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Many new and exciting applications in several and vastly different fields are opening up for DNA fingerprinting technology, according to Benaras Hindu University Vice-Chancellor Lalji Singh.
The potential of DNA fingerprinting technology, developed first in the country by the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology was immense for future applications, Singh said while delivering the Dr Y. Nayudamma Memorial Lecture after receiving the Nayudamma Award here on Saturday.
Lalji Singh was the director of the CCMB when the technology was developed and he is also a pioneering researcher in the field.
He explained to the audience the structure of the DNA and how the technology was developed by CCMB over a period of time and how long it took for the Indian judiciary to accept it as irrefutable evidence in many cases.
He also narrated his experiences with the judiciary in a lighter vein, in the process of getting the technology accepted by the courts.
“DNA fingerprinting is not merely useful in crime detection, as perceived popularly, but it has applications in many areas such as medical diagnosis, pedigree analysis, sex selection in animals, wildlife conservation and even ascertaining human origins,’’ he said.
Originally, DNA/genetic fingerprinting strategies involved hybridisation-based methods using multi-locus and single locus probes.
But subsequently the discovery of polymerace chain reaction was a major breakthrough not only for biological sciences but also for forensic investigation. It is a third generation technology, he added.
In several sensational cases such Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassination case, tandoor-murder case, Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, DNA technology was used, he said.
Recently a technique for wildlife forensics was developed in the country for which a patent was also obtained. Nearly 300 cases of wildlife forensics had been solved using the technology, he added.
On the emerging fourth generation DNA fingerprinting technology, involving human genome analysis, Lalji Singh said the centre had the latest DNA sequencer capable of sequencing one entire human genome within weeks which earlier used to take years.
“As technologies advances, we can cut down on costs and time involved and many of them can be commercialised for the benefit of the common man,’’ the scientist said.
Earlier, Singh received the award from Ratheish Nayudamma, Chairman of the trust and son of Y. Nayudamma.
P. Vishnu Murthy, founder and managing trustee of the Nayudamma Trust, read the citation. R. Sampath, Chairman of the award selection committee, presided over the meeting.
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