BILLERICA, Mass. – The FBI’s Laboratory Division in Huntsville and the agency’s Quantico, Va., office signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with SeqLL, it was announced.
The pact is for two years and is one of the few times the FBI is using a CRADA for lab development.
SeqLL is a life sciences instrumentation and research services company based in Massachusetts. The company will evaluate and determine the forensic capabilities of direct RNA sequencing using its True Single Molecule Sequencing platform.
The FBI lab and SeqLL will be developing the use of body fluids to aid in identification, without compromising traditional STR or DNA sequence analysis.
“Body fluid identification can provide investigative context and have probative value,” said Eric Pokorak, assistant director, FBI Laboratory Division. “We are excited to collaborate with SeqLL to evaluate the potential of this capability in forensic casework.”
Daniel Jones, SeqLL founder and CEO, said he is delighted to be working with the FBI lab.
“We appreciate the opportunity this CRADA provides, to methodically develop forensic applications utilizing SeqLL’s technology,” he said. “We look forward to demonstrating how single-molecule, PCR-free approaches are ideally suited for this space.”
The agreement will support the FBI lab, a division within the Scientific and Technology Branch, whose mission is to collect, analyze and share timely scientific and technical information.
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