3 days ago
Goa researchers develop low-cost method to isolate DNA from soil
Panaji:
In an achievement that could help resolve human and wildlife crime, researchers from the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Goa campus, have developed a system to help authorities isolate DNA from soil samples in human and wildlife cases cost-effectively.
NFSU faculty member Abhishek Singh, who led the research, said that this new method 'has the potential to be a game-changer in soil forensics, wildlife crime investigation, and environmental DNA (eDNA) studies'.
NFSU Goa director Naveen Kumar Chaudhary said that this 'major innovation will significantly reduce the pendency of cases in India and make the investigations time and cost-effective'.
Explaining how the new method will work, he said, 'The patented scientific procedure proposed by the NFSU Goa faculty will cut down the time required to extract the DNA from the soil samples and make the entire investigation more scientific and rapid'.
This international patient was granted to the NFSU for an invention titled 'A system for isolating high-quality metagenomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from soil samples'.
The invention was developed by Suchitra J S, Ashwin Edakkara, and Bhaskar Pandey, students of MSc forensic science and BSc MSc forensic science (integrated). The team was led by assistant professor Sweta Nidhi and Singh, who is coordinator and in charge of the centre for wildlife forensics (CWF), NFSU Goa.
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The research work started in Feb 2024 and took one year to conceptualise, execute, and patent. Soil samples were collected from several parts of India, including Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, covering all eight types of soil present in the subcontinent.
The physical characteristics of the soil samples were recorded and processed for DNA isolation, and the standardisation and validation of the system took almost half a year. The extraction system is a German patent and will be accessible globally upon request.
