EDNAP - THE EUROPEAN DNA PROFILING GROUP

In memory of Peter M. Schneider (1955-2022)

Peter Schneider led the first collaborative exercise of the European DNA Working Group – EDNAP in the late 1980’th. Peter successfully managed to bridge the very different ideas of European forensic geneticists with strong opinions, leading to a successful harmonization in Europe of RFLP SLP DNA typing in crime cases. Peter continued his work for EDNAP for more than 30 years and co-authored 30 scientific articles from the EDNAP collaboration. Peter facilitated the collaboration between EDNAP and the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes - ENFSI - as well as all other EDNAP partners with his remarkable combination of giftedness, insight, and natural amiability. EDNAP has lost one of the founders of EDNAP and a grandfather of modern forensic genetics. EDNAP started life in October 1988 in London when a group of forensic scientists from various European countries came together to find a way of harmonizing the DNA technology for crime investigation. With the thought in mind that an integrated Europe with open borders could well see the escalation of cross-border crimes, there would be a need for forensic scientists to exchange data and compare results of DNA analysis. At the 14^th Congress of the ISFG (International Society for Forensic Genetics) in Mainz (1991), EDNAP was accepted as a working group. It was intended that each European country should be represented by one laboratory with sufficient scientific expertise in forensic DNA technology. As a small group, EDNAP is able to make decisions solely based on scientific considerations and in the spirit of helping each other.