Samples are taken from the child, mother and father using a paternity test kit and are sent to our laboratory. DNA from each individual sample is extracted.

Specific regions of the DNA are copied using the Polymerase Chain Reaction technique (PCR). The product of the PCR is separated and detected to obtain a DNA profile.

One-half of each person’s DNA information comes from the father and the other half from the mother. The test looks out for similarity between the DNA profiles of the child, mother and father. By comparing the DNA profiles of the child with the mother, it is possible to establish the common factors between them. The child’s factors not found in the mothers profile must therefore come from the biological father.

An alleged father is excluded as the biological father if factors found on his DNA profile are not shared with the child’s. However if the alleged father’s profile contains that of the child’s factors then, he is not excluded as the true biological father. A statistical analysis is then carried out to calculate the probability of paternity.