In the present work, we report the development of two reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reacton (RT-qPCR) assays for the definitve identification of newborn individuals. The methodology is based upon gene expresiion profiling analysis in which specific age groups are identified by detecting the relative quantity of expression of appropriate mRNA species. RNA is isolated from dried bloodstains is analyzed using the two duplex real-time PCR reactions for two variant novel forms of newborn specific gamma hemoglobin
