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Currently, all agencies of conformity assessment testing laboratory favor the participation in proficiency testing as a mechanism for quality assurance. In Colombia, the Genes Laboratory has been designated, since 2008, to perform, design and implement proficiency testing for all the interested laboratories. In this report, the results of Colombian exercise Interlaboratory Quality Control for the year 2015 are presented. The exercise consisted of one practical component, one theoretical mandatory component, and an optional theoretical component. Twenty laboratories participated, representing six different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. For the practical component each participant laboratory received; (1) samples of blood, saliva, and semen stains, in this part they should report the routine own laboratory markers for each sample, (2) three optional theoretical cases of varying complexity, (3) a mandatory theoretical approach about a biological relationship of paternal grandparents – granddaughter case. In the last two components of the exercise, they had to submit only the calculations. For the practical component the consensus of 70 STR markers, distributed between autosomal and linked to the sex chromosomes, was achieved with an error rate of 0.80% in genotyping, 1.0% nomenclature and/or format discrepancies and 3.8% non-reporting. On the other hand, 99.4% of the reported values were correct, only two values were not correct (0.6%) but were within the range of 5% of the correct value, being acceptable values within the rules of the exercise. This inter-laboratory exercise has become an important mechanism for quality assurance and ongoing training in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Biological paternity research in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain) began in 1976 when Dr. Castillo, Dr. Gelabert and Dr. Huguet studied the first case at the Department of Forensic and Legal Medicine of the University of Barcelona in cooperation with the Haemostasis and Hemotherapy Service and the Blood Bank of the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona. In the knowledge that each human is genetically unique as a result of genetic polymorphism, blood group antigen typing and other immunological techniques including human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing became widely used for paternity testing and forensic science application until the end of the 1970s. However, biological tests were not accepted by the courts in Spain until 1981 when the Civil Code was reformed. With the support of Dr. Carracedo from the University of Santiago, in 1982 Dr. Huguet and Dr. Gené, who are still actively researching, set up the Haemogenetic Forensic Laboratory at the University of Barcelona and this area of the Legal Medicine Unit was thus consolidated. It was the first Forensic Genetics Laboratory in Catalonia. The aim of this study is to conduct a retrospective analysis of paternity testing cases over the past 35 years. We report on the social and legal development of the cases analysed, grouped into different periods of time. The results on paternity and non-paternity claims were studied included exclusion and non-exclusion rates. Biomathematical performance values were reported for each methodology stage (number of exclusions, average paternity probability values, population index, etc.). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]