Date of Submission

5-16-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Advisor

Brooke Weinger Kammrath, Ph.D., D-ABC

Keywords

Raman Spectroscopy, DNA, Deoxyribonucleic Acid, DNA Degradation

MeSH

Spectrum Analysis, Raman, DNA

LCSH

Raman spectroscopy, DNA

Abstract

This experiment investigated if whether Raman spectroscopic analysis of a blood deposit degraded the DNA contained within. This research also investigated whether there is a difference in DNA degradation between a benchtop Raman and a portable Raman instrument, and also between blood deposits on different substrates (an aluminum foil control, white cotton, blue denim, and white polyester. Preliminary results showed that using Raman spectroscopy on the foil control and the organic fiber substrates did not appear to degrade DNA, while using benchtop Raman spectroscopy on polyester did degrade DNA. The portable Raman spectrometer did not degrade the polyester DNA much, with only one locus being impacted and had a peak height ratio below 0.65, the minimum ratio for a balanced DNA profile from a single donor. The data from this experiment gave us preliminary results because only nine samples were amplified and generated profiles using capillary electrophoresis. Further testing with larger-scale experiments is needed to confirm the results from this study.

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