Jellyfish inspire fast forensics fingerprint breakthrough
3 Mar 2024
A new water soluble, non-toxic fluorescent spray that renders fingerprints visible in 10 seconds is being pioneered by an Anglo-Chinese university team – with inspiration from jellyfish.
It employs created dyes based on Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), found in the animals and which is also used in laboratory science to visualise biological processes
Research teams from Shanghai Normal University and the University of Bath say the dyes are biologically compatible and do not interfere with DNA analysis of latent fingerprints created by sweat or oil left on objects.
And while traditional forensic methods rely on toxic powders that can harm DNA evidence, or environmentally damaging petrochemical solvents, the new approach also provides a sustainable alternative.
Two coloured dyes – called LFP-Yellow and LFP-Red – were developed. These bind selectively with negatively-charged molecules found in fingerprints, locking the dye molecules in place to emit a fluorescent glow visible under blue
Professor Tony James, of Bath’s Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath (UK), explained the benefits, saying:
“This system is safer, more sustainable and works faster than existing technologies and can even be used on fingerprints that are a week old. 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.”
Principal investigator Shanghai’s professor Chusen Huang said it was hoped that the technology will improve the evidence detection at crime scenes. Work is underway to scale up the dyes for possible commercial exploitation.
