Arthur Eisenberg, PhD, received a $500,000 grant from The Life Technologies Foundation to develop the DNA-PROKIDS Project,  an international humanitarian effort using DNA testing to deter human trafficking of children and help reunite abducted homeless children with their parents.

By establishing DNA registries of  parents with a missing or abducted child, homeless children living on the streets or in shelters, and children in orphanages or illegal adoption centers throughout the world, PROKIDS intends to record the DNA identity of children most vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking -- whether that's prostitution, forced labor or militant activities, to illegal adoptions.

Eisenberg collaborated with Jose Lorente, a professor at the University of Granada in Spain, to establish  a single worldwide DNA database.

The Life Technologies Foundation presented the award to the Health Science Center at a dinner hosted at the New York Academy of Sciences on June 11.

If you are with the media and need additional information or would like to arrange an interview, please contact the Office of Marketing and Communications at 817-735-2446.