Software Developed by the NIST Forensics/Human Identity Project Team
As of April 2013, John M. Butler has moved to a new role supporting forensic science at NIST within the Office of Special Programs. The Human Identity Project Team is now under the direction of Peter M. Vallone, Applied Genetics Group Leader.
Team Members: Peter M. Vallone (Leader., Applied Genetics Group), Erica L.R. Butts, Michael D. Coble, David L. Duewer (Chemical Sciences Division), Katherine Gettings, Carolyn R. "Becky" Hill, Kevin Kiesler, and Margaret C. Kline
$Funding from the National Institute of Justice through the NIST Office of Law Enforcement Standards and the FBI Biometric Center of Excellence through the NIST Information Access Division
Disclaimer: The following software programs were developed for use in a research environment and are not guaranteed to work on all possible computer configurations. Email links are provided to the program developers if any questions arise.
AutoDimer (Pete Vallone)
Description: The AutoDimer software was developed to rapidly screen previously selected PCR primers for primer-dimer and hairpin interactions in short DNA oligomers (< 30 nucleotides). AutoDimer was originally created to assist in the development of multiplex PCR assays for probing STR and SNP markers for forensic purposes.
Links for Download: [Software Program - Visual Basic program] [Web-based Interface]
Reference: Vallone, P.M. and Butler, J.M. (2004) AutoDimer: a screening tool for primer-dimer and hairpin structures. Biotechniques, 37(2): 226-231.
Multiplex_QA (Dave Duewer)
Description: The Multiplex_QA system works in conjunction with the NIH-developed BatchExtract system to visualize short- and long-term changes in ABI 310 and 3100 electropherogram quality. BatchExtract converts ABI binary .fsa files into readily usable text data; Multiplex_QA uses these files to estimate and display quality metrics that capture changes in electropherographic resolution and efficiency. These metrics are mostly based on the behavior of the internal sizing ladder included with every sample. Several different graphical displays enable identifying unusual events over time scales ranging from a single .fsa file to all .fsa files from a given instrument.
Links for Download: (Warning: Large Files! Email for CD if you do not have a fast internet connection.) [Software Program (~300 kb WinZip file)] [User's Manual (~3 Mb pdf file)] [Example Dataset (~30 Mb WinZip files)]
Reference: Poster presented at NIJ DNA Grantees meeting June 28, 2005; Duewer, D.L. and Butler, J.M. (2006) Multiplex_QA: an exploratory quality assessment tool for multiplexed electrophoretic assays. Electrophoresis 27: 3735-3746.
mixSTR (Dave Duewer)
Description: The mixSTR system is an Excel-based tool, developed in collaboration with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, to help identify reference profiles in sets of mixed-source samples. Given allele lists for one or more evidentiary samples and all relevant suspect and control reference profiles, the mixSTR system provides detailed lists of the match and mismatch alleles among all samples and STR profiles. Sorted summaries of the percent of included alleles and loci for all comparisons are also provided. This tool is intended for use by forensic scientists working with mixed-source samples particularly cases involving a number of suspects.
Links for Download: [Software Program and example data files (~120kb WinZip files)]; mixSTR_Updated
Reference: Poster presented at NIJ DNA Grantees meeting June 28, 2005
Virtual MixtureMaker (Dave Duewer)
Description: Virtual MixtureMaker is an Excel-based tool developed to aid in sample selection for the recent NIST Mixture Interpretation Study (MIX05). This program performs a pairwise comparison of STR profiles in a dataset and reports the number of loci possessing 0,1,2,3,4,5, or 6 alleles in all possible two-person mixtures.
Links for Download: [Software Program - for Excel 2000, 2007] [Updated Software Program - for Excel 2010, 2013]
Reference: Poster presented at NIJ DNA Grantees meeting June 28, 2005
STR_ConvertFormats (Dave Duewer)
Description: DNA_ConvertFormats (formerly known as DNA_FSSi3_Convert) is an Excel-based tool developed to transform STR typing data from tables where every row contains information from a single locus (e.g., GeneMapperID output format) to a format where every row contains all typing results for a single sample (e.g., Genotyper table format).
