An Evaluation of the RapidHIT ID System for Hair Roots Stained With Diamond Nucleic Acid Dye

The study evaluated the RapidHIT™ ID (RHID) system's ability to obtain DNA profiles from hair roots stained with Diamond™ Nucleic Acid Dye. 44 hair samples from 8 donors were processed, with 90% of plucked hairs with a high nuclei count (>100) resulting in a high partial or full DNA profile, while 44% of shed hairs resulted in a low partial profile. The study concluded that the RHID system can successfully obtain a DNA profile from a single hair root with nuclei present post-stain. However, it was less effective for hairs with a nuclei count of 50 or below, with some yielding null profiles. The study also suggested that using the RapidINTEL™ cartridge can enhance allele recovery when dealing with hairs containing fewer than 50 nuclei.