Congress Program
11-13 September 2024

All Congress Sessions will be held at: Auditorio de Galicia

Congress Program
Tuesday 10th September
Tuesday 10th
16:30-17:30 Editorial Board Meeting
19:00-20:30 Opening Ceremony
20:30-21:30 Welcome Cocktail

All Congress Sessions will be held at: Auditorio de Galicia

Congress Program
Wednesday 11st September
Wednesday 11st
8:30-10:15
General Session 1
New Technologies

Chairpersons:
Maviky Lareu and Walther Parson
08.30 Charla Marshall (USA)
Plenary Lecture
09:15 O-01
Adam Staadig (Sweden)

Advancing Forensic Genetics with Ancient DNA Techniques: Comparative
Assessment of Three SNP Genotyping Approaches
09:30 O-02
Catarina Xavier (Portugal)

Challenging the performance of the FORCE hybridization capture assay
with difficult samples
09:45 O-03
Bethany Forsythe (Netherlands)

Leveraging mid-density SNP panels to aid in the large-scale
identification of the missing in Vietnam
10:00 O-04
Elena Zavala (USA)

Impact of DNA Degradation on the Accuracy of Probabilistic Genotyping
and Imputation of SNPs
10:15-11:45 Coffee Break and Poster Session 1
11:45-13:00
General Session 1:
New Technologies

Chairpersons:
Maviky Lareu and Walther Parson
11:45 O-05
Ane Elida Fonneløp (Norway)

Enhancing Forensic Investigations: Development of a Multiplex PCR Method with 12 Markers for Estimating the Time Since Deposition of Blood Stains
11:57 O-06
Ye-Lim Kwon (South Korea)

Denoising of microhaplotype MPS by computational correction and its application to mixed DNA analysis
12:09 O-07
Daniele Podini (USA)

Progress of the Microhaplotype Working Group towards the selection of a consensus core set of loci for forensic use.
12:21 O-08
Katherine Gettings (USA)

Recommendations of the ISFG DNA Commission on STR Sequence Nomenclature and Challenges with Implementation
12:33 O-09
Peter Vallone (USA)

NIST Research Grade Test Materials: A New Collaborative Effort to Address Measurement Challenges
12:45 Discussion
13:00-14:30
Lunch
Industry Lunch Symposium
13:00-14:00

Breaking Through: Overcoming Challenges in Human Identification

Click here to view the panelists and reserve your seat. (Registration is free, but room capacity is limited.)
This will include brief announcements on new innovations from Thermo Fisher Scientific, and a panel discussion with a diverse group of experts, focusing on key areas such as:
  • Complex mixture analysis
  • Degraded human remains samples & disaster victim identification
  • Phenotyping & body fluid identification
  • AI applications for forensic genetics
  • Building a more supportive and inclusive forensic community
 
14:30-15:45 General Session 2:
New Technologies and Human Identification
 

Chairpersons:
Lourdes Prieto and Antonio Alonso
14:30 O-10
Kaitlin Huffman
(USA)
Micromanipulated single cell subsampling, genetic analysis and probabilistic genotyping for complex mixture deconvolution
14:42 O-11
Emily Bibbo
(Australia)
Air DNA Forensics: A potential new tool in an investigator’s kit
14:54 O-12
Marie Anne Raj Antony Dass
(Australia)
Advancing forensic investigations in aquatic environments through environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis
15:06 O-13
Meghna Swayambhu
(Switzerland)
Exploring the potential of FORmics: “Forensic microbiome and metabolomics-based” approach for body fluid identification
15:18 O-14
Erik Francisco Bergseth
(Norway)
Forensic Genetics in Historical Context: Identifying 1742 Murder Suspects
15:30 O-15
Johannes Hedman
(Sweden)
Applying hyperplex PCR for mRNA-based cell type identification
15:45-16:45 Coffee Break and Poster Session 2
16:45-17:45 General Session 2:
Human Identification

Chairpersons:
Lourdes Prieto and Antonio Alonso
16:45 O-16
Klaas Slooten
(Netherlands)

