The Daily Bulletin Archive

Greg McLaughlin, senior research scientist at Albany Molecular Research Inc., will present "Forensic Method Development and the Raman Spectroscopic Analysis of Body Fluids" at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in Science Building 272. This seminar series is sponsored by the Faculty-Student Association. An abstract of his talk appears below.

Abstract
Several recent discoveries demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy has a unique capability to characterize body fluid traces in a forensic capacity. This approach has thus garnered interest in the forensic community since 2008, when a proof of concept experiment established that blood, semen, vaginal fluid, sweat, and saliva are easily differentiable through their Raman spectra. This analytical approach provides several desirable traits for the field of forensic science. Raman spectroscopy is nondestructive and confirmatory by nature, and has the potential to be rapid and field applicable. The previous work on the forensic analysis of body fluids with Raman spectroscopy has primarily performed under best-case conditions. The research here focuses on exploring the practical capabilities and limitations of Raman spectroscopy as a tool to identify body fluids. In particular, species differentiation and the effect of substrate interference and laser power are explored. The applied methodology and resulting discoveries have foundational importance and applications beyond a forensic context.