EuroForMix: An open source software based on a continuous model to evaluate STR DNA profiles from a mixture of contributors with artefacts. Bleka, Ø., Storvik, G., & Gill, P. Forensic science international. Genetics, 21:35–44, March, 2016. Place: Netherlands
doi  abstract   bibtex   
We have released a software named EuroForMix to analyze STR DNA profiles in a user-friendly graphical user interface. The software implements a model to explain the allelic peak height on a continuous scale in order to carry out weight-of-evidence calculations for profiles which could be from a mixture of contributors. Through a properly parameterized model we are able to do inference on mixture proportions, the peak height properties, stutter proportion and degradation. In addition, EuroForMix includes models for allele drop-out, allele drop-in and sub-population structure. EuroForMix supports two inference approaches for likelihood ratio calculations. The first approach uses maximum likelihood estimation of the unknown parameters. The second approach is Bayesian based which requires prior distributions to be specified for the parameters involved. The user may specify any number of known and unknown contributors in the model, however we find that there is a practical computing time limit which restricts the model to a maximum of four unknown contributors. EuroForMix is the first freely open source, continuous model (accommodating peak height, stutter, drop-in, drop-out, population substructure and degradation), to be reported in the literature. It therefore serves an important purpose to act as an unrestricted platform to compare different solutions that are available. The implementation of the continuous model used in the software showed close to identical results to the R-package DNAmixtures, which requires a HUGIN Expert license to be used. An additional feature in EuroForMix is the ability for the user to adapt the Bayesian inference framework by incorporating their own prior information.
@article{bleka_euroformix_2016,
	title = {{EuroForMix}: {An} open source software based on a continuous model to evaluate {STR} {DNA} profiles from a mixture of contributors with artefacts.},
	volume = {21},
	copyright = {Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.},
	issn = {1878-0326 1872-4973},
	doi = {10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.11.008},
	abstract = {We have released a software named EuroForMix to analyze STR DNA profiles in a user-friendly graphical user interface. The software implements a model to  explain the allelic peak height on a continuous scale in order to carry out  weight-of-evidence calculations for profiles which could be from a mixture of  contributors. Through a properly parameterized model we are able to do inference  on mixture proportions, the peak height properties, stutter proportion and  degradation. In addition, EuroForMix includes models for allele drop-out, allele  drop-in and sub-population structure. EuroForMix supports two inference  approaches for likelihood ratio calculations. The first approach uses maximum  likelihood estimation of the unknown parameters. The second approach is Bayesian  based which requires prior distributions to be specified for the parameters  involved. The user may specify any number of known and unknown contributors in  the model, however we find that there is a practical computing time limit which  restricts the model to a maximum of four unknown contributors. EuroForMix is the  first freely open source, continuous model (accommodating peak height, stutter,  drop-in, drop-out, population substructure and degradation), to be reported in  the literature. It therefore serves an important purpose to act as an  unrestricted platform to compare different solutions that are available. The  implementation of the continuous model used in the software showed close to  identical results to the R-package DNAmixtures, which requires a HUGIN Expert  license to be used. An additional feature in EuroForMix is the ability for the  user to adapt the Bayesian inference framework by incorporating their own prior  information.},
	language = {eng},
	journal = {Forensic science international. Genetics},
	author = {Bleka, Øyvind and Storvik, Geir and Gill, Peter},
	month = mar,
	year = {2016},
	pmid = {26720812},
	note = {Place: Netherlands},
	keywords = {*Microsatellite Repeats, *Models, Genetic, *Software, Alleles, Artifacts, Bayes Theorem, DNA Fingerprinting/*methods, DNA/analysis/genetics, Forensic Genetics/*methods, Forensic statistics, Humans, Likelihood Functions, Open-source software, STR DNA interpretation, Sequence Analysis, DNA/*methods},
	pages = {35--44},
}

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