ReviewInternational journal of legal medicine2024
Exploring the role of the human microbiome in forensic identification: opportunities and challenges.
Review in International journal of legal medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Artificial intelligence in forensic science: a systematic review. Part I: personal identification.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Temporal Dynamics of Latent Fingerprint Microbiomes: A First Step to Decoding Crime Evidence.Genes · 2026Article
- Integration of Federated Learning and Blockchain in Health Care: Tutorial on Medical Data, Architectures, Privacy, Security, and Regulatory Compliance.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Stability of the skin microbiome during short-term in situ and in vitro conditions: Foundational support for the potential to trace skin sites and identify individuals.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Article
- Responses of skin and salivary microbiome to different environmental exposures.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Article
- Postmortem Microbiology in Forensic Diagnostics: Interpretation of Infectious Causes of Death and Emerging Applications.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Forensic applications of the skin microbiome: a structured narrative review of donor association, contact inference, and crime-scene reconstruction.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Quantifying human-environment interactions through Bayesian modeling of species-resolved microbial transfer signatures: an exploratory proof-of-concept study.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Wet Lab Protocols Matter: Choice of DNA Extraction and Library Preparation Protocols Bias Ancient Oral Microbiome Recovery.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Exploration of Core Microorganisms and Synthetic Microbial Communities in Low-TemperatureMicroorganisms · 2025Review
- Exploratory study on source identification of saliva stain and its TsD inference based on the microbial relative and absolute abundance.International journal of legal medicine · 2025Article
- Characterization of challenging forensic DNA traces using advanced molecular technologies.International journal of legal medicine · 2025Article
- Medico-Legal Applications of the Human Microbiome and Critical Issues Due to Environmental Transfer: A Review.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Effective use of skin microbiome signatures for fingerprint identification.Skin research and technology : official journal of International Society for Bioengineering and the Skin (ISBS) [and] International Society for Digital Imaging of Skin (ISDIS) [and] International Society for Skin Imaging (ISSI) · 2024Article
- Article
- Forensic Microbiology: When, Where and How.Microorganisms · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Forensic microbiology is rapidly emerging as a novel tool for human identification. The human microbiome, comprising diverse microbial communities including fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and viruses, is unique to each individual, offering a new dimension to forensic investigations. While traditional identification methods primarily rely on DNA profiling and fingerprint analysis, they face limitations when complete DNA or fingerprints profiles are unattainable or degraded. In this context, the microbial signatures of the human skin microbiome present a promising alternative due to their resilience to environmental stresses and individual-specific composition. This review explores the potential of microbiome analysis in forensic human identification, evaluating its applications, advantages, limitations, and future prospects. The uniqueness of an individual's microbial community, particularly the skin microbiota, can provide distinctive biological markers for identification purposes, while technological advancements like 16 S rRNA sequencing and metagenomic shotgun sequencing are enhancing the specificity of microbial identification, enabling detailed analysis of these complex ecological communities. Despite these promising findings, current research has not yet achieved a level of identification probability that could establish microbial analysis as a stand-alone evidence tool. Therefore, it is presently considered ancillary to traditional methods, contributing to a more comprehensive biological profile of individuals.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.