Turn a transfer question into a study someone can run

ForensiSearch helps forensic DNA scientists design studies on how DNA moves, stays and is recovered. You describe the scenario. It works through the design with you and drafts the protocol.

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A secondary transfer scenarioPerson A shakes hands with person B. Person B then grips a knife handle. The handle is swabbed an hour later. The question is whether person A's DNA reaches the handle, and how much.APerson Athe donorBPerson Bthe go-betweenKnife handleswabbed at 60 minHandshake, 10 sGrips handle, 30 sDoes A's DNA reach the handle, and how much?

Why it exists

“Could the accused's DNA have reached the knife without them ever touching it?”

Courts ask some version of this question all the time. Scientists answer it with published transfer studies. Often those studies don't quite match the case. The surface is different, or the delay, or the number of contacts.

Closing those gaps takes new studies. Good ones are slow to design, and labs often repeat each other's work without knowing it. ForensiSearch makes the design faster. Later, it will help labs see who is already working on what.

How a project works

Four stages, in the same order a supervisor and student would work through a new study.

  1. Describe the scenario

    Pick the body fluid, each transfer step, the surfaces, the delay and what your study will vary. Or paste a passage from a court decision and let the form fill itself.

  2. Make the design decisions

    Answer the method questions this scenario raises, such as how items are cleaned. Each comes with a recommended answer and the reason for it.

  3. Settle the details

    Answer the follow-up questions your stage 2 choices lead to, such as how a shedder test is run.

  4. Get the outputs

    Generate the project outline and ethics brief. Download them as Word or PDF, then the Excel workbook once you confirm the design.

What you leave with

Project outline
A draft protocol in fourteen sections, from aims to analysis. Download it as Word or PDF.
Ethics brief
A draft for your research ethics board, laid out to TCPS 2 or a generic format.
Project workbook
An Excel file with every sample in processing order, the data capture sheet, controls and a schedule.
Dependency map
A drawing of how each part of the scenario leads to the result, with the variables you test marked.

Where it is going

  1. Now

    The project generator, and a shared board where you can post a project or a question under an anonymous handle and message other members privately.

  2. Next

    Matching posts to each other, so you can see who else is working on the same scenario.

  3. Later

    A literature index in the same terms as the generator, a scan of new court decisions, a map of where the research gaps are, and a home for unpublished data.

Good to know

Your projects are private to you. Nothing is shared unless you choose to post it to the board, and then only the scenario summary and design numbers, under your anonymous handle.

Drafts are written with Claude and are not reviewed by anyone. They cite no papers. Instead, they mark each place where a literature check is needed. Nothing here is advice for casework.

Have a scenario in mind?

Start from the worked example to see a finished design, then change it to fit your question.

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