The FBI has approved Thermo Fisher Scientific’s mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) forensic sequencing solution for use in populating the national DNA database.

The San Francisco-based devicemaker’s mtDNA analysis solution is used in forensic laboratories to produce mtDNA profiles submitted to the U.S. National DNA Index System CODIS database and used in missing persons cases and the identification of remains.

Forensic labs use mitochondrial DNA from bone fragments, teeth and human remains that can be  decades old.