Priority Action Report

Biology/DNA SAC

George Herrin, Jr., Ph.D.

February 13, 2017
Subcommittee Leadership

Position Name Organization Term Email

Chair George Herrin, Jr., 

Ph.D.

Georgia Bureau of 

Investigation

4 george.herrin@gbi.ga.gov

Vice Chair Angelo Della Manna Alabama Department of 

Forensic Sciences

3 a.dellamanna@adfs.alabama.gov

Executive 

Secretary

Deedra Hawk Wyoming Forensic Fish 

and Wildlife

3 deedee.hawk@wyo.gov

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Subcommittee Members

# Name Organization Term Email

1 Kimberly Murga – DNA 1 Chair Las Vegas Metropolitan Police 

Department

3 K10140M@lvmpd.com

2 Robyn Ragsdale, Ph.D. – DNA 

2 Chair

Florida Department of Law 

Enforcement

4 robynragsdale@fdle.state.fl.us

3 Kimberly Frazier – Wildlife 

Chair

Wyoming Fish & Game Department 4 kim.frazier@wyo.govv

4 John Butler, Ph.D. NIST 3 john.butler@nist.gov

5 Thomas Callaghan, Ph.D. FBI 3 thomas.callaghan@ic.fbi.gov

6 Robin Cotton, Ph.D. Boston University 4 rwcotton@bu.edu

7 Philip Danielson, Ph.D. University of Denver 4 pdaniels@du.edu

8 Simone Gittelson, Ph.D. NIST 3 simone.gittelson@nist.gov

9 Bruce Weir, Ph.D. University of Washington 3 bsweir@uw.edu

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Discipline Description

The purpose of the Biology/DNA Scientific 

Area Committee is to review and develop 

standards and guidelines related to DNA 

and serological techniques used in forensic 

analyses of human and wildlife evidence.

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Biology/DNA SAC Goal

Standards and guidelines that facilitate 

analyses of biological evidence using 

scientifically rigorous methods that are 

consistent between and within 

laboratories.

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Strategic Plan

• Focus on documents other than the FBI Quality Assurance 

Standards since the QAS is legally mandated for labs which 

participate in CODIS. The QAS is controlled by SWGDAM.

• Standards or guidelines must be based on scientific principles 

• Foundational documents that enhance the consistency and 

compatibility of personnel and laboratory practices

• Modular, specific documents that can be more easily updated to 

keep pace with changing technologies 

• The Academy Standards Board (ASB) has been selected as the 

most appropriate Standards Development Organization (SDO) 

for Biology/DNA documents

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Types of Standards

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Method 

Validation

Training & 

Education

Methods Data 

Interpretation

Reporting
Biology/DNA Document Process

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Subcommittee 

develops document 

(SDO 100)

OSAC units review 

(SDO 200 - 600)

Draft document 

sent to SDO 

(SDO 700)
Summary of Priority Projects

Priority OSAC 

Process Working Title of Document

1 N/A Terminology document – over 440 terms relevant to 

forensic biology or wildlife forensics

2 SDO 700 Standard for Validation of Probabilistic Genotyping Systems

3 SDO 700 Standard for Verification of Mixture Interpretation 

Procedures

4 SDO 700 Wildlife Forensics General Standard

5 SDO 700 Wildlife Forensics Reporting Standard

6 SDO 700 Wildlife Forensics Morphology Standard

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Biology/DNA SAC Next Steps

•Continue to review documents developed by 

subcommittees

•Work with ASB to continue progress on 

documents submitted

•Review any relevant ASB standards for 

possible inclusion on the OSAC registry

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THANK YOU !!

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