Parabon NanoLabs
Definition
A US company that became the primary commercial provider of forensic IGG casework following the Golden State Killer case, offering the Snapshot Investigative Genetic Genealogy service. By 2024 the company reported contributing to more than 300 solved cold cases in the United States.
- Location
- Virginia, United States
- Primary service for law enforcement
- Investigative genetic genealogy and SNP-based phenotyping (Snapshot)
- Cold cases contributed to solving (as of 2024)
- More than 300 in the United States
Common questions
What does Parabon NanoLabs do in forensic investigations?+
Parabon NanoLabs is a Virginia-based company that provides forensic DNA services to law enforcement. Their main offerings include Snapshot, a SNP-based phenotyping service that can predict physical traits from DNA, and investigative genetic genealogy services using low-coverage whole genome sequencing (lcWGS) and genealogy databases like GEDmatch.
How did Parabon become known in forensic genealogy?+
The company gained prominence as the primary commercial provider of forensic investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) following the Golden State Killer case, which demonstrated how genealogy databases could solve cold cases. By 2024, Parabon had contributed to solving more than 300 cold cases in the United States.
What is the Snapshot service?+
Snapshot is Parabon's SNP-based phenotyping service that estimates physical characteristics like hair color, eye color, and skin tone from a DNA profile. Law enforcement agencies use it as an investigative lead when traditional DNA databases don't yield matches.
Related terms
- Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG)
- A forensic identification technique that uploads a crime-scene DNA profile to a consumer genealogy database, identifies partial matches suggesting distant family relationships,...
- Barbara Rae-Venter
- The genetic genealogist who led the family-tree reconstruction in the Golden State Killer investigation. Previously used the same technique to identify an...
- Centimorgans (cM)
- The unit of genetic map distance used to measure shared DNA between individuals. A first-degree relative shares approximately 2,550 cM; a third...
- CODIS
- The FBI's Combined DNA Index System, the US national STR-based forensic DNA database. Contains profiles from convicted offenders, arrestees, and unidentified crime-scene...
- DOJ Interim Policy 2019
- US Department of Justice Interim Policy on Forensic Genetic Genealogy DNA Analysis (24 September 2019), limiting IGG to violent crimes and unidentified...
- ForenSeq DNA Signature Prep Kit
- Verogen MPS library-preparation kit typing 27 autosomal STRs, 7 X-STRs, 23 Y-STRs, 94 identity SNPs, and 56 ancestry SNPs in a single...
- ForenSeq Kintelligence
- A Verogen (formerly Illumina) forensic SNP genotyping kit targeting approximately 10,000 kinship-informative SNPs, designed to generate profiles compatible with consumer genealogy databases...
- GEDmatch
- A consumer genealogy database founded in 2010, used in the Golden State Killer investigation. Changed from opt-out to opt-in for law-enforcement access...
- GEDmatch PRO
- The law-enforcement tier of GEDmatch, acquired by Verogen in 2020. Operates on an opt-in model; only profiles of users who have explicitly...
- Genetic Genealogist
- A specialist who combines DNA match data with traditional genealogical record research to reconstruct family trees. In forensic IGG casework, the genetic...
- Identical by Descent (IBD)
- A chromosomal segment shared between two individuals because both inherited it from a common ancestor without an intervening recombination event. The amount...
- Massively Parallel Sequencing (MPS) / NGS
- High-throughput sequencing technology that generates millions of short reads simultaneously; used in forensics for sequence-level STR typing (Verogen MiSeq FGx, Ion S5)...
Explained in these topics
- DTC Genealogy: The Golden State Killer Paradigm and GEDmatch PolicyA US company that became the primary commercial provider of forensic IGG casework following the Golden State Killer case, offering the Snapshot Investigative G...
- MPS, Forensic Genetic Genealogy and the DeAngelo ParadigmVirginia-based forensic DNA company offering the Snapshot SNP-based phenotyping service and investigative genetic genealogy services using lcWGS and GEDmatch f...