DNA has helped police in many ways over the past few decades but latest breakthrough research has revealed new ways to help find criminals

IrisPlex is the name of this new technology It was created by a team of Dutch scientists to help police solve crimes, as a lot of DNA evidence helps find criminals its not unheard of for the police DNA database to not have a valid match for the DNA sample provided.

IrisPlex works by looking for single-letter differences in the genetic code from the DNA found at crime scenes these differences are called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNP's for short. These SNP's are largely linked to eye colour in the suspect.

With 94% accuracy this test is highly accurate however as of yet it is not accurate enough to secure a court conviction. The test gives one of three answers, Blue eye colour, Brown eye colour and Undefined eye colour such as green or gray as they are intermediate colours.

This research gives scientists a basis to start developing other technologies that can help police work by defining criminals externally visible characteristics. In the near future we could be seeing DNA used to find exact matches to these characteristics and help the police by giving them an exact description of suspects at a crime scene.