How DNA forensics could identify lost Nigerian girls

Forensic DNA technology could help identify and reunite with their families the more than 200 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped by Islamist militants, scientists told AFP Tuesday.

Software already exists to match missing people with their relatives, and it has been used worldwide to identify and return more than 740 children who were trafficked, some across international borders.

Most of all, forensic scientists in the United States and Spain say they are ready to help, free of charge. All they need to get started are DNA samples from family members of the lost schoolgirls.

"We would do this absolutely for nothing," said Arthur Eisenberg, chairman of the department of molecular and medical genetics at the University of North Texas (UNT).

"This is clearly a humanitarian effort," said Eisenberg who heads the UNT Center for Human Identification, the laboratory that works with a 10-year-old international program called DNA-Prokids, which aims to reunite families and deter human trafficking.

First, the girls' family members—mother, father or another close relative—could provide a DNA sample by swabbing the inside of their mouths with a cotton tip or giving a blood sample.

Then, Eisenberg said, he and colleagues establish DNA profiles of the families using a software system called M-FISys (pronounced "emphasis").