International Conference on
Forensic Research & Technology
Scientific Program
Keynote Session:
Title: Simultaneous drug identification in urine of sexual assault victims by using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry
Biography:
Bai Hsiun Chen is a Professor from Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University and he is a Attending physician in Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He is also a Supervisor, Taiwan Society of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Abstract:
According to domestic and international epidemiological investigation, the proportion of substance involved sexual assault has the trend of ascent. In the past, laboratory methods that investigated urine sample of the sexual assault victims was to screen with enzyme immunoassay and then confirmed with mass spectrometry. The objective of the study is to simultaneously identify abused drugs in 126 decoded urine samples of sexual assault victims by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The instrument was operated in multiple-reaction monitoring with an electro-spray positive ionization mode. Chromatograms were separated with ACE5 C18 column on a gradient of acetonitrile. After liquid–liquid extraction, samples were passed through a 0.22 mm PVDF filter before
injection into the system. The limits of quantitation ranged from 0.2 to 10 ng/mL. The precision (CV) results were below 12.9% (intraday) and 15.0% (interday). The intraday accuracy ranged from 84.8 to 121.0%, interday accuracy ranged from 72.0 to 117.3%. We found that 29 (23.0%) were positive for drugs. The most common drug identified is flunitrazepam (11.1%), followed by nimetazepam and ketamine (7.9%), some new psychoactive substances, such as 2C-B, mephedrone, methylone, PMA and PMMA were also identified. We identified abused drugs, benzodiazepines, and new psychoactive substances in urine of sexual assault victims by using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.
Title: Extraction and determination of Ertapenem antibiotic in forensic matrices by solid phase extraction followed by LC-MS
Biography:
Jaskaran Singh has completed his PhD at the age of 28years from Amity University as a INSPIRE Fellow, Ministry of Science and Technology, DST, Govt. of India. He is the Assistant Professor of Forensic Science in a Lovely Professional University, Punjab. He has published more than 8 papers in reputed journals and 1 patent.
Abstract:
Antibiotics are pharmaceuticals which are used to cease and cure bacterial infections. Due to their rapid consumption it leads to addiction following antibiotic abuse. Cases have been reported for antibiotic overdosage. Since not having certain protocols to detect such cases we have developed a method to detect such antibiotics from post mortem samples. A solid-phase extraction based on two organic solvents followed by isocratic liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy with 242nm UV-vis detection was achieved for determination of ertapenem antibiotic, in forensic samples. Methanol was selected as the supported liquid membrane. The elution was done by formic acid. Chromatographic separation of drug was achieved on a Hypersil ODS C-18 150mm X 4.6mm,
5μm column using a mobile phase consisting of a binary mixture of Phosphate buffer (4.5590gm of Potassium dehydrogenate orthophosphate in 1.0 liter Water and pH was adjusted to 7.5) and Methanol in the ratio of 60:40v/v. To evaluate the capability of the proposed method in the analysis of biological samples, three different forensic samples were analysed under the optimal conditions. The relative recoveries of the ertapenem in three different forensic samples were above the range of 70%. Thus, the developed Liquid Chromatographic method offers symmetric peak shape, good resolution and reasonable retention time for drug. Linearity, accuracy and precision were found to be acceptable over the concentration range of 10-40microgram/ml for ertapenem.
Title: Identification of a novel candidate serum marker of small cell lung cancer
Biography:
Yoshinori Murakami has completed his MD from Faculty of Medicine and his PhD from the Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan and Postdoctoral Studies from University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Then he worked in National Cancer Center Research Institute as Section Head and moved to the Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo (IMSUT) as a Professor of Division of Molecular Pathology in 2007. He serves as the Dean of IMSUT and Principal Investigator of Bio bank Japan Project since 2015. His specialty is molecular oncology and genomic medicine.
Abstract:
CADM1 is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily cell adhesion molecule and expressed in almost all organs except for peripheral blood cells. CADM1 acts as a tumor suppressor and lost its expression in a variety of cancers in advanced stages (1). By contrast, CADM1 is ectopically expressed in adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) and used as a diagnostic marker of ATL using FACS (2). Here, we demonstrate that CADM1 is also highly expressed in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) (4). Immunohistochemistry showed that 33 of 44 (75%) primary SCLC tumors expressed CADM1. Interestingly, SCLC expresses a unique splicing variant of CADM1, variant 8/9, containing an additional extracellular fragment corresponding to exon 9, in addition to a common epithelial isoform, variant 8. CADM1v8/9 is almost
exclusively expressed in SCLC and testis, although this variant protein localizes along the membrane and shows similar cell aggregation activity to that of CADM1v8. Moreover, we detected an extracellular fragment of CADM1v8/9 in culture media of SCLC cells. Thus, we generated a specific antibody against CADM1v8/9 by immunizing to the Cadm1-gene deficient mice. Using this antibody, we have developed a prototype of ELSIA system to detect CADM1v8/9 fragments in 47% of serums from SCLC patients. Preliminary results show that CADM1v8/9 expression is independent of ProGRP expression and associated with disease progression of SCLC. These findings suggest that CADM1v8/9 would provide a useful serum biomarker for detecting SCLC.
