Alec Jeffreys

Alec Jeffreys is a British geneticist who developed DNA fingerprinting in 1984, turning highly variable DNA regions into a method for identifying individuals and testing biological relationships.

DNA fingerprinting: A method of identifying individuals by analyzing highly variable regions of their DNA. Jeffreys developed this identification method after discovering unusually variable DNA patterns.
Minisatellite: A DNA region containing tandem repeats whose repeat number varies among individuals. Jeffreys’s original fingerprints relied on variation in these repeated DNA sequences.
University of Leicester: A public research university in Leicester, England, where Jeffreys developed DNA fingerprinting. The laboratory discovery that launched DNA fingerprinting took place at this university.
Forensic genetics: The use of genetic analysis to investigate crimes and identify people or biological relationships. Jeffreys’s method helped establish DNA analysis as a major form of forensic evidence.
Colin Pitchfork: A British man convicted in 1988 after DNA evidence linked him to two murders. His case became the first criminal investigation solved using DNA fingerprinting.
Variable number tandem repeat: A repeated DNA sequence whose number of copies differs among individuals. Differences in repeat counts produced the distinctive bands in his early method.
Human genetic variation: Differences in DNA sequence among individuals within a human population. Jeffreys’s research revealed a practical way to detect exceptionally variable human DNA.
National DNA Database: A searchable database of DNA profiles collected for law-enforcement purposes. The rise of forensic profiling extended genetic identification into large-scale state databases.
DNA profiling: The analysis of selected DNA regions to distinguish individuals, usually using short tandem repeats. Modern forensic profiling developed from the identification approach Jeffreys pioneered.
Southern blot: A laboratory technique that transfers DNA fragments to a membrane for detection with labeled probes. His original DNA fingerprints used Southern blotting to reveal minisatellite fragments.

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