Introduction to Forensic Analysis course by visiting scholar David Thompson

During Apr 4-8, 2018 The EACH programme had the pleasure of hosting visiting scholar, Dr. David F. Thompson from the Keele University (UK). He conducted an intensive course Introduction to Forensic Analysis.

This lecture series started with some basic forensic principles that underpin the use of analytical chemistry in the court room. It then developed to cover key biological samples that can be encountered in a forensic investigation along with their specific uses and pre-cautions that need to be taken during collection, storage, analysis and reporting of these sample types. A significant amount of time was devoted to understanding the ethical considerations around forensic analysis and how other regulation can affect an investigation. The final part of this series focused on some future directions in food fraud detection using metabonomic profiling.

An exciting part was a practical session on the analysis of fingerprints. Dr Thompson first explained the basics of fingerprint analysis, the classification of the patterns and the different levels of detail. He also had fingerprint swabs and fingerprint forms with him. Every student had the possibility to take his/her fingerprints and analyse them for the typical patterns.

Altogether 27 students (out of them 15 EACH students) participated in the course and their feedback was very positive.

Dr. Thompson is the Forensic Science Programme Director at Keele and the module leader for the Forensic Toxicology, Drugs of Abuse and the final year project elements of the course. He also directs a research group that is focused on food fraud research using metabonomics.

(Photo up left: Dr. Thompson teaching the class; Photo on the right: Dr. Thompson examining fingerprints with students; Photo down left: Group photo with the participants)