For the past 25 years, my Forensic DNA Typing books have been widely used throughout the world for training and education on fundamental and advanced topics in forensic genetics. The first five books were published through Elsevier Academic Press in 2001, 2005, 2009, 2011, and 2014 [1-5]. A smaller volume intended to make topics accessible to the general public was released in 2022 as part of the “Understanding Life” series from Cambridge University Press [6].
An update and revision of these texts is now underway to create an online, open-access textbook. Currently, 25 chapters and 4 appendices are in development that combine information from the 2009 Fundamentals of Forensic DNA Typing [3], the 2011 Advanced Topics in Forensic DNA Typing: Methodology [4], and the 2014 Advanced Topics in Forensic DNA Typing: Interpretation [5] books with updates and newly developed material on investigative genetic genealogy, massively parallel sequencing, forensic DNA phenotyping, DNA mixture interpretation with probabilistic genotyping software, and activity level evaluations. In addition, a publicly accessible Zotero database has been established to share references cited in the new book [7]. This open-access resource is intended to provide quality contributions on forensic genetics for artificial intelligence (AI) tools and language translations of the future.
[1] Butler JM (2001) Forensic DNA Typing: Biology & Technology behind STR Markers (Academic Press, San Diego, CA).
[2] Butler JM (2005) Forensic DNA Typing: Biology, Technology, and Genetics of STR Markers, Second Edition (Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego).
[3] Butler JM (2009) Fundamentals of Forensic DNA Typing (Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego).
[4] Butler JM (2011) Advanced Topics in Forensic DNA Typing: Methodology (Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego).
[5] Butler JM (2014) Advanced Topics in Forensic DNA Typing: Interpretation (Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego).
[6] Bell S, Butler JM (2022) Understanding Forensic DNA (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK).
[7] https://www.zotero.org/groups/6444027/forensic_dna_typing_book/library