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All,

I've got an interesting request from a producer who is working on a pilot
episode of a television program and looking for help explaining DNA to
television viewers.  Her request follows -- if you have something you are
willing to share (or any questions), please contact me off-line and I will
pass it along...

"Cosgrove Meurer Productions (the same company who created and produced the
acclaimed series 'Unsolved Mysteries' is producing a pilot for Court TV
entitled 'Cold Clues.'  Our show highlights how investigators use forensic
science to solve cold cases.
 
In our pilot episode, we examine a 28-year-old rape and murder of a young
college student in rural New York State.  At the time of the murder, in
1975, investigators believed they knew who the killer was but they didn't
have enough evidence to prove it.  Eventually, the case went cold.  In 2000,
a cold case investigator had the DNA sample tested to see if the killer was
in the state or national DNA database.  When he didn't show up,
investigators went back to their original suspect.  They secured a straw
that he discarded at a diner and brought it in for testing.  Forensic
scientists extracted a DNA sample from the saliva and compared it to the
semen sample.  They had a match.  Using this evidence, the investigators
brought the killer to justice in 2004.

We are looking for a way to explain to our viewers in layman's terms exactly
what DNA is.  We would like to illustrate this through slides, photographs
and/or video.  We would also like to show our viewers what it looks like
when two samples are compared and matched up.  For example, if we were
comparing a fingerprint from a crime scene and comparing it to a fingerprint
from a suspect we would be able to see the points where they match up.  We
are hoping to do the same thing with the alleles that are compared between
two DNA samples to illustrate that it is the same person in sample A and
sample B."

Thanks,
Sean Smith
Director, Government & Public Relations
Association of Science-Technology Centers
202-783-7200 x113
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