Forensic Biology

Through an intensive two-week summer school, this course will provide students with an overview of various kinds of biological methods and topics in forensic investigations. The main focus is on forensic genetics / dna-analyses and its applications in crime cases, kinship analysis and species determination. Exercises will focus on how to evaluate DNA profiling results and from these calculate the likelihood ratio; the strenght of the evidence. The students will also be introduced to the interdisciplinary forensic topics of entomology, pathology, genome sequencing, quality assurance, geological forensics, ancient DNA and soil analysis, population genetics, human and vertebrate anthropology and botany. The teaching consists of lectures in combination with exercises relevant for forensic investigations. There will be group work during the course where students get to choose a subject related to forensic research. Exercises and group assignments will be evaluated individually and in group during the course.

The course starts with a brief introduction to Cell Biology, Genetics, Genetic Variation & Regulation and Molecular Biology Techniques, focusing on areas relevant to the forensic applications.

When the course is completed, students will have gained insight and skills regarding the application of the following areas in a forensic context:

• Individual and species identification
• STRs and SNPs
• DNA profiling
• Likelihood ratio calculations
• Population dynamics
• Heredity & kinship analysis
• Physical traits
• Probability/likelihood calculations in forensic genetics
• Human crime case investigations
• Wildlife forensics
• Animal, plant and soil traces in forensics