Distinguishing between monozygotic twins in a victim-perpetrator DNA mixture
16:57 O-17
Mirna Ghemrawi
(USA)
OneShot: Developing a novel methodology for simultaneous genetic and epigenetic sequencing for forensic applications
17:09 O-18
Wojciech Branicki
(Poland)
DNA methylation in the AHRR gene can accurately identify tobacco smokers and may also be useful in predicting other lifestyle behaviours of a perpetrator
17:21 O-19
Magnus Dehli Vigeland
(Norway)
DIVIANA: A free, user-friendly app for complex DVI cases
17:33 O-20
David Ballard
(UK)
Comparison of forensically relevant large scale SNP panels for complex kinship analysis
18:00-18:15 Coffee Break
18:15-19:45 Working Group Meetings
More info
20:00

All Congress Sessions will be held at: Auditorio de Galicia

Congress Program
Thursday 12nd September
Thursday 12th
8:30-10:20
General Session 3:
Population Genetics and Forensic DNA Phenotyping

Chairpersons:
Leonor Gusmão and  Chris Phillips
08:30 María Martinon (Spain)
Plenary Lecture
09:20 O-21
Serena Aneli
(Italy)
Optimizing Ancestry Informative Markers selection for inferring biogeographical origin of migrant victims along the Central Mediterranean route
09:32 O-22
Heleen Coreelman
(Belgium)
From familial haplotype to evolutionary haplogroup: Are haplogroup predictions based on Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats accurate enough to identify biogeographical
09:44 O-23
Carola Sophia Heinzel
(Germany)
Classification in Biogeographical Analysis: When Does it Make Sense and What are the Alternatives?
09:56 O-24
Franziska Wilke
(USA)
Face-ing the Unknown: 3D Facial Prediction for Forensic Identification
10:08 O-25
Maria Wróbel
(Poland)
Towards DNA-based prediction of facial appearance – identification of novel loci shaping facial morphology
10:20-11:30 Coffee Break and Poster Session 3
11:30-13:00
General Session 4:
Forensic DNA Phenotyping

Chairpersons:
Leonor Gusmão and  Chris Phillips
11:30 Manel Esteller (Spain)
Plenary Lecture
12:20 O-26
Laura Schmelzer
(Germany)
Evaluation of DNA methylation sites neighboring STRs and iSNPs for potential body fluid determination and contributor assignment
12:35 O-27
Ewelina Pośpiech
(Poland)
Analysis of genetic and epigenetic data to infer an individual’s perceived age
12:50 Discussion
13:00-14:30
Lunch
Industry Symposium
13:00-14:00
Promega

13:00 – 13:15 Boosting Efficiency: Differential Extraction with Maxwell® DE
Stefan Kutranov, Promega Ibéria, Madrid, Spain
13:15 – 13:35 Challenging samples for the PowerPlex® 18E – Do shorter systems really make a difference?
Maximilian Neis, Institute of Legal Medicine, Cologne, Germany
13:35 – 14:00 Genetic identification of human remains in Mexico – Validation of the 8-dye PowerPlex® 35GY System with post-mortem altered tissues
Valentina Birne, Institute of Legal Medicine, Frankfurt, Germany
 
14:30-15:30 General Session 4:
Forensic DNA Phenotyping

Chairpersons:
Leonor Gusmão and  Chris Phillips
14:30 O-28
Wenting Zhao
(China)
Genetic prediction model of male-pattern hair loss based on DNA variants
14:42 O-29
Bo Min Kim
(South Korea)
DNA methylation-based organ tissue identification: marker identification, SNaPshot multiplex assay development, and interlaboratory comparison
14:54 O-30
Katja Anslinger
(Germany)
“Barcoding” the phenotype with PhenoTrivium+ Panel. A novel MPS assay for enhancing forensic DNA phenotyping of single cells
15:06 O-31
Miguel Boullón-Cassau
(Spain)
Exploring legal age estimation using DNA methylation
15:18 O-32
Susan Walsh
 (USA)
Towards quantitative eye color prediction from DNA using biometrically secure visual iris images
15:30-16:00 Coffee Break
16:00-17:30 Special Session: Peter Schneider Memorial

Chairpersons:
Angel Carracedo and John Butler
16:00-16:15 h. In Memorian:
Ángel Carracedo
(Spain) / John Butler (USA)
Round Table on DNA Transfer
16:15-17:30 h. Peter Gill (Norway) (Chair)
Bas Kokshoorn (Netherlands)
Mariya Goray (Australia)
Q&A Discussion
17:30-18:00 Break
18:00-19:30 General Assembly
20:00

