Cocaine detection

Cocaine happens to be one of the most illicit drugs in Europe and US. Yet, estimations say there are around 17 million users worldwide. This together, makes important the detection of cocaine and having devices able to precisely measure a wide range of cocaine concentrations in street samples. At TU Delft, together with the Netherlands Forensic Institute Lukasz Poltorak et al. have proposed a successful method which allows not only the detection of very different concentrations of cocaine but also the analysis and detection of cutting agents.

Amino acids in your fingerprints!

Fingermark evidence has been, and still is, extensively used in criminal investigations. But it is not about its shape and marks anymore. Chemistry and biology joined the game. At Prof. Marcel de Puit lab (Netherlands Forensic Institute), they are studying amino acid profiles obtained from fingerprints. They have come up with a method for the separation and quantification of amino acids from fingerprint.

With the help of Ward van Helmond, first author of the article, we designed this image, that made it to the cover of Analytical Methods.