Laboratory part of team establishing baseline procedures for emerging field of bioforensics

Following the 2001 anthrax mail attacks it became clear to law enforcement and forensic scientists that high-quality procedures for the handling of bioagents used in alleged criminal activity were not standardized across research labs that were asked to respond.

Standardization would ensure that if the best laboratories in the nation are again asked to respond they will do so with confidence in their procedures. To resolve this issue, a scientific working group was established by the FBI and included Laboratory scientists.

The initial report of the Scientific Working Group on Microbial Genetics and Forensics was published in Thursday's issue of Science magazine. The article, "Microbial Forensics: Establishing Foundations in an Evolving New Field to Respond to Bioterrorism," calls for a dedicated national system to analyze evidence from a bioterrorism act, biocrime or inadvertent microorganism/toxin release.

"Law enforcement has had the traditional role and infrastructure for investigation of crimes and is now enhancing its capabilities to confront the new challenge of biological weapon usage and bioterrorism through partnership with the scientific community," according to the article. The first contribution of this working group is a set of guidelines for quality assurance to be used by labs conducting microbial forensics casework. The quality assurance guidelines also are in the same issue of Science online.

The Los Alamos member of the working group sub-team that developed the quality assurance guidelines is Babetta Marrone of the Laboratory's Bioscience (B) Division. Marrone leads the Department of Homeland Security's bioforensics program at the Laboratory and has worked in biodefense research for several years.

Following the 2001 attacks, Los Alamos bioscientists were involved in DNA analysis to inform law enforcement about the anthrax used in the attacks. "It was a privilege to bring the Los Alamos experience to the working group," said Marrone. "Our involvement in the forensics response to the events of 2001 gave us invaluable insight into the challenges faced by research laboratories when called upon suddenly to do forensics analysis. The quality assurance guidelines will be critical for preparing our future response."

According to the Science article, the scientific working group had to develop criteria for microbial forensics analyses so that the findings can be both scientifically sound and admissible in a court of law. The guidelines will provide a basis for establishing uniform quality benchmarks that can be used to evaluate laboratory performance, and assure the courts that the data provided by these analyses are reliable. The new quality assurance guidelines in bioforensics are based on the same standards used for human forensic DNA typing and other clinical laboratory standards.

"Laboratories and their scientists play an important role in countering bioterrorism," said Marrone. "By creating the tools used to identify the source of pathogens used in biocrime, and providing that data to law enforcement, investigators are one step closer to identifying the terrorists themselves."

In addition to the Laboratory, the Scientific Working Group on Microbial Genetics and Forensics team included the FBI Laboratory, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, the Department of Agriculture, the New York Department of Health, and Children's National Medical Center of Washington, D.C.

-- Kevin N. Roark

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