STRmix™ Has Produced DNA Evidence in Over 700,000 Criminal Cases Worldwide

Survey Shows Significant Adoption of Y-STR DNA Profiling

STRmix™ forensic software has produced usable, interpretable, and legally admissible DNA evidence in at least 700,000 criminal cases worldwide since its introduction in 2012, according to the results of the Annual STRmix™ User Survey.

Now in use in more than 96 federal, state, local, and private organizations in the U.S. and 30 forensic laboratories internationally – including Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and all nine state and territory forensic labs in New Zealand and Australia – STRmix™ has proven to be highly effective in resolving violent crime and sexual assault cases, as well as cold cases in which evidence originally dismissed as inconclusive was able to be re-examined.

“The popularity of STRmix™ is due in no small measure to its ability to interpret DNA results faster than the previous binary interpretation method and use more of the information in a DNA profile,” explains STRmix™ co-developer Dr. Jo-Anne Bright, a Senior Science Leader within the STRmix team at the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science Limited (PHF Science).

The Annual STRmix™ User Survey also found that a significant number of laboratories are using Y-STR DNA profiling methods in casework, highlighting the value of the work the STRmix team is putting into the development of probabilistic approaches to the interpretation of Y-STRs (Y-chromosome Short Tandem Repeats – male-specific genetic markers).

As part of this development, the STRmix team is currently undertaking a large Y-STR sensitivity and specificity study using likelihood ratios. The team is also investigating the transferability of interpretation parameters between laboratories. 

Beyond STRmix™ use, the latest STRmix™ User Survey found that forensic laboratories increasingly are looking at adopting a wide array of technologies in the short- to medium-term. These technologies include Y-STR profiling, Autosomal NGS, Pedigree analysis, SNP interpretation, Database searching of mixtures, and Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy.

“The STRmix team’s development program aims to directly respond to the current and future needs of our users, enabling them to better address the on-the-job issues they regularly encounter,” notes Dr. Bright. “This includes developments to address interpretation of NGS and Y-STR profiles.”

The latest version of STRmix™, released in fall 2025, adds significant new features to previous versions of the software, including new functionality in the Batch Maker module which allows forensic analysts to set up replicate inputs for interpretations. 

STRmix™ 2.13 also expands the visualization features first introduced in STRmix™ 2.12 by introducing a Visualize Evidence function to ignore any peak in the electropherogram representation of the evidence input file. In addition, 2.13 enables forensic laboratories to set up multiple PDF report templates and choose to automatically generate more than one report at a time for a given calculation.

The team behind STRmix™ has also developed and regularly updated three related software applications:

• DBLR™, an application which when used with STRmix™ allows forensic laboratories to undertake extensive kinship analysis, carry out rapid database searches and mixture-to-mixture matches, and visualize the value of their DNA mixture evidence; 
• FaSTR™ DNA, expert forensic software which seamlessly integrates with STRmix™ (when in use) to rapidly analyze raw DNA data and assign a number of contributors (NoC) estimate; 
• STRmix™ NGS, fully continuous mixture interpretation and likelihood ratio generation software for profiles generated using Next Generation Sequencing. 

In combination with STRmix™, FaSTR™ DNA and DBLR™ complete the full workflow(external link) from analysis to interpretation and database matching, while STRmix™ NGS broadens the range of profile types that can be interpreted.

STRmix – A global leader in forensic DNA interpretation, trusted by more than 120 forensic laboratories worldwide.