Good question. This problem affects multiple steps of a NGS-based forensics product: sample collection, DNA extraction, library preparation, the sequencing itself, alignment&#x2F;assembly, and statistical variant interpretation all have potential for large biases&#x2F;error modes that could affect the specificity of these types of methods.<p>One specific answer is that the FBI is gearing up to regulate new devices in this area (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fbi.gov&#x2F;about-us&#x2F;lab&#x2F;biometric-analysis&#x2F;codis&#x2F;stds_testlabs" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fbi.gov&#x2F;about-us&#x2F;lab&#x2F;biometric-analysis&#x2F;codis&#x2F;st...</a>). For example, in this publication (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pmc&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC3757157&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pmc&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC3757157&#x2F;</a>), they specifically analyze an IonTorrent PGM for use in forensics applications, which we&#x27;ll probably see them do for various other platforms that come on to the market.<p>Separately, and outside the forensics realm, there&#x27;s a trend towards increased regulation of DNA sequencing. For example, NIST has developed&#x2F;is developing methods to evaluate sequencing platforms: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nist.gov&#x2F;mml&#x2F;bbd&#x2F;dna-022514.cfm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nist.gov&#x2F;mml&#x2F;bbd&#x2F;dna-022514.cfm</a>. This is relevant to other sequencing applications too (e.g. personalized medicine, somatic tumor profiling, etc). The FDA are also involved here, but more focused on medical applications.<p>So, I think collectively through both the increase in the forensics community regulating forensics NGS applications, and more broadly the biomedical science&#x2F;technology community regulating general NGS platforms, we&#x27;ll see good technology validation standards (at least in the U.S.). But the significantly higher complexity of these systems does introduce more opportunity for error, so it&#x27;s entirely possible we&#x27;ll see similar biases in NGS based forensics.