April 25, 2025 | By Dawne Nickerson, Armed Forces Medical Examiner System
In 2003, the United States Senate and House of Representatives declared April 25th “DNA Day”. It commemorates DNA pioneers James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and their colleagues as they made the structure of DNA public through papers published in the journal, Nature. Since its proclamation, DNA Day has gained traction around the world with most communities now referring to it as “International DNA Day” or “World DNA Day”.
“It’s awesome to know that we, as an industry, are celebrating the discovery and advancement of DNA technology on the same day,” said Taylor Dickerson, Technical Leader, Current Day Operations and DNA Day planning committee member at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory. “We choose to make it a two-day celebration here; one day is structured and very educational, and the other day is more fun and sharing our mission with other AFMES team members.”
DNA Day at the AFMES is something the organization looks forward to every year as an opportunity to learn about the different sections of the AFDIL, while celebrating the victories of their cutting-edge laboratory and emerging technologies section.
“This year we have a lot to celebrate as we just recently validated the Single Nucleotide Polymorphism technology and started using it for identifications in January. Since then, the SNP method has positively identified 28 service members. All DNA testing results including SNPs have supported 88 new identifications year to date, compared to 44 identifications at this time last year,” said Dr. Tim McMahon, Director, DNA Operations. “This new technology will allow us to go back to heavily degraded specimens while furthering our reach of Family Member References to fourth and fifth generations, enabling positive identifications of past conflict fallen servicemembers.”
Most of the presentations during this year’s event revolved around the new SNP technology, while one other reviewed case work. Other events included a scavenger hunt followed by a trivia game called “AFDIL Feud”. Creative participants had the options to either build a DNA helix using candy or create their own genetic monster using genetic traits. Local food trucks were on site to help in the celebration. The day was culminated in the always popular, lab coat fashion show. Each participant was given a plain white lab coat to decorate in the theme of the event with this year’s being, Disney movies. A panel of esteemed judges watched and scored each entry as they made their way down the runway, while cheering crowds could be heard around the compound. Once the winners were announced there was a screening of the short film, ‘The Homecoming’. The movie documents the recovery efforts and identification of Sgt. Vernon Hamilton, a servicemember lost during WWII.
“Celebrating DNA Day for us is not only tradition, but it is a way for us to share with others what we do, and to have fun while we do it. There are several very different sections in DNA Operations, and this is a way to cross-pollinate and see what other sections are accomplishing,” summarized Mr. Dickerson.
Dr. McMahon stated, “tradition is not lost on this team of over 170 scientists. They are creative and very competitive. It is always great when we can open our doors to the rest of the organization and share these traits. I would like to personally thank the planning committee for making this year another great success.”
