Abstract
A developmental validation was performed to demonstrate reliability, reproducibility, and robustness of the ANDE Rapid DNA Identification System for processing of crime scene and disaster victim identification (DVI) samples. A total of 1705 samples were evaluated, including blood, oral epithelial samples from drinking containers, samples on FTA and untreated paper, semen, bone, and soft tissues. This study was conducted to address the FBI's Quality Assurance Standards on developmental validation and to accumulate data from a sufficient number of unique donors and sample types to meet NDIS submission requirements for acceptance of the ANDE Expert System for casework use. To date, no Expert System has been approved for such samples, but the results of this study demonstrated that the automated Expert System performs similarly to conventional laboratory data analysis. Furthermore, Rapid DNA analysis demonstrated accuracy, precision, resolution, concordance, and reproducibility that were comparable to conventional processing along with appropriate species specificity, limit of detection, performance in the presence of inhibitors. No lane-to-lane or run-to-run contamination was observed, and the system correctly identified the presence of mixtures. Taken together, the ANDE instrument, I-Chip consumable, FlexPlex chemistry (a 27-locus STR assay compatible with all widely used global loci, including the CODIS core 20 loci), and automated Expert System successfully processed and interpreted more than 1200 unique samples with over 99.99% concordant CODIS alleles. This extensive developmental validation data provides support for broad use of the system by agencies and accredited forensic laboratories in single-source suspect-evidence comparisons, local database searches, and DVI.