Automated decision support for associating an unknown biological specimen with a family

Computer apparatus for automatically selecting and typing a subset of available family members for DNA profiling to a missing person to identify or exclude a typed unknown biological specimen, the computer apparatus comprising a processor, an input device coupled to the processor, an output device coupled to the processor and a memory for storing profile data obtained from said typed unknown biological specimen coupled to the processor, the method comprising:

• (a) the memory for storing relationships between said missing person and said available family members in a pedigree via said input device;
• (b) the processor using the relative discriminating power of the pedigree with at least two combinations of said available family members to automatically select a combination of available family members for DNA typing;
• (c) the input device using a selected DNA typing technology for typing the automatically selected combination of available family members to obtain DNA profile data and the memory for storing said DNA profile data for said automatically selected combination;
• (d) the processor using the pedigree and said stored DNA profile data of said automatically selected combination to calculate a likelihood function value using an adaptation of an Elston Stewart algorithm between the stored profile data obtained from said typed unknown biological specimen and said stored profile data for said automatically selected combination of available family members;
• and
• (e) the output device outputting a decision whether said typed unknown biological specimen originates from said missing person and said pedigree or to exclude said typed unknown biological specimen as unrelated to the pedigree.

A computer program product with control instructions for implementing a computer-implemented method of automatically selecting and typing a subset of available family members for DNA profiling to a missing person to identify or exclude a typed unknown biological specimen for implementation on computer apparatus comprising a processor, an input device coupled to the processor, an output device coupled to the processor and a memory for storing profile data obtained from said typed unknown biological specimen coupled to the processor, the control instructions for the method comprising:

• (a) first computer instructions for storing relationships in said memory between said missing person and said available family members in a pedigree via said input device;
• (b) second computer instructions using the relative discriminating power of the pedigree with at least two combinations of said available family members to automatically select a combination of available family members for DNA typing;
• (c) third computer instructions for using a selected DNA typing technology for typing the automatically selected combination of available family members to obtain DNA profile data and storing said DNA profile data for said automatically selected combination in said memory;
• (d) fourth computer instructions using the pedigree and said stored DNA profile data of said automatically selected combination to calculate a likelihood function value using an adaptation of an Elston Stewart algorithm between the stored profile data obtained from said typed unknown biological specimen and said stored profile data for said automatically selected combination of available family members via said processor;
• and
• (e) fourth computer instructions outputting a decision whether said typed unknown biological specimen originates from said missing person and said pedigree or to exclude said typed unknown biological specimen as unrelated to the pedigree, the first through fourth computer instructions forming an instruction sequence.