EWJ June 2024 web - Journal - Page 96
Scientists Develop Biocompatible Fluorescent
Spray That Detects Fingerprints in Ten Seconds
Bath researchers have helped produce a safer, more sustainable fingerprint detection
spray that could be used on multiple types of surface.
Scientists have developed a water soluble, non-toxic
fluorescent spray that makes fingerprints visible in just
a few seconds, making forensic investigations safer,
easier and quicker.
The fine spray prevents splashes that could damage
prints, is less messy than a powder and works quickly
even on rough surfaces where it is harder to capture
fingerprints, such as brick.
Latent fingerprints (LFPs) are invisible prints formed
by sweat or oil left on an object after it’s been touched.
Professor Tony James, from the Department of
Chemistry at the University of Bath (UK), said: “This
system is safer, more sustainable and works faster than
existing technologies and can even be used on fingerprints that are a week old.
Traditional forensic methods for detecting fingerprints either use toxic powders that can harm DNA
evidence, or environmentally damaging petrochemical solvents.
“Having two different colours available means the
spray can be used on different coloured surfaces.
We’re hoping to produce more colours in the future.”
The new dye spray, developed by scientists at the
Shanghai Normal University (China) and the University of Bath (UK), is water soluble, exhibits low toxicity and enables rapid visualisation of fingerprints at
the crime scene.
Dr Luling Wu, also from the University of Bath (UK),
said: “The probes are only weakly fluorescent in aqueous solution, but emit strong fluorescence once they
bind to the fingerprints through the interaction between the probes and fatty acids or amino acids.”
While the principal investigator Professor Chusen
Huang from Shanghai Normal University in China
said that “We hope this technology can really improve
the detection of evidence at crime scenes.
They have created two different coloured dyes – called
LFP-Yellow and LFP-Red – which bind selectively with
the negatively-charged molecules found in fingerprints, locking the dye molecules in place and emitting a fluorescent glow that can be seen under blue
light.
The dyes are based on a fluorescent protein found in
jellyfish, called Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP),
which is used extensively by research scientists to visualise biological processes. This means the dyes are
biologically compatible and don’t interfere with
subsequent DNA analysis of the fingerprints.
“We are now collaborating with some companies to
make our dyes available for sale. Further work is still
ongoing.”
Their study is published in the Journal of the
American Chemical Society.
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EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
94
JUNE 2024