Mario Scherer is the Director of Research and Development of Human Identification Product Development at QIAGEN GmbH. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Microbiology (2001) and a Diploma in Biology (1998) from the University of Marburg. Scherer has a productive 10-year career in research and development for Life Sciences and Applied Market Applications. Since 2006, he has been working in QIAGEN R&D on development projects for life science products that focus on forensics. Prior to that, he held a postdoc position within the Department of Plant-Pathogen-Interactions at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology. He has presented at numerous forensic meetings and conferences globally and has published several articles in the field of Forensic Science.

Mary Jones Dukes is the Director of the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory (MSFL). She has a Master’s of Business Administration, a Master’s of Science degree in Biology/Molecular Biology and a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology. Dukes also holds certification in Lean Six Sigma Green Belt through the American Society of Microbiology (ASQ). She possesses 24 years in the field of forensic DNA. Before becoming Director of the MSFL, she was employed at QIAGEN, LLC, as the DNA Technical Lead of the Human ID & Forensics business in North America driving sales and product development for the Human ID & Forensics business. Prior to QIAGEN, Mary performed start-to-finish DNA casework in Forensic DNA with a heavy focus on processing sexual assault kit evidence while employed at the North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory (NLCL). She is also a court-qualified expert witness in forensic DNA and Quality assurance in the State of Louisiana. Dukes also served as the NLCL System Quality Manager for all disciplines.