Michael Marciano, professor of practice and director for research for the Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute, was interviewed by CBS News about a DNA testing technique known as whole genome sequencing. By analyzing the entire DNA sequence of an organism's genome, forensic researchers can more effectively identify individuals in criminal investigations and missing persons cases.

"Rather than look at 24 to 27 areas of the DNA, which is what we typically do in forensic cases, we look at thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of different variations in the DNA," Marciano said in the interview. "If you think about your DNA, a lot of people think of it as a sequence of letters. We're looking for differences in those letters. We share most of our DNA with each other. We're looking for those differences, and those differences can provide information as to the identity of an individual."