All Congress Sessions will be held at: Auditorio de Galicia

Congress Program
Friday 13rd September
Friday 13th
8:30-10:30
General Session 5:
Statistics and Interpretation

Chairpersons
Corina Benschop
and Ana Mosquera
08:30 Duncan Taylor (Australia)
Plenary Lecture
09:15 O-33
Mikkel Meyer Andersen (Denmark)

Likelihood ratio calculations based on sequencing error analysis of shotgun sequencing data and dynamic SNP marker sets for human identification
09:30 O-34
Yuhan Hu (China)

Predicting the LR value of the mixed DNA profile using random forest regression for database searching
09:42 O-35
Séverine Nozownik (Switzerland)

Searching national DNA databases with complex DNA profiles: an empirical study using probabilistic genotyping
09:54 O-36
Charles Brenner (USA)

Mixtures and Baskerville data – what isn’t there can exonerate
10:06 O-37
Jerry Hoogenboom (Netherlands)

The Best of Everything: Modularizing and Combining Statistical Methods Into the Ultimate Forensic-Genetic Statistics Toolbox
10:18 O-38
Michael Nothnagel (Germany)

SMapper: Visualising spatial prevalence data while accounting for data sparseness and incompleteness
10:30-11:30 Coffee Break and Poster Session 4
11:30-12:45
General Session 5:
Statistics and Interpretation

Chairpersons
Corina Benschop
and Ana Mosquera
11:30 O-39
Marielle Vennemann (Germany)

TrACE: An Expert-Driven Proficiency Test for Forensic Genetics and Genomics
11:42 O-40
Zehra Köksal (Denmark)

PHYLOIMPUTE – Impute missing data on non-recombining DNA using SNP phylogeny
11:54 O-41
Marisa Faustino (Portugal)

The Challenge of X Chromosome Aneuploidies in Kinship Analyses
12:06 O-42
Lydie Samie (Switzerland)

Evaluation of DNA results considering activities: practical challenges
12:18 O-43
Jeppe Dyrberg Andersen (Denmark)

Whole transcriptome sequencing and investigative genetic genealogy – Is it possible?
12:33 O-44
Nathan Scudder (Australia)

Driving policy and engagement through an International Roundtable for Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy
12:45-14:30
Lunch
Industry Symposium
12:45-14:00

13:00 – 13:20 Introduction to Reverse Complement PCR (RC-PCR) and IDseek® Forensic Kit Portfolio
Pieter van Oers, Sr. Manager Business Development Forensics. NimaGen
13:20 – 13:40 Introduction to Reverse Complement PCR (RC-PCR) and IDseek® Forensic Kit Portfolio
Pieter van Oers, Sr. Manager Business Development Forensics. NimaGen
13:40 – 14:00 IDseek® Library Normalization kits, qPCR assays for relative read depth normalization
Joop Theelen, CSO. NimaGen
 
14:30-15:40 General Session 6:
Genetic Genealogy

Chairpersons
Marielle Vennemann and Denise Syndercombe-Court
14:30 Andreas Tillmar (Sweden)
Plenary Lecture
15:15 O-45
Monika Stoljarova-Bibb (Estonia)

Getting intelligence with Kintelligence: analysis of known pedigrees and progress report on ongoing cases
15:27 O-46
Jessica Watson (Australia)

Analysing the Impact of Information Loss on Kinship Analysis with the ForenSeq® Kintelligence Kit
15:40-16:25 Coffee Break
16:25-18:00 General Session 7:
Ethics

Chairpersons
Marielle Vennemann
and Denise Syndercombe-Court
16:25 O-47
Vanessa Lynch (South Africa)

Disclosure of Biological Sex May Impact Gender and Other Privacy Concerns
16:37 O-48
Martin Zieger (Switzerland)

Dealing with incidental findings in Forensic Genetics
16:49 O-49
Carlo Robino (Italy)

Ethical Standards in Forensic Population Genetics – A Systematic Review of Forensic Science International: Genetics Publications
17:01 O-50
Martin Bodner (Austria)

Informed consent for forensic population studies: a call for harmonization

Closing Ceremony

17:15 Closing Ceremony
20:30 Gala Dinner
more info