Implementation of a semi-automated processing system for DNA profiling of forensic casework samples

The concept for a semi-automated processing system for DNA analysis of crime scene samples was developed at the Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg (LKA BW) and comprises the extraction of genomic DNA from human cells by ChargeSwitch^® magnetic bead technology (CST), quantification of purified DNA by real-time PCR, amplification of short tandem repeats (STRs) by PCR and DNA fragment length analysis of STRs by capillary electrophoresis. Three liquid handling workstations from Tecan, a real-time PCR device and a 16-channel capillary electrophoresis (CE) system, both from Applied Biosystems (AB), are linked via laboratory data network. Transmission and management of sample and analysis data is enabled by a Laboratory Information and Management System (LIMS). Suitability for a wide range of stain types, early exclusion of DNA-free samples, barcode sample identification and prevention of cross-contaminations guarantee efficiency and high quality standards.     

Communicating technology: An historical view

Technology development and transfer are long-time human activities. They precede history and extend to the edges of archeology. This article takes an historical (and, for a few paragraphs, imaginative) view of the application and diffusion of technology as a communication process. It begins with the use, perpetuation, and spread of simple inventions by some animals. The narrative carries through paleolithic and neolithic times showing that, rather than being a relatively modern phenomenon, technology transfer was the means by which our progenitors advanced from dependers upon nature to manipulators of nature, from nomads to cultivators and breeders, and from subsistence farmers to urbanites. In developing the key communications technologies of speech, writing, and translation, humankind accelerated the transfer of the many other technological underpinnings of civilization. The article pays special attention to navigation and the linking role the Arbs played in its development. It also describes the British-American exchange of textile technology first westward across the Atlantic and then eastward. While time, timing, technology, and cast of characters continually change, the basics of communication and technology transfer remain the same.