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                            Funding & Awards
 Developing Reliable Methods for Microbial Fingerprinting of Soil Evidence: Collection, Contamination, Storage, and Analysis
Award Information
Awardee
              Michigan State University
Award #
              2015-DN-BX-K031
Funding Category
              Competitive
Location
                    East Lansing, MI
Awardee County
              Ingham
Congressional District
              8
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2015
Total funding (to date)
              $219,127
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY 15 Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2015, $219,127)
As submitted by the proposer: Soil is a valuable form of trace evidence owing to its potential to link a victim, suspect, or evidence to a crime scene. Traditional soil analysis only assesses physical and chemical characteristics in soils, making individualization difficult or impossible. Bacterial populations within soil offer deeper resolution, allowing more objective, definitive characterization of soil to a location of origin. A snapshot of the bacterial population in a soil sample can be produced through next-generation sequencing, which creates massive amounts of data while remaining cost effective. Recent NIJ-funded research at Michigan State University revealed the potential of next-generation sequencing in producing soil bacterial profiles. Soils from diverse and similar habitats, across time and space within a habitat, and from stored evidentiary items were tested, all of which resulted in successful differentiation of diverse soils and accurate assignment to locations of origin. However, only a limited number of variables that may exist at a crime scene could be considered. The proposed research will expand on these findings and examine previously unconsidered factors that may affect bacterial profiles. First, the minimum amount of soil needed to produce a bacterial profile will be determined. Next, depth samples from various habitats, as may occur with burials, will be tested. Prior research showed that woodlot soil on evidence had predictable bacterial changes with time, however the potential of this biological clock needs to be examined using other soil types and over longer periods of time. The effect of perspiration or blood on soil profiling will also be examined. Finally, several blind studies assessing all of these factors will be performed.
Data analysis must also be rigorously examined if any new technique is to gain a footing in forensics. Previously, combinations of analysis methods proved to be effective for interpreting the massive datasets produced from next-generation sequencing. Bacterial abundance charts and nonmetric multidimensional scaling plots provided visualization tools, useful for an expert witness, while a supervised classification technique provided objective assignments of soils back to their location of origin. None of these produce a statistical measure of soil similarity/difference or confidence in assignment however, thus identifying and testing several supervised classification techniques is critical for determining which best meets the needs of the forensic community.

This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law.

ca/ncf



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Bacterial Profiling of Soil For Forensic Investigations: Consideration of Ex Situ Changes in Questioned and Known Soil Samples
                  Developing Reliable Methods for Microbial Fingerprinting of Soil Evidence: Collection, Contamination, Storage, and Analysis
                  Time Radically Alters Ex Situ Evidentiary Soil 16S Bacterial Profiles Produced Via Next-Generation Sequencing
                  Solving Crimes with Soil Bacteria

  
Date Created: September 16, 2015
    
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                      Strengthening Scientific Foundations for Advancing Best Practices in the Collection, Storage, Analysis, and Interpretation of Organic and Inorganic Gunshot Residues
                  Meeting the Ongoing, Urgent, Unmet Needs of Uvalde Residents After the Robb Elementary School Shooting
                  Democratizing investigative genetic genealogy
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