New cleanrooms for Orchid

Orchid BioSciences has been selected by the UK's Thames Valley Police as its exclusive provider of forensic DNA testing services.

As part of the the three-year multi-million dollar contract, to accommodate the rapid growth in all of its DNA testing services, Orchid Cellmark has recently expanded its UK headquarters facility in Abingdon to provide additional testing capacity for scene-of-crime and DNA database samples in the latest generation of clean room laboratories. The new contract, which is extendable for an additional two years, was awarded through Orchid's strategic partner Forensic Alliance. Orchid Cellmark has supplied part of Thames Valley Police's forensic DNA testing needs since 1998, and this contract now appoints Orchid Cellmark as the sole supplier of these services. Thames Valley Police is one of the UK's largest police forces and the largest non-metropolitan police force in the country. Further details of this new agreement were not disclosed. 'Orchid Cellmark is delighted to have been selected as the sole provider of forensic DNA testing for the Thames Valley Police, one of the five largest police forces in the UK,' said Graham Vitty, managing director of Orchid's European business. 'We believe their decision to make Orchid Cellmark their exclusive DNA testing provider is a reflection of our proven ability to deliver on our commitment to service excellence and complete customer satisfaction.' UK government funding for forensic DNA analysis has increased significantly in recent years through its DNA Expansion Plan. Earlier this year, parliament passed legislation that gives police forces the authority to take DNA samples, using a mouth swab, from all arrestees for inclusion in the country's National DNA Database. The database now has more than 2.5 million entries, which is enabling a crime-solving 'hit rate' of nearly 50%. This means that almost one out of every two DNA profiles generated from crime scene evidence matches up with the profile of an individual already in the database, enabling the police to identify the suspect from the database population. This high 'hit rate' is making the DNA Database a powerful intelligence tool for the investigation of a wide range of offences. 'We take tremendous pride in delivering rapid, quality forensic DNA analyses, as well as in the way we work together with our police customers to ensure that the full benefits of DNA analysis are brought to the solving of crimes,' said David Hartshorne, commercial director of Orchid's European unit. 'The recent expansion of our Abingdon facility is enabling us to meet the increasing demand for our database and crime scene analysis services while continuing to deliver excellent levels of customer satisfaction.' Orchid Cellmark is the largest independent supplier of scene-of-crime DNA analysis to UK police forces, providing a full range of forensic DNA services from the routine testing of DNA samples for submission to the National DNA Database to the analysis of evidence for the most serious crimes.