A Novel On‐Chip Method for Differential Extraction of Sperm in Forensic Cases

Authors

• Fatih Inci, Stanford University
• Mehmet O. Ozen, Stanford University
• Yeseren Saylan, Stanford University
• Morteza Miansari, Stanford University
• Duygu Cimen, Stanford University
• Raghu Dhara, Stanford University
• Thiruppathiraja Chinnasamy, Stanford University
• Mehmet Yuksekkaya, Harvard Medical School
• Chiara Filippini, Harvard Medical School
• Deepan Kishore Kumar, Harvard Medical School
• Semih Calamak, Stanford University
• Yusuf Yesil, Stanford University
• Naside Gozde Durmus, Stanford University
• George Duncan, Broward County Sheriff's OfficeFollow
• Leonard Klevan, DxNow Inc.
• Utkan Demirci, Stanford University

ORCID

0000-0002-4931-5316

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Advanced Science

ISSN

2198-3844

Publication Date

6-2018

Keywords

Bioinspired materials, Differential extraction, DNA casework backlog, Forensic cases, Microfluids

Abstract

One out of every six American women has been the victim of a sexual assault in their lifetime. However, the DNA casework backlog continues to increase outpacing the nation's capacity since DNA evidence processing in sexual assault casework remains a bottleneck due to laborious and time‐consuming differential extraction of victim's and perpetrator's cells. Additionally, a significant amount (60–90%) of male DNA evidence may be lost with existing procedures. Here, a microfluidic method is developed that selectively captures sperm using a unique oligosaccharide sequence (Sialyl‐LewisX), a major carbohydrate ligand for sperm‐egg binding. This method is validated with forensic mock samples dating back to 2003, resulting in 70–92% sperm capture efficiency and a 60–92% reduction in epithelial fraction. Captured sperm are then lysed on‐chip and sperm DNA is isolated. This method reduces assay‐time from 8 h to 80 min, providing an inexpensive alternative to current differential extraction techniques, accelerating identification of suspects and advancing public safety.

DOI

10.1002/advs.201800121

Volume

2018

Issue

1800121

First Page

1

Last Page

12

Comments

© 2018 The Authors. Published by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

NSUWorks Citation

Inci, Fatih; Mehmet O. Ozen; Yeseren Saylan; Morteza Miansari; Duygu Cimen; Raghu Dhara; Thiruppathiraja Chinnasamy; Mehmet Yuksekkaya; Chiara Filippini; Deepan Kishore Kumar; Semih Calamak; Yusuf Yesil; Naside Gozde Durmus; George Duncan; Leonard Klevan; and Utkan Demirci. 2018. "A Novel On‐Chip Method for Differential Extraction of Sperm in Forensic Cases." Advanced Science 2018, (1800121): 1-12. doi:10.1002/advs.201800121.