Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys invented the technique of DNA fingerprinting in 1984, a technique that changed forensic science forever. To mark his retirement in 2012 from the University of Leicester,Investigative Geneticshas published aseriesof articles today that discuss DNA fingerprinting, the impact it’s had in divergent fields, and the man himself.

The serieslaunch articlesinclude anintroductory editorialby the Editors-in-Chief Manfred Kayser, Antti Sajantila and Bruce Budowle; an personalopinion pieceby Mark Jobling on the DNA fingerprinting story; and two reviews outlining the past, present and future of DNA fingerprinting in

forensics(by Lutz Roewer) and inanthropological genetics(by Michael Crawford and Kristine Beaty).

In addition, you can listen to ourinterview podcastwith Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, featured in BioMed Central’s online magazineBiome. Professor Jeffreys talks about his initial discovery of DNA fingerprinting, his work on human genetic recombination, the impact of DNA fingerprinting on society, and also the future of forensic DNA applications. Thefull transcriptof the interview has also been published as part of theInvestigative Geneticsthematic series.

The abovementioned articles will be closely followed by further reviews on DNA fingerprinting in zoology, botany, microbiology and radiobiology. You can read the full Open Accessarticle serieson theInvestigative Geneticswebsite, where you can alsosubmit a manuscript. If you would like your manuscript to be considered as part of the DNA fingerprinting thematic series, please mention this in your cover letter.

Investigative Geneticsis a peer-reviewed, open access, online journal that publishes articles on the development and application of molecular genetics in a wide range of science disciplines with societal relevance. To sign up forarticle alerts, or for more information about the journal please visit ourwebsiteor contact theEditorial Office.

_{Images: Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys (top; attributed to University of Leicester); Variations of variable number tandem repeat allele lengths in 6 individuals (bottom; attributed to PaleWhaleGail, Wikimedia Commons)}