Post by QIAGEN

Fifty years after the war ended, hundreds of thousands of people in Vietnam remain missing. Now, a new effort is using DNA to give their families what they have waited a lifetime for: a way to bring them home.   That is why we have joined leading US organizations and the Vietnam-USA Society in the Vietnam Wartime Accounting Initiative, a humanitarian effort to help identify those still lost to the war. Learn more 👉 https://lnkd.in/eEqN7SkW   For half a century, these families have lived without answers. The remains that are recovered are often decades old and badly degraded, and more than 300,000 people already rest in graves that carry no name. Identifying them is one of the hardest challenges in forensic science.   This is exactly the challenge we have worked on for nearly 30 years. Since 2015, we have built specialized DNA testing methods designed for missing persons cases, and today we are putting them to work. We help collect reference DNA from living relatives, recover usable DNA from skeletal remains once thought unreadable, sequence the genetic material and match it to reunite families with the people they lost. To support the effort, we are contributing discounted DNA identification equipment, specialized training and follow-on support valued at nearly 200,000 US dollars.   As Keith Elliott, Senior Director of Global Forensics and Human Identification at QIAGEN, said: "We have completed the journey of research and development, but we are now at the starting point of a new journey: applying these technologies to real-world cases in order to make a difference in the world."   Fifty years of waiting cannot be undone. But for the families still hoping, an answer is finally within reach.

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