At this current point in time if we had to match a person’s DNA against a forensically obtained sample what’s the fastest we could accomplish this given current testing equipment?
Sorry mis-posted - This belongs in GQ would a mod please move.
I reported it to a mod for moving, but my take on the situation is probably a week if they really pushed it. I think DNA ID is more of a month or more situation normally for forensic labs. If you go to a private lab it is probably in the week category. I think one of the main hold ups is in cloning the sections of DNA that you are targeting.
http://www.dnatestingcentre.com/testing.htm Home testing can be done within a week according to these people.
I would think it could be done within several hours. All it takes is RFLP, VNTR, or PCR analysis, all of which can be done in a day. I think the limiting factor would be the amount of original sample with RFLP and VNTR analysis, but certain types of PCR (nested PCR, RT-PCR) are extremely sensitive and can be performed from a single cell.
I feel safe in saying, it takes longer than an episode of CSI lasts.
Ten Little Indians would have been a lot different had it taken place in a modern forensics lab.