Science Portrait: Prof. Lutz Roewer

Prof. Lutz Roewer, Ph.D., Professor for Forensic Genetics
Dept. Forensic Genetics, Labor Berlin – Charité Vivantes GmbH, Germany

This is a summary of the curriculum vitae (CV) of Prof. Lutz Roewer, Professor for Forensic Genetics, currently employed at the Dept. Forensic Genetics, Labor Berlin – Charité Vivantes GmbH, Germany.

Professor Roewer is a forensic geneticist. Forensic genetics concerns the scientific analysis of genetic material to aid in legal matters, such as identification of victims and criminals, and Professor Roewer is not only a researcher but also works as a technical expert in court cases (crime case investigations, identification of victims).

Professor Roewer has been named an “Y-STR analysis Rockstar” in a 2020 interview. Y-STR stands for Y-Short Tandem Repeat, the Y representing the Y chromosome and the tandem repeats referring to loci with repeats of simple sequences of which the number differs between individuals. STR analysis for loci on the Y chromosome is more straightforward in sexual assault cases because unlike autosomes (non-sex chromosomes) it exists only in males and can identify one or more male perpetrators. Professor Roewer has been one of the founding fathers of this type of analysis by finding the first STR on an Y chromosome (Roewer et al. 1992).

Professor Roewer, along with Sascha Willuweit also organizes and manages the Y Chromosome Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD). It has become the international reference database in its field, after having been launched in 1999 as emerging from a series of workshops that Professor Roewer had co-organized on the topic.

After his study in Biochemistry, in 1987, Professor Roewer joined the Institute of Legal Medicine in Berlin which is a very famous institute, and has remained there ever since. In 1987, DNA techniques like DNA fingerprinting and polymerase chain reaction had just been established, and it was a new exciting era in forensic genetics.

Interestingly, Prof. Roewer has a connection to Japan, as he has been a guest researcher at Kitasato University in Tokyo-Sagamihara in Japan. His institute and Charité (the home of Robert Koch) traditionally had close connections to Japan, especially to this university called after Shibasaburo Kitasato. Scientists of his institute regularly visited Kitasato Uni as guest researchers, in his case Sept.-Dec 1989. He brought the STR fragment analysis to Japan and did al lot of evaluative studies, e.g. on Egyptian mummies which he brought form East Berlin (from the Pergamon museum).

Professor Roewer has won several awards in his field, and written >120 scientific articles that generated >11,000 citations. He also wrote book chapters, and is member of the editorial board of the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics.

Professor Roewer describes his fields of expertise as:

Criminal and missing person investigation

Paternity and kinship testing

Population genetics and human evolutionary anthropology

It is a great pleasure and honor that Professor Roewer will give us a presentation at Fujita Health University.

CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION & EMPLOYMENT

1982-1987 M.S. in Biochemistry, University of Leipzig, Germany

1987-2023 Research fellow and lecturer at the Institute of Legal Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

1989 Guest Researcher of the Kitasato University, School of Hygienic Sciences, Faculty of Bioscience, Japan

1990 Ph.D. at the Humboldt University Berlin, Thesis „Characterization and application of simple repetitive oligonucleotide sequences in forensic medicine”

1990 – 1991 Guest Researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute Martinsried, Germany, for Neuroimmunology, participation in the project „Y chromosomal genes“ supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

2000 Habilitation (venia legendi), Thesis „Haplotyping of the human Y-chromosome – foundation and applications of a new molecular genetic identification method“

2008-2023 Appointment as University Professor for Forensic Genetics at the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

2023-current Professor for Forensic Genetics, Dept. Forensic Genetics, Labor Berlin – Charité Vivantes GmbH

Awards

1990 Biennial Award of the German Society of Legal Medicine (DGRM) for the work on forensic application of DNA polymorphisms

1998 Biennial Award of the German Society of Legal Medicine (DGRM) for the work on the forensic application of Y-chromosomal DNA polymorphisms (together with Peter de Knijff and Manfred Kayser)

1999 The Biennial Scientific Prize for outstanding contributions of the International Society of Forensic Genetics (ISFG) for work relating to Y chromosome polymorphisms

Relevant publications (selected)

Roewer L, Andersen MM, Ballantyne J, Butler JM, Caliebe A, Corach D, D’Amato ME, Gusmão L, Hou Y, de Knijff P, Parson W, Prinz M, Schneider PM, Taylor D, Vennemann M, Willuweit S (2020) DNA commission of the International Society of Forensic Genetics (ISFG): Recommendations on the interpretation of Y-STR results in forensic analysis. Forensic Sci Int Genet. 48:102308.