Links for Download: [Software Program] (must enable Excel macros) - updated with new version 18 October 2017
Reference: See description in Becky Hill presentation at the Expert Systems Workshop held in conjunction with the 2nd Annual Present and Future Technological Advances in Human Identification Conference (Roanoke, VA), March 27, 2006, "NIST Experience with FSS-i3 software" [.pdf]
STR_MatchSamples (Dave Duewer)
Description: STR_MatchSamples is an Excel-based tool developed to aid comparison of STR genotypes from two or more data sets. The "Exact Match" function creates a list of all samples that are fully concordant at all loci between the samples being compared. The "Best Match" function compares each sample to all others to look for other samples in the data set with similar genotypes.
Links for Download: [Software Program] (must enable Excel macros) updated with new version 18 October 2017
Reference: See description in Becky Hill presentation at the Expert Systems Workshop held in conjunction with the 2nd Annual Present and Future Technological Advances in Human Identification Conference (Roanoke, VA), March 27, 2006, "NIST Experience with FSS-i3 software" [.pdf]
STR_AlleleFreq (Dave Duewer)
Description: STR_AlleleFreq is an Excel-based tool developed to help characterize heterozygous peak height ratios and allele frequencies from a data set involving short tandem repeat (STR) markers. Data input for this program includes one sheet with the allele calls and one with the corresponding peak heights. The user adjusts data filters by changing the minimum peak height and the maximum peak height. After downloading the program and saving it to your computer, enable Excel macros, go to the ControlPanel worksheet, and click the "Do It All" button at the top. You will be asked to select a worksheet containing the data set to be processed. An example data set has been provided.
Links for Download: [Software Program] (must enable Excel macros); [Example Data Set]; contact Becky Hill with questions on how to use the program
Reference: Results from this program first described in Hill, C.R., Duewer, D.L., Kline, M.C., Sprecher, C.J., McLaren, R.S., Rabbach, D.R., Krenke, B.E., Ensenberger, M.G., Fulmer, P.M., Stort, D.R., Butler, J.M. (2011) Concordance and population studies along with stutter and peak height ratio analysis for the PowerPlex® ESX 17 and ESI 17 Systems. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 5(4): 269-275.
STR_Genotype
(Dave
Duewer)
-
UPDATED Version from Dave Duewer - 2017
Description: STR_Genotype is an Excel-based tool developed to help calculate probability of identity and other population genetics metrics from a data set involving short tandem repeat (STR) markers. After downloading the program and saving it to your computer, enable Excel macros, go to the ControlPanel worksheet, and click the "Do It All" button at the top. You will be asked to select a worksheet containing the data set to be processed. An example data set has been provided.
Links for Download: [Software Program] (must enable Excel macros); [Example Data Set]; contact Becky Hill with questions on how to use the program
Reference: Results from this program first described in Hill, C.R., Duewer, D.L., Kline, M.C., Sprecher, C.J., McLaren, R.S., Rabbach, D.R., Krenke, B.E., Ensenberger, M.G., Fulmer, P.M., Stort, D.R., Butler, J.M. (2011) Concordance and population studies along with stutter and peak height ratio analysis for the PowerPlex® ESX 17 and ESI 17 Systems. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 5(4): 269-275.
STR_StutterFreq (Dave Duewer)
Description: STR_StutterFreq is an Excel-based tool developed to help characterize stutter frequencies from a data set involving short tandem repeat (STR) markers. The data input for this program should include data for each locus in separate worksheets with 50 allele calls, sizes, and peak heights listed. The user can adjust the numbers listed in red (min and max peak ht, max % stutter, and min # ratio) to filter data. The program user can change the direction of the stutter being analyzed -- either “Reverse” or “Forward”. The data analysis outputs to different spreadsheet tabs. After downloading the program and saving it to your computer, enable Excel macros, go to the ControlPanel worksheet, and click the "Do It All" button at the top. You will be asked to select a worksheet containing the data set to be processed. An example data set has been provided.
Links for Download: [Software Program] (Updated Aug. 28, 2020 - must enable Excel macros); [Example Data Set]; contact Becky Hill with questions on how to use the program
Reference: Results from this program first described in Hill, C.R., Duewer, D.L., Kline, M.C., Sprecher, C.J., McLaren, R.S., Rabbach, D.R., Krenke, B.E., Ensenberger, M.G., Fulmer, P.M., Stort, D.R., Butler, J.M. (2011) Concordance and population studies along with stutter and peak height ratio analysis for the PowerPlex® ESX 17 and ESI 17 Systems. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 5(4): 269-275.
Last Updated: 05/16/2016