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Gender identification of human hair using fluorescence in situ hybridization
J A Prahlow1, P E Lantz, K Cox-Jones
1Department of Pathology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Journal of Forensic Sciences
|November 1, 1996
Abstract:
Identification of the gender of hair represents relevant medicolegal evidence in criminal cases. The efficacy of Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) using chromosome X and Y centromeric probes was tested to determine its ability to identify correctly the gender of hair. In this preliminary study, FISH correctly identified the gender of cells from hair as old as 26 days. The technique is accurate, rapid, sensitive, easily performed, and readily available. As a forensic laboratory technique, FISH shows great promise.