News

Mixture interpretation training online:

follow this link on the STRbase mixture page to access a webinar hosted by the US National Institute of Standards (NIST). Speakers John Butler, Mike Coble, Robin Cotton, Bruce Heidebrecht and Charlotte Word show examples and address topics like the effect of different assumptions, profile uncertainty and statistical approaches. The full length video, example profiles and all presentations are available.

UK: Follow-up inquiry on FSS closure

On 1 July 2011, the Science and Technology Committee published the report, The Forensic Science Service (FSS), criticising the Government’s plans to close the FSS. The report made several conclusions and recommendations about the transition and consequences of closure and how they should be managed. The FSS closed in March 2012 following a transition period where arrangements were made to deal with its staff, assets and case work. As part of a scheme to encourage paperless working and maximise efficiency, the Committee is piloting a new web portal for online submissions of written evidence. Written submissions for this inquiry should therefore be sent via the Science and Technology Committee website

New ISFG statutes in place

The amended ISFG statutes, which were decided at the General Assembly in Vienna in September 2011, have been approved and registered by the District Court of Mainz in March 2012. The main changes include the following topics:

• §2 (1): "The society aims to promote scientific knowledge in the field of genetic markers in the human genome as applied to forensic science. This is to be accomplished by scientific meetings of the society, formation of commissions, meetings of the working groups, and by scientific publications."
• §4 (1): "Any academic graduate, or member of the technical support staff, dealing scientifically with genetic markers, can apply for full membership."
• §4 (5, new section): "The membership is considered terminated, if the annual membership fee according to § 9 has not been paid for a period of at least two years."
• §4 (7): "The membership may not be used for advertising purposes. The Executive Committee can decide to terminate the membership if in spite of a warning this regulation is violated."
• §9 (2): "Membership fees are waived for Honorary Members. For supporting members the annual fee is set to be tenfold the membership fee for full members according to § 9 section 1."

Balding - LT DNA Software

David Balding's software for the interpretation of low template DNA profiles described in Balding DJ, Buckleton J, Interpreting low template DNA profiles FSI Genetics, 4: 1-10, 2009 has been updated with a number of new facilities. The software can be downloaded from a new web site https://sites.google.com/site/baldingstatisticalgenetics/software/likeltd-r-forensic-dna-r-code. For more information, please visit The ISFG software development site.

Obituary: Herbert Polesky, M.D.

Herbert Polesky, president of the 13^th International ISFG Congress 1989 in New Orleans, and former AABB president, recently passed away. He died suddenly of a heart attack in Punta Arenas, Chile on December 11 while on a trip through Chile and Argentina. Dr. Polesky is well known for his influential work in promoting safer blood products by advancing infectious disease testing. Additionally, he made significant contributions in relationship testing and the prevention of hemolytic disease in newborns. He also helped establish criteria for transfusion medicine training, helped develop the first board examination for transfusion medicine and was dedicated to education throughout his career. Herb Polesky was 78 years old.

Progress in Forensic Genetics 14

Proceedings of the 24^th Congress of the International Society for Forensic Genetics,
Vienna, Austria, 2011
Forensic Science International Genetics Supplement Series, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2011

is now available.

Please visit FSIGSS-2011

24th ISFG Congress main presentations online

Several speakers of the educational workshops and the congress in Vienna have agreed to make their presentations available to the ISFG members. These presentations can be downloaded as PDF files from the new education page in the "Members Area". ­– If you do not yet have access to our website as an ISFG member, please activate your personal account. Here you find instructions about the online activation procedure.

ISFG General Assembly has elected new president

At the 24th World Congress in Vienna, the General Assembly has elected Mechthild Prinz (New York) as new president of the ISFG for the period 2012-2013. She will follow Niels Morling (Copenhagen), who will become vice president. Peter Schneider (Cologne), the current vice president, will then retire from the executive board. As the new representative of the ISFG Working Parties, Walther Parson (Innsbruck) has been elected. Leonor Gusmão (Porto) was re-elected as treasurer of the society.

New Impact Factor for FSI Genetics: 2.87

The impact factor has been updated based on the the 2010 data for FSI: Genetics by Thomson Reuters. The official journal of the ISFG now has an impact factor of 2.877 (up from 2.421) according to the recently published Journal Citation Report of June 2011 (to see the full data, please click on the image preview). The journal has thus confimed its strong position in second place of all journals listed in "Legal Medicine". The editors of FSI Genetics welcome this further increase from 2.421 to 2.877. It clearly provides evidence for the scientific relevance of the articles published in the official journal of the ISFG.

In Memoriam:

The ISFG would like to pay tribute to the memory of the late George Carmody (1939-2011). Dr. Carmody, a native New Yorker, spent most of his career teaching evolutionary biology and population statistics at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He had a special interest in forensic DNA. During his tenure and after his retirement he trained and advised many laboratories, prosecutors, and defense lawyers across Canada and the US. He will be missed.

FSS inquiry results published and hearings broadcasted

The inquiry launched by the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons (the British Parliament) examining the winding-down of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) has led to more than 400 pages of written statements submitted. All submissions can be read on the Committee website: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmsctech/writev/forensic/contents.htm Furthermore, the Committee hearing are broadcasted live, and can also be viewed later on here: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/science-and-technology-committee/inquiries/forensic-science-service/

Forensic use of bioinformation

An update on the "Nuffield Report on the forensic use of bioinformation" has recently been published online. The report addresses recent developments in using DNA databases, the storage of bioinformation taken from witnesses, victims and children, and the possibility of inferring ethnicity.

