Kin-X: A Software System for Rapid and Distant Kinship Inference and Automated Pedigree Reconstruction

The goal of the proposed project is to create Kin-X, a novel software system to generate both rapid and deep intelligence from a wide variety of DNA types by inferring distant kinship relationships between individuals and reconstructing familial pedigrees. Kinship inference and pedigree reconstruction are both computationally intensive processes, and our proposed system is designed to achieve both stringency and efficiency in a large scale database. Such a system will have significant utility for any analytical group seeking a way to generate connections among individuals from DNA, such as the intelligence, law enforcement, and defense communities. The proposed work will build on the proposing team’s extensive forensic casework experience and existing kinship inference tools, pedigree reconstruction algorithms, and forensic DNA analysis software. At the end of Phase I, we will deliver a final report with analytical results from Phase I and a concrete plan for Phase II algorithm and software implementation. We will also demonstrate prototypes for the software architecture and a subset of the kinship and pedigree reconstruction algorithms. In Phase II, we will develop the software platform and significantly advance the DNA profile generation, kinship, and pedigree reconstruction capabilities while ensuring their applicability to challenging forensic samples.