Episode 16. Forensic Science: Bruce Budowle

How did modern molecular biology become an integral component of forensic science? My guest, Bruce Budowle, played key roles in the development of genetic and microbial forensics, and he explains significant events in forensic science over the past four decades. Bruce joined the research unit of the FBI Laboratory Division in 1983 and rose in the ranks to become the Chief of the Forensic Science Research Unit and the Senior Scientist for the Laboratory Division. In 2009, Bruce left the FBI to become the Executive Director of the Institute of Applied Genomics at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. Bruce directs the Center for Human Identification and he is the Vice Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Genetics. He has published about 500 scientific articles and testified in over 250 criminal cases. Bruce and I discuss the missing children of Argentina’s Dirty War, the O.J. Simpson trial, the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center, the subsequent anthrax letter attacks and the advent of microbial forensics, the DNA Fingerprinting Wars, DNA genealogies and forensics, and making mistakes in forensics.