{"id":24617,"date":"2013-10-10T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T10:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=24617"},"modified":"2013-10-10T10:44:30","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T14:44:30","slug":"its-no-mystery-why-detective-writers-love-wright-state-dna-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2013\/10\/10\/its-no-mystery-why-detective-writers-love-wright-state-dna-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s no mystery why detective writers love Wright State DNA expert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

One of biological sciences professor Dan Krane's popular presentations is "The Science (and Pseudoscience) of DNA Profiling," which shows audiences why DNA profiling is the gold standard of forensic science.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mystery writers and detective novelists from around the nation now have a better grasp of DNA testing thanks to Dan Krane, a Wright State University biology professor and one of the world\u2019s foremost DNA experts.<\/p>\n

Krane, Ph.D., was the keynote speaker at this year\u2019s annual Writers Police Academy in Jamestown, N.C., just outside of Greensboro. Mystery writers flock to the academy to come up with story plots that are accurate and authentic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to make a more interesting and more realistic story,\u201d Krane said.<\/p>\n

The academy not only features talks from experts\u2014Marcia Clark, head prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder case, was last year\u2019s keynote speaker\u2014but it also offers the writers an up-close view of law enforcement techniques, practices and inside knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very intensive experience,\u201d Krane said. \u201cLaw enforcement treats it like one of their training sessions. The writers will go on stakeouts, break down doors and all sorts of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the writers have landed books on The New York Times<\/em> bestseller list. April Henry, whose co-written thriller Face of Betrayal<\/em> was on the list for four weeks, has attended the academy several times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this one place I can talk to a firearms expert, experience realistic firearms scenarios, hear from a woman who works as an undercover prostitute, learn from a scientist who has had top-secret clearance for her work with bioweapons, hear from a recently retired Secret Service agent, learn handcuffing techniques and practice them, practice clearing a building, talk to a sniper. The list goes on and on,\u201d Henry said. \u201cAnd thanks to Dan, I now have a watertight plot for the book I\u2019m writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krane graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from John Carroll University in 1985 and obtained a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Penn State in 1990. He did post-doctoral research at Washington University and Harvard before accepting a faculty appointment at Wright State in 1993.<\/p>\n

Krane has testified as an expert witness in more than 100 criminal trials in which DNA evidence was presented and was a consultant in the O.J. Simpson trial.<\/p>\n

In 2002, Krane founded Forensic Bioinformatics, a company that reviews and evaluates DNA data for defense attorneys. The company uses a special software developed by Wright State to analyze massive amounts of data. Forensic Bioinformatics receives such requests in as many as 1,000 cases a year.<\/p>\n

The company was involved in the first challenge to DNA testing results in the history of the United Kingdom, a case in which the judge raised questions about the reliability of DNA testing in the United Kingdom as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cLess than 1 percent of all cases involving DNA evidence are critically reviewed,\u201d Krane said. \u201cAnything we can do to nudge that needle up a little bit is something I\u2019m after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krane said DNA profiling is the gold standard of forensic science, but a standard that can be improved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people are convicted on the basis of DNA testing, I want them to be convicted for the right reasons,\u201d he said. \u201cI want it to be based on solid science. That\u2019s what my research is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krane is hoping the mystery writers can do for DNA testing what science fiction writers did for astrophysicists, giving them ideas that enriched space exploration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want these writers to illuminate deficiencies with the general public\u2019s understanding of DNA testing,\u201d he said. \u201cI love that they can write a nice story so readers will come away with a better understanding of how DNA testing works so that people who try to oversell the value of test results can\u2019t pull the wool over their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mystery writers and detective novelists from around the nation now have a better grasp of DNA testing thanks to Dan Krane… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":24621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2064,2023,711,725,715,746,719],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-biology","category-faculty","category-faculty-staff","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news","category-science-mathematics","category-special-categories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24617"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24714,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24617\/revisions\/24714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}