How It works
The M-Vac is a sterile wet-vacuum. Collection solution is sprayed onto the surface while simultaneously being vacuumed off of the surface. It creates a "mini-hurricane" that loosens the DNA material which is transferred to the collection bottle and later concentrated onto a filter. Here is a short video describing the M-Vac®.
FBI ResearchReported in Forensic Magazine by Michelle Taylor :
The FBI compared wet-swabbing to M-Vac®'s wet-vacuuming on 22 different substrates. They further tested 10 of the substrates for how much DNA the M-Vac® could retrieve after a wet-swab sample had already been taken. The results were favorable for the M-Vac® in both cases on most of the porous surfaces: "Of the 20 porous substrates, the M-Vac yielded consistently greater nDNA yields than the wet‐swab method on all but two surfaces—cinderblock and unpainted drywall. Additionally, the amount of DNA recovered with the M-Vac was several‐fold greater—the vacuum system yielded an average of 12 times more nDNA and 17x greater mtDNA." The Forensic® article is linked below for more details. Taylor ends her article asking "...what is the price tag for recovering previously undiscoverable DNA that leads to a case breakthrough?" |
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