National Technology Validation and Implementation Collaborative (NTVIC): Updated guidelines for establishing Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) programs

Ray A Wickenheiser^{1

2}, Jennifer Naugle³, Brian Hoey⁴, Rylene Nowlin⁵, Claire Glynn⁶, Raymond Valerio⁷, Lance Allen⁸, Stephanie Stoiloff⁹, Jennifer Kochanski¹⁰, Mary Beth Schubert¹¹, Melissa Haas¹², Dixie Peters¹³, Rachel Oefelein¹⁴, Rockne Harmon¹⁵, Barbara Llewellyn¹⁶, Trisha Kacer¹⁷, Blake Patel¹⁸, Paul Panther¹⁹, Colleen Fitzpatrick²⁰, Garry Bombard²¹, Alison Sears²², David Mittelman²³, Stacey Baker²⁴, Stephanie M Fullerton²⁵, Jessica Koong²⁶, Meredith Chambers²⁷, Melisa Wittkowske³, Ken Carrierre²⁸, Nichole Schwedelsky²⁸, Ted Liomanis²⁹, Michael Kelly²⁹, Stephen Smith²⁹, Jonathan Nauman³⁰, Tom Cober³⁰

Affiliations

¹ New York State Police Crime Laboratory System, Albany, NY, USA.
² Ray Wickenheiser Forensic Consulting, Youngsville, LA, USA.
³ Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Forensic Sciences, USA.
⁴ Missouri Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory Division, USA.
⁵ Idaho State Police Forensic Services, USA.
⁶ University of New Haven, Henry C Lee Institute of Forensic Science, USA.
⁷ Queens District Attorney's Office, USA.
⁸ Colorado Bureau of Investigation Forensic Services, USA.
⁹ Miami-Dade Police Department, Forensic Services Division, USA.
¹⁰ Arizona Department of Public Safety, USA.
¹¹ Retired Sacramento District Attorney, USA.
¹² Bode, USA.
¹³ Center for Human Identification, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, USA.
¹⁴ DNA Labs International, USA.
¹⁵ Forensic/Cold Case Consulting, USA.
¹⁶ Relationship Testing, AABB, USA.
¹⁷ Texas Department of Public Safety, USA.
¹⁸ Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Department, USA.
¹⁹ Idaho Attorney General's Office, USA.
²⁰ Identifinders International, USA.
²¹ Loyola University Chicago and Illinois State Police, USA.
²² NSW Police Force, Australia.
²³ Othram, USA.
²⁴ Palm Beach Sheriffs Office, USA.
²⁵ University of Washington School of Medicine, Bioethics and Humanities, USA.
²⁶ QIAGEN (GEDmatch), USA.
²⁷ West Virginia State Police Forensic Laboratory, USA.
²⁸ Calgary Police Service, Canada.
²⁹ Toronto Police Service, Canada.
³⁰ York Police Service, Canada.

PMID: 40677591
PMCID: PMC12269396
DOI: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2025.100593

Editorial

National Technology Validation and Implementation Collaborative (NTVIC): Updated guidelines for establishing Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) programs

Ray A Wickenheiser et al. Forensic Sci Int Synerg. 2025.

. 2025 Jun 27:11:100593.

doi: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2025.100593. eCollection 2025 Dec.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ New York State Police Crime Laboratory System, Albany, NY, USA.
² Ray Wickenheiser Forensic Consulting, Youngsville, LA, USA.
³ Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Forensic Sciences, USA.
⁴ Missouri Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory Division, USA.
⁵ Idaho State Police Forensic Services, USA.
⁶ University of New Haven, Henry C Lee Institute of Forensic Science, USA.
⁷ Queens District Attorney's Office, USA.
⁸ Colorado Bureau of Investigation Forensic Services, USA.
⁹ Miami-Dade Police Department, Forensic Services Division, USA.
¹⁰ Arizona Department of Public Safety, USA.
¹¹ Retired Sacramento District Attorney, USA.
¹² Bode, USA.
¹³ Center for Human Identification, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, USA.
¹⁴ DNA Labs International, USA.
¹⁵ Forensic/Cold Case Consulting, USA.
¹⁶ Relationship Testing, AABB, USA.
¹⁷ Texas Department of Public Safety, USA.
¹⁸ Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Department, USA.
¹⁹ Idaho Attorney General's Office, USA.
²⁰ Identifinders International, USA.
²¹ Loyola University Chicago and Illinois State Police, USA.
²² NSW Police Force, Australia.
²³ Othram, USA.
²⁴ Palm Beach Sheriffs Office, USA.
²⁵ University of Washington School of Medicine, Bioethics and Humanities, USA.
²⁶ QIAGEN (GEDmatch), USA.
²⁷ West Virginia State Police Forensic Laboratory, USA.
²⁸ Calgary Police Service, Canada.
²⁹ Toronto Police Service, Canada.
³⁰ York Police Service, Canada.

PMID: 40677591
PMCID: PMC12269396
DOI: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2025.100593

No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Dr. Ray Wickenheiser conducts forensic consulting and has provided services to Othram and Qiagen independent of this paper. Melissa Haas is currently employed by Bode Technology. Dr. David Mittelman is an employee of Othram Inc and there are no other competing interests or relevant affiliations with any organization or entity with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. Dr. Rachel Oefelein is employed by DNA Labs International, a private forensic testing laboratory providing services to law enforcement, attorneys, and government laboratories. Jessica Koong is an employee of Qiagen (GEDmatch).

References

1. Wickenheiser Ray A., Naugle Jennifer, Hoey Brian, Nowlin Rylene, Kumar Swathi A., Minton Alana, Allen Lance, Glynn Claire. National Technology Validation and Implementation Collaborative (NTVIC) policies and procedures for Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) Forensic Science International Synergy. 2023;6 doi: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2023.100316. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Wickenheiser Ray A., Naugle Jennifer, Hoey Brian, Nowlin Rylene, Kumar Swathi A., Kubinski Mark A., Glynn Claire, Valerio Raymond, Allen Lance, Stoiloff Stephanie, Kochanski Jennifer, Guerrini Christi, Marie Anne. Schubert National Technology Validation and Implementation Collaborative (NTVIC): guidelines for establishing Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) programs. Forensic Sci. Int.: Synergy (Faversham) 2023;7 doi: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2023.100446. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Greytak E., Moore C.C., Armentrout S.L. Genetic genealogy for cold case and active investigations. Forensic Sci. Int. 2019 doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.03.039. March 27. - DOI - PubMed
1. Wickenheise Ray A. Forensic genealogy, bioethics and the golden state killer case. Forensic Sci. Int.: Synergy. 2019;(Volume) 1:114–125. doi: 10.1016/j.fsisyn.2019.07.003. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Guerrini Christi J., Wickenheiser Ray A., Bettinger Blaine, McGuire Amy L., Fullerton Stephanie M. Four misconceptions about investigative genetic genealogy. Journal of Law and Biosciences. 13 April 2021:1–18. doi: 10.1093/jlb/lsab001. https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/8/1/lsab001/6188446?searchresult=1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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National Technology Validation and Implementation Collaborative (NTVIC): Updated guidelines for establishing Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) programs

Affiliations

National Technology Validation and Implementation Collaborative (NTVIC): Updated guidelines for establishing Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) programs

Authors

Affiliations

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources