In the future, if someone leaves a hair at a crime scene, it will be like leaving their own photograph. A highly promising American-Belgian technology aims to be added to the «arsenal» of criminological investigations, as it can reconstruct in three dimensions on a computer the likely face of a wanted person, solely from the traces of genetic material (DNA) they have left behind.
As reported by AMPE, although the technique is still in its early stage, it is based on identifying genes that affect the formation of facial characteristics in humans and in the future will provide significant assistance to the police and other services — and it could possibly be used to recreate the lost portraits of someone's distant ancestors.
The researchers, led by Professor Mark Sliver of the University of Pennsylvania, who made the related publication in the genetics journal “PLoS Genetics”, according to “Nature” and “New Scientist”, managed to correlate specific DNA markers with specific facial characteristics.
Thus, with the help of advanced statistical techniques, they began to create a database that the computer software references and – depending on the content of the genetic analysis – «designs» by itself the possible face of the target.
As the database and the program's algorithms become enriched, the new technology will create three-dimensional portraits with greater accuracy than those created by the «artists» of the police authorities, relying on the (often misleading) recollections of eyewitness witnesses.
Όπως είπε ο Σράιβερ, προς το παρόν οι Αρχές χρησιμοποιούν το DNA για να ταυτοποιήσουν κάποιον ύποπτο, εφ’ όσον όμως διαθέτουν εκ των προτέρων στα αρχεία τους δείγμα του γενετικού υλικού του, για να συγκριθεί με αυτό που βρέθηκε στον τόπο του εγκλήματος. «Σήμερα δεν μπορούμε να πάμε από το DNA σε ένα πρόσωπο ή το αντίστροφο, από ένα πρόσωπο στο DNA, όμως αυτό είναι κάτι που θα μπορούσε να γίνει», ανέφερε ο αμερικανός ερευνητής.