Pinotti T, Bergström A, Geppert M, Bawn M, Ohasi D, Shi W, Lacerda DR, Solli A, Norstedt J, Reed K, Dawtry K, González-Andrade F, Paz-y-Miño C, Revollo S, Cuellar C, Jota MS, Santos Júnior JE, Ayub Q, Kivisild T, Sandoval JR, Fujita R, Xue Y, Roewer L, Santos FR, Tyler-Smith C (2018) Y-chromosomal sequences reveal early Native American population structure shaped by a short Beringian Standstill and a brief rapid expansion. Current Biology 29(1):149-57.

Roewer L, Nothnagel M, Gusmão L, Gomes V, González M, Corach D, Sala A, Alechine E, Palha T, Santos N, Ribeiro-Dos-Santos A, Geppert M, Willuweit S, Nagy M, Zweynert S, Baeta M, Núñez C, Martínez-Jarreta B, González-Andrade F, Fagundes de Carvalho E, da Silva DA, Builes JJ, Turbón D, Lopez Parra AM, Arroyo-Pardo E, Toscanini U, Borjas L, Barletta C, Ewart E, Santos S, Krawczak M (2013) Continent-wide decoupling of Y-chromosomal genetic variation from language and geography in native South Americans. PLoS Genetics 9(4):e1003460.

Roewer L, Croucher PJP, Willuweit S, Lu TL, Kayser M, Lessig R, De Knijff P, Jobling MA, Tyler-Smith C, Krawczak M (2005) Signature of recent historical events in the European Y-chromosomal STR haplotype distribution. Human Genetics 116:279-91.

Rosser ZH, Zerjal T, Hurles ME, Adojaan M, Alavantic D, Amorim A, Amos W, Armenteros M, Arroyo E, Barbujani G, Beckman G, Beckman L, Bertranpetit J, Bosch E, Bradley DG, Brede G, Cooper G, Côrte-Real HB, de Knijff P, Decorte R, Dubrova YE, Evgrafov O, Gilissen A, Glisic S, Gölge M, Hill EW, Jeziorowska A, Kalaydjieva L, Kayser M, Kivisild T, Kravchenko SA, Krumina A, Kucinskas V, Lavinha J, Livshits LA, Malaspina P, Maria S, McElreavey K, Meitinger TA, Mikelsaar AV, Mitchell RJ, Nafa K, Nicholson J, Nørby S, Pandya A, Parik J, Patsalis PC, Pereira L, Peterlin B, Pielberg G, Prata MJ, Previderé C, Roewer L, Rootsi S, Rubinsztein DC, Saillard J, Santos FR, Stefanescu G, Sykes BC, Tolun A, Villems R, Tyler-Smith C, Jobling MA. (2000). Y-chromosomal diversity within Europe is clinal and influenced primarily by geography rather than language. American Journal of Human Genetics 67:1526-43.

Kayser M, Caglià A, Corach D, Fretwell N, Gehrig C, Graziosi G, Heidorn F, Herrmann S, Herzog B, Hidding M, Honda K, Jobling M, Krawczak M, Leim K, Meuser S, Meyer E, Oesterreich W, Pandya A, Parson W, Penacino G, Perez-Lezaun A, Piccinini A, Prinz M, Schmitt C, Schneider PM, Szibor R, Teifel-Greding J, Weichhold G, de Knijff P, Roewer L (1997) Evaluation of Y-chromosomal STRs: a multicenter study. Int J Legal Med. 110(3):125-33, 141-9.

Roewer L, Arnemann J, Spurr NK, Grzeschik KH, Epplen JT (1992) Simple repeat sequences on the human Y chromosome are equally polymorphic as their autosomal counterparts. Hum Genet. 89(4):389-94.

Roewer L, Epplen JT (1992) Rapid and sensitive typing of forensic stains by PCR amplification of polymorphic simple repeat sequences in casework. Forensic Sci Int. 53(2):163-71.