Martyr gene bank: "Do it once for future generations!"

Racing against time to "return names" to martyrs, the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs proposed taking DNA samples from relatives of martyrs whose relatives have not been found and examining all martyrs' graves to soon establish a gene bank.

In a completely sterile room of about 30 square meters, Mr. Tran Viet Vinh, wearing a white blouse and rubber gloves, is surrounded by a row of modern machines serving the DNA identification of the remains of unidentified martyrs. The male examiner's hands carefully hold each piece of the martyr's remains, carefully following each step in the genetic identification process. After many hours of continuous concentration on the operations on the bone samples without allowing any mistakes, he and his colleagues breathed a sigh of relief. The results at this laboratory are great expectations. And the greatest joy for the team is that each martyr's remains have their "names returned". Mr. Vinh is one of 13 specialists working at the DNA Identification Center, Institute of Biotechnology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, directly participating in the genetic identification process of martyrs' remains. The DNA Identification Center is one of three key units assigned by the Government to analyze DNA to identify martyrs' remains.

After 4 years at the center, the male appraiser has gradually learned, become familiar with and mastered the operations in the appraisal process. Previously, he mainly worked on microbiology, appraising animals and plants. When he started directly processing the martyrs' bone samples, sometimes teeth, sometimes the few hard bones collected in the collection pits. The meaningful work aroused in him pride, also placed on his shoulders a higher responsibility and mission, contributing to promoting the work of identifying martyrs, showing gratitude to those who have fallen, reducing loss, and soothing the lingering pain of relatives. Mr. Vinh said that the center's staff took turns taking on different stages in the DNA appraisal process. However, he did the most in the bone sample processing part. After the sample collection step, it was the bone sample processing part that he was in charge of. Receiving bone samples that are truly "more precious than gold", after much effort to bring them from the remote mountains, the place of the smoke and fire of the old battlefield, Mr. Vinh cherished them and cut them into small pieces. After processing the outer surface of the bones, disinfecting them with some chemicals, he moved on to drying the samples and grinding them into granules. The processing process lasted about 2 days for this stage. After that, the samples were transferred to the DNA extraction room, going through the next steps.

Introducing the complex of 10 clean rooms that process remains and comparison gene samples of relatives, Mr. Tran Trung Thanh - Deputy Director in charge of the DNA Identification Center - said that the unit ensures the capacity to analyze 4,000 samples of martyrs' remains each year. From 2019 to present, the DNA Identification Center has performed 800 nuclear DNA extractions, equivalent to about 8,000 samples of martyrs' remains. The successful extraction rate reached 22%, equivalent to about 1,600 samples handed over to the Department of Meritorious People, Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs. Currently, there are more than 7,000 samples well preserved at the center.

Deputy Director Tran Trung Thanh emphasized that the appraisal processes at the center are being standardized according to ISO 17025 regulations. After the samples are handed over, the center will process, store, preserve, then classify and select samples for appraisal. The pressure and challenge is the time to perform the appraisal. Mr. Thanh said that each sample of martyrs' remains has its own unique characteristics. Therefore, it is impossible to appraise them once and get immediate results, but the appraisal process often has to be repeated with many steps adjusted to suit each sample. "Therefore, the time to return results for each appraisal varies, the fastest is 1 week, but there are also samples that have not yet synthesized the gene sequence after many months," Mr. Thanh informed. The center's leaders commented that the difficulties in DNA appraisal of unidentified martyrs' remains are a difficult problem not only in Vietnam but in the world in general. Therefore, the 22% success rate cannot fully describe all the problems that the units are facing. The Deputy Director in charge of the center pointed out three key problems currently encountered: machinery, technology and human resources in the process of DNA identification. This is a highly specialized job, requiring a selective workforce. Objective factors include harsh weather conditions, many areas where martyrs remain have a high level of decomposition, seriously affecting the quality of the samples. With heavily decomposed samples, the force has difficulty in processing them to obtain identification results. In addition, Mr. Thanh pointed out a bottleneck in the mechanism for DNA identification of martyrs' remains in the past due to the lack of economic and technical standards to resolve payment for identification centers. Previously, DNA identification of martyrs' remains was set at 5 million VND. To date, that standard is no longer appropriate when chemicals, materials, and labor costs change, and many samples need to be redone many times. In fact, the Center is currently waiting to be paid for the appraisal costs it has performed over the past 3 years.

Discussing this issue, Director of the Department of Meritorious People, Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Loi said that the work of identifying the remains of martyrs with missing information is stipulated in Decree 131/2021/ND-CP. Accordingly, the Government assigned localities to develop a plan to collect samples of remains of martyrs with missing information at martyr cemeteries, and receive biological samples sent by martyrs' relatives to appraisal facilities. However, the budget is paid by the Ministry and the Department based on local estimates, so localities have not been proactive in implementation. On the other hand, state management agencies need to develop economic and technical norms as a basis for building unit prices for DNA appraisal services for remains of martyrs and relatives of martyrs. Mr. Loi explained that DNA appraisal is a special type of service that cannot be applied as forensic appraisal. The development of economic and technical norms must be based on the process of identifying the remains of martyrs with missing information. In December 2023, the Ministry of National Defense issued Circular 119/2023/TT-BQP guiding this process. Based on this Circular, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs assigned the Department of People with Merits to preside over and coordinate with relevant agencies and units to study and develop and submit to the Minister for promulgation of economic and technical norms and cost norms for performing appraisal services. Accordingly, the problem will be resolved soon in the near future.

According to the Director of the Department of Meritorious People, in 2022, the Vietnamese Government signed a plan to improve the capacity to identify war remains with the US. The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs is a participant in the memorandum of understanding on the US side supporting Vietnam to improve the capacity to identify war remains signed between the Vietnam Office for Searching for Missing Persons (VNOSMP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). On that basis, in 2023, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs reported to the Prime Minister for permission to bring 100 old bone samples to the Netherlands for testing. Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said that these are the most limited quality remains that units in Vietnam have examined but have not yet identified the genome because the remains have degraded after a long time of being exposed to harsh natural conditions. Up to now, according to the report of the Institute of Biotechnology with modern equipment, machinery and technology, the results show that 54% of the bone samples of this group have synthesized DNA. Recent information related to this issue, Dr. Phi Quyet Tien, Deputy Director of the Institute of Biotechnology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, pointed out that up to now, units have used DNA identification technology for martyrs' remains based on mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Up to now, with the development of modern analytical technology using new generation gene sequencing machines combined with microbiological analysis technology, the world has applied a new DNA identification technology from ancient bone samples, called nuclear DNA analysis. This technology has been applied in archaeological work, and can determine the genetic origin of bone samples dating back hundreds of years. Martyr remains samples buried for 40-80 years were selected for identification using this technology. Regarding the proposal to take samples for identification from relatives of martyrs whose remains have not been identified and to conduct genetic identification of all graves of martyrs whose remains are still present, aiming to form a DNA bank by Minister Dao Ngoc Dung, Deputy Director of the DNA Identification Center Tran Trung Thanh affirmed: "This project and direction are very correct. Because the further away the time goes, the more severely the remains decompose. In each martyr's family, relatives who have direct relationships, suitable for taking control samples, are also gradually lost and depleted. The sooner it is done, the better". For that reason, the leader of the DNA Identification Center emphasized that the identification agency is ready to participate, accompany, and support the project of the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs. Source: https://dantri.com.vn/an-sinh/ngan-hang-gen-liet-si-lam-mot-lan-cho-cac-the-he-sau-20240718192825622.htm