MeiLin Wan, vice president for textiles at Applied DNA Sciences; Pic: Eurofins

19 October 2019

Meilin Wan, vice president for textiles at Applied DNA Sciences, will make a presentation on DNA traceability at Leather, Compliance and Sustainability conference on November 13. For over 16 years, Wan has worked in the bioscientific field transforming use of forensic DNA and nanotechnologies into useful and novel consumer and industrial driven applications.

Effective traceability of materials up the supply chain is the best way to manage sustainability risk and mitigate against potential environmental and social challenges. An effective traceability programme can ensure managing out deforestation risk from the supply chain.

Leather can be a particularly challenging material to effectively trace as it is a by-product of a different industry. Traditional methods for marking leather involve stamping, this can be difficult to record as the stamps will ultimately be cut out of any finished product and in some cases the stamp can actually damage the leather material.