  • Naside Gozde Durmus, Stanford University
  • George Duncan, Broward County Sheriff's Office
  • Leonard Klevan, DxNow Inc.
  • Utkan Demirci, Stanford University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2018
Keywords
  • Bioinspired materials,
  • Differential extraction,
  • DNA casework backlog,
  • Forensic cases,
  • Microfluids
Abstract

One out of every six American women has been the victim of a sexual assault in their lifetime. However, the DNA casework backlog continues to increase outpacing the nation's capacity since DNA evidence processing in sexual assault casework remains a bottleneck due to laborious and time‐consuming differential extraction of victim's and perpetrator's cells. Additionally, a significant amount (60–90%) of male DNA evidence may be lost with existing procedures. Here, a microfluidic method is developed that selectively captures sperm using a unique oligosaccharide sequence (Sialyl‐LewisX), a major carbohydrate ligand for sperm‐egg binding. This method is validated with forensic mock samples dating back to 2003, resulting in 70–92% sperm capture efficiency and a 60–92% reduction in epithelial fraction. Captured sperm are then lysed on‐chip and sperm DNA is isolated. This method reduces assay‐time from 8 h to 80 min, providing an inexpensive alternative to current differential extraction techniques, accelerating identification of suspects and advancing public safety.

Comments

© 2018 The Authors. Published by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ORCID ID
0000-0002-4931-5316
DOI
10.1002/advs.201800121
Citation Information
Fatih Inci, Mehmet O. Ozen, Yeseren Saylan, Morteza Miansari, et al.. "A Novel On‐Chip Method for Differential Extraction of Sperm in Forensic Cases" Advanced Science Vol. 2018 Iss. 1800121 (2018) p. 1 - 12 ISSN: 2198-3844
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/george-duncan/26/