University of Zurich

University of Zurich - Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine
Winterthurerstrasse 190
8057 Zurich

http://www.irm.uzh.ch/index_en.html

Scientific Lead

Dr. Cordula Haas
Phone: +41 (0) 44 635 5656

contact

PubMed

Project Staff

Prof. Jack Ballantyne

Institute Presentation

The former director of the Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine (ZIFM), University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland, Prof. Walter Bär, was a pioneer in the forensic genetics field, with scientific interests in DNA profiling, Biostatistics, Jurisprudence and Ethics in Medicine. Since 2011 Prof. Michael Thali is director of the ZIFM, with a main research focus on forensic imaging and virtopsy. The ZIFM currently employs 170 people within 4 departments.

The section of Forensic Genetics with 28 people, led by Dr. Adelgunde Kratzer, is in charge of DNA analyses of samples from crime scenes and from individuals on behalf of the police and law enforcement authorities, as well as parental and complex family relationship testing. The Swiss DNA Database is operated and managed by the ZIFM.

Dr. Cordula Haas is a senior biologist at the ZIFM and since 2007 engaged in research in Forensic Genetics. She represents the ZIFM in the European DNA Profiling group (EDNAP) and organized several international collaborative exercises on mRNA profiling within this group. Current research activities of the section of Forensic Genetics include RNA profiling methods for body fluid identification, investigation of genetic markers in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and sudden unexplained death syndrome (SUDS), genetics of alcohol tolerance, mtDNA and Y chromosome diversity patterns in Swiss populations and microbial forensics.