Niels Morling: Editorial in New Scientist on FSS demise

The ISFG president Professor Niels Morling has written an editorial about the announcement of the UK government on an "orderly wind-down" of the Forensic Science Service (FSS). The editorial entitled UK forensics cuts: International justice will suffer has been published this week in the weekly scientific magazine New Scientist. To compensate for the expected closure of the FSS, Niels Morling calls on "establishing a properly funded national centre to host research and training facilities, and a laboratory that could conduct specialised casework investigations, hold reference data and provide a quality-assurance service for other labs."

Letter to THE TIMES to support the FSS

The ISFG board has sent a letter to The Times to address the consequences of closing the Forensic Science Service (FSS) for the advancement of forensic genetic research in the UK. Sir Alec Jeffreys and Sir Edwin Southern are among the 33 signatories (see full text). The letter has already caused a strong reaction both in England, as well as internationally, as can be seen from the articles published by the BBC and the LA Times. This BBC news video carries a statement by the chairman of our DNA commission, Professor Peter Gill (Strathclyde/Oslo). In a newspaper statement, Sir Alec Jeffreys said: "I would love to know a little bit more about the thinking, if indeed any thinking at all went into this bizarre decision, and whether that thinking involved any understanding whatsoever about the nature of forensic science and its importance in delivering justice."

HIGHER Impact Factor for FSI Genetics

The impact factor has been updated for FSI: Genetics by Thomson Reuters. The official journal of the ISFG now has an impact factor of 2.421 (up from 1.34) according to the recently published Journal Citation Report of June 2010. The journal is now ranked in second place of all journals listed in "Legal Medicine". The editors of FSI Genetics welcome the significant increase from 1.347 to 2.421, as it represents a great success, as well as clear evidence for the scientific relevance of the articles published in this journal, which was only launched three years ago in 2007.

Forensic DNA Ethics Website launched

The Working Group on Ethical Issues in Criminal Forensic Genetics of the Department of Medical Ethics, University of Pennsylvania, has launched the new website http://forensicdnaethics.com/ The Forensic DNA Phenotpying (FDP) Project will monitor and analyze developments in FDP internationally. This website will track changes in the use of FDP, the laws and regulations related to FDP, and the evolving science behind FDP. It will serve as an authoritative source and gathering place for scientists, practitioners, and students interested in the use of this new technology. The project is funded by the NIH, National Human Genome Research Institute's Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications program, R01 HG004740.

Proceedings of ISFG 2009

The proceedings of the 23^rd ISFG Congress, September 2009 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Progress in Forensic Genetics 13, are now openly available from FSI Genetics: Supplement. All publications can be obtained without restriction in PDF format. Links to previous issues of the "Progress" series are given on our Congress Proceedings page.

Direct access to FSI: Genetics online for ISFG members

All ISFG members have now a direct and unrestricted link from the ISFG website to the journal FSI: Genetics. Members who have not yet registered for getting access to our website have to activate their personal profile on the ISFG website to use this service. Here you find instructions about the activation procedure. Registered ISFG members can use the FSI:Genetics link on the page Journal Access in the Members' Area.

Online payment of membership fees

You can now pay your annual membership fee online by credit card (MasterCard and VISA). A secure link to a bank website has been added to your personal profile. Using a simple "one click" button, you reach the secure payment site. After the payment, you will receive a confirmation of your payment by email, as well as a PDF document with a receipt and all payment details. To use this service, you must activate your personal profile.

First Impact Factor for FSI Genetics

The first official impact factor has been calculated for FSI: Genetics by Thomson Reuters. The impact factor of 1.347 has been published in a re-release of the Journal Citation Report at the end of September. In addition, all publications beginning with Vol. 1, 2007 are fully searchable in NCBI PubMed. This will enhance the public awareness about the articles which have been published up to now in the journal, and will further stimulate the interest of colleagues to submit their manuscripts to FSI: Genetics.

ISFG members: please activate your account!

All members are kindly asked to activate their personal account on the ISFG website to improve the communication, and to make sure that your personal copy of FSI:Genetics will reach you. A step-by-step instruction has been prepared to facilitate this simple procedure. ­– Información español ­– Informação portugués. ­– Deutsche Information

Use of ISFG logo on private websites

The executive board has published guidelines for the ISFG members to comply with the statutes of the ISFG. In particular, the use of the ISFG logo and the reference to the ISFG membership on a commercial website, and to the participation in proficiency testing exercises organized by one of the ISFG working groups has been addressed.

FSI Genetics launch celebration

During the 22^nd ISFG Congress in Copenhagen, the successful launch of the new journal FSI Genetics was celebrated at a reception organized by the journal publisher Elsevier for the members of the editorial board as well as numerous journal reviewers who were present at the congress.

Welcome and Farewell

Following the elections during the General Assembly in August 2007, the executive committee of the ISFG welcomes Leonor Gusmao as a new member. She will serve as treasurer, taking over from Niels Morling, our new ISFG president. At the same time, the board bids farewell to Angel Carracedo, who is retiring from the board after having served for 16 years.

Website design

The official website of the ISFG has been completely redesigned. Following an extensive testing period, the new website has been transferred on December 23rd, 2007 to the server to replace the old ISFG web design which has been active since 2001.