Bode provides STR analysis on reference samples and on any item of evidence that is suspected to be, or has been confirmed to be, of human biological origin. If requested, Bode can confirm the presence of biological fluids (i.e. semen, blood, saliva) prior to DNA analysis.

Bode’s casework teams analyze and compare evidence collected from crime scenes with reference samples to identify a suspect, to confirm that a suspect committed a particular crime or to exonerate a falsely accused or convicted person. The evidence that Bode’s highly skilled scientists are asked to analyze can range from standard collection kits, such as sexual assault kits, to individual or unique crime scene evidence, such as clothing, weapons or highly compromised evidence. Since 1997, Bode has processed more than 40,000 forensic cases for nearly every U.S. state and over 10 countries.

Bode offers STR amplification using every commercially available kit on the market for the generation of the core CODIS 13 loci, including both the Hitachi and Applied Biosystems platforms using Promega’s Powerplex® 16 and Powerplex® 16 BIO systems and the Applied Biosystems AmpFlSTR® ProfilerPlus®, COfiler®, and Identifiler® PCR amplification kits. Bode has the ability to run the products of PCR amplification on the Applied Biosystems 3100 or 3130xl Genetic Analyzer as well as on the Hitachi FMBIO platform. Currently, STR profiles are analyzed using GeneScan® Analysis Software and Genotyper® Software, GeneMapperID®, and StarCall softwares. Bode will use the appropriate validated combination of kit, platform, and analysis software that will provide each state the ability to upload profiles to CODIS, and where applicable, NDIS.

About STR

For nuclear DNA testing, Bode analyzes Short Tandem Repeats (STR) through PCR based typing. STRs are short sequences of DNA located on a chromosome that repeat a certain number of times. STRs are inherited from your parents; one allele at each locus is from your mother and one from your father. They are very discriminatory as they are unique to each individual, with the exception of identical twins. In terms of testing they produce fast results, are very sensitive, and can yield DNA profiles from very small or even unseen samples (i.e. shed skin cells).