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by F. Key Kidder
Sean Carroll, like many in the forensic arts, works on the cutting edge of the science of identity.
But instead of identifying distinctions in DNA that make individuals or suspects different, Carroll studies changes in DNA that make entire species different.
Carroll is a professor of genetics and molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of “The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution.” As an evolutionary biologist, he harnesses the power of DNA to look back hundreds of millions of years to the origins of life and learn “what that teaches us about how the process of evolution works.”
The power of DNA testing, says Carroll, “extends far beyond criminal justice.” Just as a jury can match DNA taken from a crime scene to a suspect’s DNA, scientists can compare strings of DNA to identify the origins of species and relationships among all organisms. The body of evidence is one in the same; it’s all about DNA, and using the same science to ask different questions.
Sean Carroll will be the keynote speaker at the 19th International Symposium on Human Identification to be held October 13-16, 2008 in Hollywood, California. For more information on the conference, visit www.promega.com/hollywood.
“They’ll learn a little more about where leading edges of DNA analysis are in research labs and some good stories about what’s happening in the real world in terms of the process of evolution,” said Carroll. “I’ll take DNA analysis into a different realm. Hopefully, I’ll broaden their horizons a little, rather than give them any sort of practical knowledge to take back to their jobs and apply.”
“It’s an amazing technical achievement, almost off the pages of science fiction, that we’d be able to analyze Neanderthal DNA,” said Carroll. “And this whole realm of analyzing DNA out of really old tissues opens up all sorts of archeological, anthropological, and historical issues. Also, as the technology to work with degraded samples improves, it will work its way into forensics.
“So I’ll ring a few bells this audience will like,” said Carroll.
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