A New Era in Forensic Intelligence: Harnessing bacteria to solve crimes

In this webinar, Dr. Eran Elhaik will introduce a new approach to forensic intelligence based on environmental DNA (eDNA) and microbial signatures, focusing on the Microbiome Geographic Population Structure (mGPS). Rather than asking only “Who left the DNA?”, mGPS expands the forensic question to “Where has this object been?” By analyzing microorganisms and other biological material transferred between people, objects, and environments, mGPS can link samples to geographic locations and environmental sources. Real-world forensic scenarios will illustrate how mGPS can complement existing forensic methods and convert complex sequencing data into actionable hypotheses for investigators.

About Dr. Eran Elhaik:

Dr. Eran Elhaik is an Associate Professor of Computational Biology at Lund University and the founder of Microdentify Sweden AB. His research combines genomics, microbiomics, and artificial intelligence to develop the new field of forensic intelligence.

A major focus of his work is mGPS (Microbiome Geographic Population Structure), a computational framework developed to infer the geographic origins of microbial communities. By exploiting distinctive microbial signatures associated with different environments and locations, mGPS provides a foundation for a new generation of forensic intelligence tools that connect people and objects with places.

Through Microdentify, Dr. Elhaik and his collaborators are extending these approaches to operational forensic and defense applications, integrating eDNA and computational analysis to answer questions conventional forensic genetics cannot. The overarching goal is to move forensic genomics beyond human identification and toward reconstructing the environmental and geographic history of evidence. Dr. Elhaik was recognized on the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) 100 List 2026 for his work in forensic intelligence.

About Dr. Florian Kirchheim:

Dr. Florian Kirchheim serves as Business Development Manager and Head of Services Sales at Zymo Research Europe, where he supports researchers and organizations in leveraging advanced Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatic workflows. Holding a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Dr. Kirchheim brings a deep technical foundation to his commercial leadership, having previously held key product and commercial roles at Eurofins, as well as research positions at Fraunhofer IZI, and Uniklinik Freiburg.

At Zymo Research Europe, Dr. Kirchheim leads initiatives enabling partners to translate complex biological samples into actionable sequencing data — from microbiomics and epigenetics to custom genomic solutions.

• How to transform ordinary objects into sources of geographic and contextual intelligence using microbial and environmental DNA.
• How to apply these techniques to link soil from objects to crime scenes, identify geographic signatures associated with handled objects, reconstruct movements and handling histories, and generate investigative leads when conventional human DNA profiling provides limited information.
• How to use real-world forensic scenarios to illustrate how mGPS can complement existing forensic methods and convert complex sequencing data into actionable hypotheses for investigators.