The Biological Witness

The Centre for Forensic Genetics has established a biobank with biological samples from more than 700 persons residing in Northern Norway. These samples are used to map the variation in genetic variation in the Norwegian population using Massive Parallel Sequencing (MPS).

Furthermore, the data is used to investigate the relationships between genes and physical appearance, and how accurate one can predict a person's eye, hair, and skin color based on information in the genetic analyses. To achieve this, we have collected images of eyes and hair, as well as determined the skin tone on the inside of the forearm. Samples have been donated anonymously and cannot be traced back to the individual donors.

The samples are stored in a research biobank at the Institute of Medical Biology (IMB), UiT The Arctic University of Norway. We express our gratitude to all who have contributed to the biobank.

The project has resulted in several master's degrees, and findings have been published in international scientific journals.