Human identification laboratory will help solve the forensic crisis: Encinas

Carolina Gomez Mena

Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, July 20, 2022, p. eleven

At the end of this year, a human identification laboratory will begin to operate at the National Institute of Genomic Medicine (Inmegen), which will contribute to resolving the forensic crisis. There, complex samples that have a great deterioration will be analyzed, either by the action of fire, acids or by prolonged exposure to the elements.

For this, Inmegen experts have been trained in the genetic identification laboratory of the University of Innsbruck (Austria), pointed out Alejandro Encinas, Undersecretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration of the Ministry of the Interior, and Luis Herrera Montalvo, General Director of the Immegen.

In the commemoration of the 18th anniversary of the institute, Encinas said that in addition to the contributions that Inmegen has made in the genomic analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it collaborates in other critical areas such as the humanitarian crisis regarding the disappearance of persons and human identification.

Are thousands and thousands of bodies that unfortunately are found in expert services, in mass graves; We estimate more than 52,000 unidentified bodies in these places, which require a response from the Mexican State to guarantee a huge number of Mexican families the right to return their loved ones in conditions of dignity..

Therefore, Inmegen will help in the analysis of complex samples, to guarantee human identification in bodies that have seriously deteriorated, either due to weathering or exposure to fire. This work must not only comply with all international parameters and protocols to guarantee identification, but also allows us to have the legitimacy and credibility that Mexican institutions require to carry out this work, without going abroad.

He reported that an agreement was signed with the genetic identification laboratory of the University of Innsbruck, where Inmegen personnel have been trained in order to match the protocols for analyzing these samples.

In an interview, Herrera Montalvo highlighted that one of Inmegen’s main programs is the identification of people who have disappeared; we are going to become a processing center for complex or complicated samples, which are those where there are only bone fragments in very poor condition; we are already implementing techniques for it.

it is expanding a specific laboratory on the 2nd floor of Inmegen, we think that in November or December we will have that laboratory working.