HOUSTON -- The Houston Police Department's troubled DNA crime lab may soon be back in business, KPRC Local 2 reported.

The department announced Friday that it has hired a new manager who now faces the critical job of restoring credibility to that office.

Laura Gahn is a doctor who has held jobs in DNA analysis at private labs for the last 12 years.

"I feel very confident that we can trust the product that we're going to produce," she said.

Confidence in the police DNA lab has been in short supply. Revelations of shoddy work, poor training and bad management caused it to be shut down not once but twice since 2002.

It was at the center the crime lab scandal that forced police and prosecutors to review thousands of cases processed by the lab. That review led to the exoneration of three men who had been convicted as a result of faulty lab work.

The lab has been reaccredited but remains dormant.

"My top priority is getting the DNA testing back online," Gahn said. "I'm in the process of evaluating all the processes and procedures that are already in place."

Gahn did not say how soon DNA testing will resume, but Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said there will be a major announcement in July.

"We're dong some things, meeting and establishing some partnerships and planning a future direction that I think that you, as well as people in the community and the criminal justice system, will be very pleased with efforts we'll put in place in the future for the DNA crime lab," Hurtt said.

Officials said a host of problems a special investigator identified at the lab have been corrected. The DNA section is the only section of the crime lab that remains offline. Labs as far away as Tennessee have been completing DNA tests.

An independent review of the crime lab released in 2007 found that a leaky roof had allowed rainwater to contaminate DNA samples in the lab and that casework was filled with mistakes. Investigators found in that at least four cases, test results done by the lab were even fraudulent.