NIST Standard Reference Materials to Aid Human Identity Testing Applications

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) ensures exact and compatible measurements through the generation, certification, and issuance of Standard Reference Materials (SRMs).

The FBI Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories, issued by the DNA Advisory Board in October 1998, state that "The laboratory shall check its DNA procedures annually or whenever substantial changes are made to the protocol(s) against an appropriate and available NIST standard reference material or standard traceable to a NIST standards" (Standard 9.5).

The primary NIST SRM used for this purpose is SRM 2391b, which contains certified allele calls for the 13 CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) STR loci.

Relevant Standard Reference Materials

• SRM 2372, Human DNA Quantitation Standard
• SRM 2391b, PCR-based DNA Profiling Standard
  Information on components present in SRM 2391b:
  • FBI CODIS STRs
  • Additional STR Loci
  • DQA1, D1S80, and Polymarker
  • K562 STRs
• SRM 2392-I, Mitochondrial DNA Sequencing (Human HL-60 DNA)
• SRM 2395, Human Y-Chromosome DNA Profiling Standard
  See also additional information on SRM 2395