Date of Submission

5-11-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Forensic Science

Advisor

David San Pietro

Keywords

DNA Analysis, Forensic Analysis, DNA Damage, DNA Repair Kit, UV-Radiation, Short Tandem Repeat (STR)

MeSH

DNA, DNA Damage, DNA Repair, Ultraviolet Rays

LCSH

DNA—Analysis, Ultraviolet radiation, DNA damage, DNA repair

Abstract

DNA analysis is heavily relied upon in forensic analyses. It can be expected that certain forensically relevant samples — i.e. those recovered from a crime scene, and which have been outside of the body and exposed to environmental conditions— will have undergone some form of damage or degradation. This causes the loss of important information. The purpose of this research was to compare how effectively two commercial DNA repair kits, PreCR® Repair Mix and Restorase® DNA Polymerase, were able to restore STR profiles in damaged samples. The experiments in this study were conducted using DNA extracted from human blood. Samples were damaged by exposure to UV-radiation in a UV Crosslinker for thirty (30) seconds. The Short Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis focused on examining changes in allele calls, peak heights, and peak height ratios following sample damage and subsequent repair. In addition to the repair aVempts using both individual kits, an additional repair trial was performed using a combination of the two. The PreCR® Repair Mix was able to successfully restore information from damaged samples. The usage of Restorase® did not result in any level of repair. This method appeared to have interfered with the amplification and analysis process, impeding data collection. A combination of the two methods yielded minimal results and showed liVle success in the repair aVempt. Under the condi5ons of this experiment, the PreCR® Mix was shown to be the most effective method in repairing damaged DNA.

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