Light It Up: A Nanotechnology Approach for the Acquisition of Forensic Evidence

想象一下，你正在看一个破案电视节目。法医在犯罪现场发现了一条牛仔裤。他们用一种溶液喷洒他们，点燃他们的“火炬”，嘿，转眼间，血液，精液和唾液就变成了明亮的发光点，每个点都有不同的颜色。科学家们能够识别出存在的是什么，然后分别采集每种体液的样本，以获得沉积每种体液的人的DNA图谱。这是现实吗？不，远非如此。目前，进行不同的分析（每种分析需要不同的化学品和设备）来检测和识别每种体液。这是非常耗时的一个重要因素，当警察等待结果，这可能有助于他们解决犯罪。目前的方法也很难检测到非常微小的体液痕迹。鉴于现在可以从一个或几个细胞中获得DNA图谱，在犯罪现场收集DNA痕迹至关重要。我们提议的研究旨在通过生产一种溶液使电视小说成为现实，当喷洒在法医证据物品上时，将使任何血液，精液或唾液的痕迹发出荧光，因此，法医科学家能够很容易地确定体液的位置（重要的是，哪些体液存在），以便他们可以将其用于DNA分析。我们的解决方案被称为“Light It Up”，它基于非常小的颗粒，称为纳米颗粒。每个纳米颗粒将被一种生物分子包裹，这种生物分子识别并结合到另一种伙伴分子上。生物纳米颗粒结合物将在其上具有荧光标签，使得当专业法医光源照射在物品上时，体液所在的区域将发出不同颜色的荧光，每种颜色代表特定的目标流体。例如，精液将显示为蓝色，唾液为绿色，血液为红色。了解哪种体液存在可以为警方调查提供重要的佐证，有助于支持或反驳嫌疑人、受害者或证人的陈述。“Light It Up”将很容易提供这些信息。我们还打算开发一种“Light It Up”解决方案，直接在原位检测DNA。这是法医科学家在寻找生物体液时真正寻找的DNA（尽管他们也希望获得有关体液类型的信息，以帮助警方进行调查）。最后，我们希望确定“点亮它”的一般适用性，以向警方提供可指导他们调查的信息。举例来说，在罪案现场留下的指纹，我们还可以发现哪些其他资料，有助警方进行调查？

Imagine you are watching a crime-solving TV programme. The forensic scientists have found a pair of jeans at a crime scene. They spray them with a solution, shine their 'torches' and, hey presto, blood, semen and saliva show up as brightly glowing spots each of a different colour. The scientists are able to identify what is present and then take a sample of each body fluid separately to obtain the DNA profile of the person who deposited each fluid. Is this reality? No, far from it. Currently, a different analysis (each requiring different chemicals and equipment) is carried out to detect and identify each of these body fluids. This is very time consuming an important factor when police are waiting for results which may help them solve a crime. The current methods also struggle to detect very small traces of body fluids. Given that it is now possible to obtain a DNA profile from one or a few cells, collecting traces of DNA at crime scenes is vital.Our proposed research aims to make TV fiction a reality by producing a solution which, when sprayed on items of forensic evidence, will cause any traces of blood, semen or saliva to fluoresce, so that forensic scientists are readily able to identify where the body fluids are located (and importantly, which ones are present) so that they can remove them for DNA profiling. 'Light It Up', as our solution is called, is based on very small particles called nanoparticles. Each nanoparticle will be coated with a biological molecule which recognizes and binds to another partner molecule. The bio-nanoparticle conjugates will have fluorescent tags on them so that when the specialist forensic light sources are shone on the item, the area where the body fluid is located will fluoresce with different colours, each colour representing a particular target fluid. For example, semen will show up as blue, saliva as green and blood as red. Knowing which body fluid is present can provide vital corroborative evidence for police investigations helping to support or refute suspect, victim or witness statements. 'Light It Up' will readily provide this information.We also aim to develop a solution of 'Light It Up' which will detect DNA directly in situ. It's the DNA that forensic scientists are really looking for when they search for biological fluids (although they also want information on the type of body fluid to help the police in their investigations). Finally, we wish to determine the generic applicability of 'Light It Up' to provide the police with information which can guide them in their investigations. For example, what other materials can we detect from fingerprints left at a crime scene which might help point the police in the right direction for their investigations?