DNA Investigations To Soar With Opening of City Lab

The city's use of DNA to investigate and solve crimes is expected to skyrocket with the opening of a $290 million forensic biology laboratory, the largest government-run DNA lab in the country.

Part of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the new lab will allow DNA investigators to increase their usual caseload of 3,000 criminal investigations each year to more than 20,000, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. The new facility will allow the use of DNA evidence to be expanded to criminal investigations such as burglaries in addition to homicides and sexual assaults.

"A single strand of hair, the sweat from the brim of a baseball hat, the saliva on a cigarette butt — with the advent of forensic DNA testing, these pieces of evidence can all yield valuable clues and help detectives solve crimes and put criminals away," Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday.

The 340,000-square-foot building with 75,000 square feet of lab space opened in February, and Mr. Bloomberg presided over its opening yesterday on East 26th Street. The lab has space and equipment to reconstruct crime scenes, and analyze bone and other biological materials. The World Trade Center group, which works to identify the remains of victims from the attacks of September 11, 2001, also is housed in the building.