Lab on the beat

A portable DNA device that promises to dramatically reduce the amount of time spent analysing crime scenes is expected to begin government Forensic Science Service trials in the next two years.

The system, under development at the University of Southampton, could cut the time it takes to analyse a DNA sample from a couple of days to a couple of hours.

Prof Stephen Haswell, who heads the project at the university’s chemistry department, said that the idea came from earlier work that his department had done into the use of micro-fluidics to analyse chemical compounds.

Micro-fluidics uses miniaturised chips that have a network of microscopic channels etched on to the glass surface. According to Haswell, this process has three unique properties. The first is that the liquid is mixed using a slow diffusion process, and as the sample moves from channel to channel the chemist retains a high degree of control over where and when the chemical reacts.