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The goal of the course is to provide students an opportunity to gain knowledge in forensic genetics and to understand how genetic applications can be used in forensic research. The course will cover a history of development of forensic genetics, the principles of forensic genetics and the applications of genetics in forensic science. The lecture course will include crime scene investigation, the biochemistry and genetics of blood groups, fingerprint analysis, the application of DNA analysis in forensic investigation, population genetics, the legal aspects of DNA evidence, the ethics of DNA database and New Zealand case studies. The practical content of the course will include latent fingerprint detection and analysis, methods of DNA extraction from crime scene samples and cheek swabs, analysis of microsatellites by the polymerase chain reaction.
PLEASE REFER TO COURSE OUTLINE BELOW FOR AN UP-TO-DATE LECTURE AND LAB TIMETABLELecture contents• Historical development of forensic science/genetics.• Crime scene investigation: how is this performed? • Conventional finger printing: genetics of finger prints, inheritance of finger prints.• Human sera: biochemical and genetic basis of human blood groups, population frequencies of blood group alleles, ethnic differences, semen analysis.• Principles of DNA profiling: what is a human genome? How do we analyse a genome? • DNA complexity, methods of analyses, heritability of DNA profiles, applications in criminal investigations and paternity dispute.• What are single locus and multilocus analyses? What are minisatellites and microsatellites and how do we analyse these genetic markers? How do we use these markers in a crime scene investigation?• What are short tandem repeat (STR) markers? How useful are these markers for forensic investigation?• Mitochondrial haplotypes, population and ethnic variations.• Ethics of non-criminal database and criminal database.• The forensic DNA laboratory and quality control.• DNA evidence in the Court of Law• Case studies.Practicals• Fingerprint matching analysis • Identification of blood samples, semen samples, and extraction and analysis of DNA from crime scene samples. The polymerase chain reactions: multilocus and single locus analysis. Real case analysis using New Zealand crime scene samples.
Entry subject to approval from Head of the School of Biological Sciences
Frank Sin
Library portalCourse Outline
It is essential that you are aware that plagiarism is considered a very serious offence by the Academic community, the University and the School of Biological Sciences. Plagiarism is defined as taking passages from another work or author and presenting it as if it is your own work. Plagiarism includes:• buying any form of assessed work e.g. essays, lab reports • re-use of previous assignments • copying of another student’s work (with or without their consent)• the unreferenced use of published material or material from the internet e.g. cutting and pasting of paragraphs or pages into an essay.For most pieces of in-term assessment you will be given information concerning the use of direct and indirect quotes from previously published work. If you are in any doubt about appropriate use of published material, please speak with a member of academic staff. If you are still unsure what plagiarism is, then seek advice. It is a School policy that courses may request you submit work electronically for subsequent analysis of originality using Turnitin. Students agree that by taking courses in BIOL, required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the Terms and Conditions of Use posted on the Turnitin.com site.
All assignments should be placed in the designated collection box in the foyer of the 4th floor of the School of Biological Sciences (near the Secretaries' Office), unless directed otherwise by the course co-ordinator. All assignments must be accompanied by a cover sheet signed by you stating that the submitted work is not plagiarised. Cover sheets are available on top of the collection boxes, or you can download one from the Biology website (under Undergraduate). In addition, you may also be asked to submit your work electronically (via Learn) for analysis in Turnitin. You will be given instructions on how to do this in the assignment handout. Marked assignments can be collected from the Secretaries' Office between the hours 9.30-10.30am and 1.30-2.30pm, unless directed otherwise by the course co-ordinator. Teaching staff will endeavour to return work as soon as possible, and should contact you if there are likely to be any delays that will prevent return within the maximum 4-week timeframe.
Domestic fee $690.00
International fee $3,225.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
Maximum enrolment is 35
For further information see School of Biological Sciences .