Service overview

We analyse evidence from break and enters, stolen motor vehicles, armed robberies, drug offences, sexual assaults, homicides and more. We also support missing persons investigations.

Our experts examine unidentified human remains using advanced DNA recovery methods and specialised analysis including mitochondrial DNA sequencing, and prediction of ancestry and external visible characteristics.

Forensic Biology/DNA Laboratory

Our team is capable of processing, analysing and interpreting a high volume of DNA samples; one of the largest capacities available in the Southern Hemisphere.

We manage up to 100,000 DNA crime samples each year using a fully-automated robotic system, and generate DNA profiles from individuals sampled during criminal or coronial investigations.

Our forensic biologists use sophisticated probabilistic genotyping software to interpret complex DNA data with contributions from multiple individuals in varying quantities and varying states of environmental degradation.

We provide time-critical support to police early in their investigations. We can report links on the DNA database in under 12 hours of receipt of a sample. Approximately 20,000 links are reported annually matching DNA to individuals or linking different crime events, providing valuable information to police.

Searching DNA databases for potential relatives of offenders is carried out, generating investigative leads.  We can also help exclude individuals as the source of DNA found at a crime scene.

Watch a video of our DNA experts at work