Timothy Palmbach

Improved capillary electrophoresis determination of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin including on-line immunosubtraction.

The instrumental analysis of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), a recognized marker of chronic alcohol abuse, is most commonly carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Between these two techniques, CZE shows higher efficiency and productivity, but is often reported to be inferior to HPLC in terms of selectivity, because of a less specific ultraviolet detection wavelength than HPLC. On these grounds, the present work was aimed at the development of an improved CZE method for CDT determination, including an on-line immunosubtraction step specifically aimed at enhancing the analytical specificity of CZE determination. The analytical conditions were as follows: uncoated fused silica capillary, 30 µm × 60 cm (L = 50 cm to detector); running buffer, 100 mmol/L borate and 6 mmol/L DAB (1,4-diaminobutane), pH 8.3; voltage, 30 kV; temperature, 25°C; detection, 200 nm. Under the described CZE conditions, a baseline separation between all the CDT related peaks was achieved with good analytical performances in terms of both precision and accuracy. In order to achieve unequivocal recognition of the CDT peaks, an in-capillary immunosubtraction step was included by loading a plug of anti-human transferrin antibody solution after the sample plug. This analytical approach was applied successfully to recognize CDT peaks in the presence of potential interferences.

DNA Analysis of Digested Tomato Seeds in Stomach Contents

Examination of stomach contents is one of the important steps in medical legal autopsy. Vegetative materials such as stems, roots, and seeds in stomach contents can be valuable evidence for providing investigative leads in death investigation. Currently, the identification of plant materials relies on microscopic and morphologic examination. We have found that many seeds are often protected from acid degradation during stomach digestion by their tough exterior seed coat. Tomato seeds were selected as a model system to assess DNA analysis and plant variety marker identification. The DNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism method was performed to determine if the DNA obtained from single seeds could be used for PCR analysis. From the amplified fragment length polymorphism results, some candidate markers for individualizing seeds from morphologically distinct tomatoes were identified. These data on DNA analysis of tomato seeds indicate amplified fragment length polymorphism is a viable procedure for the individualization of seeds from stomach contents in forensic investigations.

Overcoming Human Trafficking via Operations Research and Analytics: Opportunities for Methods, Models, and Applications

Human trafficking is a complex transnational problem for society and the global economy. While researchers have studied this topic in a variety of contexts, including the criminology, sociology, and clinical domains, there has been little coverage in the operations research (OR) and analytics community. This paper highlights how techniques from OR and analytics can address the growing issue of human trafficking. We describe some of the unique concerns, problems, and challenges of human trafficking in relation to analytical techniques; subsequently, we demonstrate a variety of ways that OR and analytics can be applied in the human trafficking domain.

DNA analysis of ingested tomato and pepper seeds.

Ingested food is one of the important types of forensic evidence obtained during a medicolegal autopsy. Many materials containing seeds pass through the human digestive system and are still recognizable; thus, they can be valuable for providing investigative leads. Currently, the identification of seeds relies on microscopic and morphologic examination. However this method sometimes can be problematic. For example, the microscopic appearance of the ingested tomato and pepper seeds is very similar; thus, it is not always easy to distinguish these seeds by comparing their physical characteristics. Tomato and pepper seeds were selected as a model system to assess the value of performing DNA analysis as an alternate and/or complimentary means of seed identification. Results of blind testing indicate that the deoxyribonucleic acid-amplified fragment length polymorphism (DNA-AFLP) results were able to discriminate between pepper and tomato seed samples after they passed through the digestive system.

Utilizing DNA Analysis to Combat the World Wide Plague of Present Day Slavery – Trafficking in Persons

A study was conducted to determine if modern forensic DNA typing methods can be properly employed throughout the world with a final goal of increasing arrests, prosecutions, and convictions of perpetrators of modern day trafficking in persons while concurrently reducing the burden of victim testimony in legal proceedings. Without interruption of investigations, collection of samples containing DNA was conducted in a variety of settings. Evidentiary samples were analyzed on the ANDE Rapid DNA system. Many of the collected swabs yielded informative short tandem repeat profiles with Rapid DNA technology.

Education and Accreditation in Forensic Science

Forensic science continues to expand its scope and diversity. Many new and highly specialized disciplines have evolved. As these expansions have occurred, along with a call for more research and scientific inquiry, there is an increasing need for education in all aspects of the field of forensic science. A properly focused education in forensic science is essential not only for future forensic scientists, but also as a means to keep current practitioners abreast of emerging new technologies. The NIJ sponsored two major studies which concluded that education was a vital element in improving the status and effectiveness of forensic science services. The TWGED report established the first set of curriculum and program requirements. With accreditation programs, such as FEPAC, it is now possible for students and laboratories seeking new recruits to ensure that the new hires will have a sound scientific and forensic science-based education. The level and quality of education is likely to progress on a global level.