Dr. Bruce Budowle received a Ph.D. in Genetics in 1979 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. From 1979-1982, Dr. Budowle was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Working under a National Cancer Institute fellowship, he carried out research predominately on genetic risk factors for such diseases as insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, melanoma, and acute lymphocytic leukemia.
In 1983, Dr. Budowle joined the research unit at the FBI to carry out research, development, and validation of methods for forensic biological analyses. The positions he has held at the FBI include: research chemist, program manager for DNA research, and Chief of the Forensic Science Research Unit, and currently, he is the Senior Scientist for the Laboratory Division of the FBI. Dr. Budowle has contributed to the fundamental sciences as they apply to forensics in analytical development, population genetics, statistical interpretation of evidence, and in quality assurance. Some of the methods he developed are: 1) analytical assays for typing a myriad of protein genetic marker systems, 2) designing electrophoretic instrumentation, 3) developing molecular biology analytical systems to include RFLP typing of VNTR loci and PCR-based SNP assays, VNTR and STR assays, and direct sequencing methods for mitochondrial DNA, and 4) designing image analysis systems. Dr. Budowle has worked on laying some of the foundations for the current statistical analyses in forensic biology and defining the parameters of relevant population groups. He has published more than 400 articles, made more than 400 presentations, and testified in well over 100 cases in the areas of molecular biology, population genetics, statistics, quality assurance, and forensic biology . In addition, he has authored or co-authored books on molecular biology techniques, electrophoresis, protein detection, and microbial forensics. Dr. Budowle has been directly involved in developing quality assurance (QA) standards for the forensic DNA field. He has been a member of the Scientific Working Group on DNA Methods, Chair of the DNA Commission of the International Society of Forensic Genetics, and a member of the DNA Advisory Board. He was one of the architects of the CODIS National DNA database, which maintains DNA profiles from convicted felons, from evidence in unsolved cases, and from missing persons.
Some of Dr. Budowle’s more recent efforts are in counter terrorism, primarily in identification of victims from mass disasters and in efforts involving microbial forensics. Dr. Budowle was an advisor to New York State in the effort to identify the victims from the WTC attack. He assisted Celera in establishing a mitochondrial DNA sequencing program to enable high throughput sequencing of remains from the WTC. Dr. Budowle is heavily involved in the forensic applications on bioterrorism and has been involved in developing a new field known as microbial forensics. In the area of microbial forensics, Dr. Budowle has been the chair of the Scientific Working Group on Microbial Genetics and Forensics, whose mission is to set QA guidelines, develop criteria for biologic and user databases, set criteria for a National Repository, and develop forensic genomic applications. He also has served on the Steering Committee for the Colloquium on Microbial Forensics sponsored by American Society of Microbiology and was the organizer of three Microbial Forensics Meetings held at The Banbury Center in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
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