An evaluation of the RapidHIT(®) system for reliably genotyping reference samples

Short tandem repeat (STR) typing is used routinely for associating or excluding individuals with biological evidence left at a crime scene. Improvements have been made to reduce the turnaround time and labor involved with profile generation, but there is still some lag time between sample collection and interpretation of results. The RapidHIT(®) (IntegenX; Pleasanton, CA, USA) system is an automated instrument that is configured to perform DNA extraction, bead-based DNA normalization, amplification, electrophoresis of PCR amplicons, and data analysis of five reference swabs simultaneously. The RapidHIT system provided reliable STR profiles from reference buccal swabs in approximately 90min with nominal "hands-on" sample loading time with no evidence of contamination between samples. The overall success rate of typing buccal swabs was comparable to standard typing systems. In the event of a failed run due to instrument failure, the swab can be removed from the cartridge and reanalyzed in the RapidHIT system or with standard STR genotyping workflows.