Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
A police sergeant stood in front of my Criminology class, giving a dragging presentation on what it’s like to work in Law Enforcement for your entire life. He spoke slowly about how he knew from a young age that he wanted to join the force, influenced by his family. He proceeded to go around the classroom, asking what we wanted to do when we get older. There were plenty of future police officers and lawyers, along with a milkman and circus clown …show more content…
When his face broke into a smile and he nodded at me, I knew I’d come up with something good. The CODIS is the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Combined DNA Indexing System, and it is made of around twelve million profiles. Each profile holds thirteen bits of genetic sequences. Although the overwhelming majority of DNA in humans is identical, certain parts, including the 13 loci, are unique, making the chance of having two identical profiles practically impossible. Although the chance of twin profiles is miniscule, the chance of issue is already present. Profiles belong to individuals that have left their genetic information lying around crime sites, that have been involved in sexual assault, or that have been convicted of crimes. It’s easy to figure out if someone is a match for a current profile when they’re in custody, but what if the information belongs to an unknown offender? There is so much fear behind a statement of a criminal still being at large; securing the identities of a number of offenders can help satiate the panic. If a world can be created where we can be assured that people who are leading any level of government, teaching children, or are working anywhere federally funded aren’t the same people whose DNA composes the criminal indexes, I want to help create this safer …show more content…
As a long term project, and especially as one that involves entirely heritable DNA from mitochondria, the service could be used with purposes of identifying families, genealogy, or even long lost twins. Similar to following medical problems within a family, profiles belonging to those giving consent can be used to help follow medical problems within the country. Results would be able to reveal patterns in heritability, providing valuable information to curious citizens in a growing community and renowned researchers
A police sergeant stood in front of my Criminology class, giving a dragging presentation on what it’s like to work in Law Enforcement for your entire life. He spoke slowly about how he knew from a young age that he wanted to join the force, influenced by his family. He proceeded to go around the classroom, asking what we wanted to do when we get older. There were plenty of future police officers and lawyers, along with a milkman and circus clown …show more content…
When his face broke into a smile and he nodded at me, I knew I’d come up with something good. The CODIS is the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Combined DNA Indexing System, and it is made of around twelve million profiles. Each profile holds thirteen bits of genetic sequences. Although the overwhelming majority of DNA in humans is identical, certain parts, including the 13 loci, are unique, making the chance of having two identical profiles practically impossible. Although the chance of twin profiles is miniscule, the chance of issue is already present. Profiles belong to individuals that have left their genetic information lying around crime sites, that have been involved in sexual assault, or that have been convicted of crimes. It’s easy to figure out if someone is a match for a current profile when they’re in custody, but what if the information belongs to an unknown offender? There is so much fear behind a statement of a criminal still being at large; securing the identities of a number of offenders can help satiate the panic. If a world can be created where we can be assured that people who are leading any level of government, teaching children, or are working anywhere federally funded aren’t the same people whose DNA composes the criminal indexes, I want to help create this safer …show more content…
As a long term project, and especially as one that involves entirely heritable DNA from mitochondria, the service could be used with purposes of identifying families, genealogy, or even long lost twins. Similar to following medical problems within a family, profiles belonging to those giving consent can be used to help follow medical problems within the country. Results would be able to reveal patterns in heritability, providing valuable information to curious citizens in a growing community and renowned researchers