Local biotech firm might help identify 9/11 victims

Princeton biotech firm Orchid Biosciences Inc. is developing a new technology to analyze the genes of Sept. 11 victims.

The New York City medical examiner's office is in the process of contracting the technology — called SNPstream UHT — to help authorities with the difficult task of identifying the remains of Sept. 11 victims that have been recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center.

Of the 2,800 people killed in the attacks, less than 1,500 have been identified.

Analysis of recovered samples was previously complicated by the long strand of DNA — 400 base pairs — needed to make the match.

Such long samples have become increasingly rare since the attacks because DNA degrades quickly. Orchid says that their SNP technology requires only about a quarter of that length, approximately 100 base pairs.

SNP technology has previously been available commercially to industries such as agriculture and medical diagnosis but has never been used for identification purposes.

Robert Shaler, chief of the New York medical examiner's office, said he had hoped SNP technology would have been implemented by September, but necessary adaptations are still being made to the process.

In a conference call held last week by an expert panel advising the medical examiner's office, the panel decided that more experiments need to be conducted before the technology can be used to identify World Trade Center victims.

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An inaccuracy of the technique might result in false identification of a victim, the panel said.

SNP technology consists of three straightforward steps to analyze the fragmented DNA.

First, samples are collected from remains recovered at the World Trade Center site, and reference samples are retrieved from the victim's personal items or close relatives. The genetic material from both sources is then amplified using a common technique in SNP analysis.

DNA samples are then analyzed for SNPs — one base differences that vary from person to person. Once the particular pattern of individual SNPs is identified, the trade center sample is compared to reference samples in an attempt to identify the victim.

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"I don't think there's any question it's going to be successful and that we're going to get new identifications out of it," Shaler told the Associated Press. "We just have to make sure it's the proper time to go ahead."

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)