Title: Mobile forensics and security apps: Is there anything left to find?
Biography:
Matthew Simon is the APAC Forensic Sales Consultant for Magnet Forensics. Matthew’s role is to support customers of Magnet Forensics across the APAC region in the application of digital forensics, to understand the technical challenges investigators are facing and help ensure the company is providing the most relevant and innovative solutions. Matthew previously held the role of Digital Crime Officer at the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation where he was in the Digital Forensics Laboratory. In this role he worked closely with the INTERPOL member countries to provide incident response, capacity building and training, and digital forensics laboratory support. Prior to his time at INTERPOL, Matthew spent almost five years in criminal law enforcement as an Electronic Evidence Specialist with the Electronic Crime Section of the South Australia Police in Australia. He actively worked with police investigators on many serious criminal matters and provided expert reports and oral expert testimony in court for numerous cases Matthew has a PhD by research in digital forensics and a Bachelor Degree with First Class Honours from the University of South Australia. He is an expert digital forensics practitioner, an academic researcher and is experienced in computer and mobile forensics
Abstract:
With mobile devices being a repository of extremely intimate and personal information, users are increasingly cautious of protecting this information. The onset of security apps for phones helps people feel proactive in safeguarding their privacy. Such apps may be used for nefarious purposes such as hiding illegal images, files and communications. However, users may employ these apps simply to maintain privacy by hiding data from parents,
guardians, siblings, spouses etc. While another potential risk for law enforcement, these apps can also be a trove of new content for investigators. However, handling and interacting with devices with such security apps should be done so with caution. In this presentation, we will explore some of the apps available, look at the risks and some data the data that is left behind and an overview of the examination process undertaken to find such data.
Title: The complete iOS forensic workflow: From physical extraction to iCloud
Biography:
Oleg Afonin is an IT security researcher and a mobile forensic specialist at ElcomSoft Co. Ltd., the company developing digital forensics tools. Oleg has trained forensic specialists and police forces in Canada, Germany, Austria and the UK. He speaks regularly at forensic events and conferences all over the world. Oleg co-authored a book on Mobile Forensics - Advanced Investigative Strategies1.
Abstract:
Accessing evidence stored in iOS devices (iPhones and iPads) is a challenge. Full-disk encryption stands in the way of low-level acquisition, while the many hardware and system level restrictions make physical extraction extremely difficult. At the same time, the iPhone must remain usable and accessible to the owner, which means a forensic specialist may still be able to get around iOS security measures. iOS devices feature several layers of protection, which makes seizing, storing and transporting iOS devices a challenge requiring expertise. Latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system actively resist forensic efforts by disabling the less secure biometric identification (Touch ID or Face ID) and blocking USB connectivity after a short
period of time. Many of these restrictions can be effectively bypassed with proper timing and the right technique. In this talk, we'll cover the entire iOS forensic workflow. We'll start from seizing, transporting and storing the device, and discuss approaches, methods and tools to access information and extract evidence. We’ll address USB restricted mode, talk about using existing pairing records to extract locked devices, and discuss physical acquisition via jailbreaking. We’ll look at the types of data Apple devices store and sync via iCloud, and learn how to extract that data. Finally, we will talk about extracting stored passwords from local and iCloud keychain. Logical, physical and cloud acquisition methods will be covered.
Oral Session 1:
- Crime and Law | Cyber Security | Forensic Psychology | Forensic Medicine
Chair
Bai Hsiun Chen
Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan
Co-Chair
Jaskaran Singh
Amity University, India
Title: The use of alternate materials for blood detections at crime scenes
Biography:
Sewela Khunoana is still studying her PhD from the University of Johannesburg. She is currently lecturing chemistry to first year students at the University of Johannesburg. She has 3 of journal articles under review and awaiting her final Thesis results.
Abstract:
Crime in South Africa is currently a huge problem. Many criminals cases (eg. Rape and murder cases) remain unsolved due to a lack of reliable forensic evidence. The detection of body fluids such as blood has becomes problematic since existing tests such as the luminol test have inherent disadvantages. These disadvantages include a high cost and short shelf life. The need for tests which are more cost effective has therefore arisen. This study has been initiated to identify components in the plant extract of Crinium Macowanii bulb which are chemically similar to luminol and therefore can replace luminol. Such components include tryptamine alkaloid and rutin flavonoids. The preliminary Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) studies have shown that the components of the Crinium bulb are
soluble in non-polar organic solvents (alkaloids) as well as in water (flavonoids). Tryptamine glows in the presence of UV-light and show potential for replacing luminol. Whereas, rutin produces chemical reactions with human blood and thus may be used in day time detections. Tests on these isolated components and their interactions with pig blood were also conducted to verify replacement for the luminol test. This study was also extended to real human blood samples. Furthermore, human blood specimens detected by luminol and alternate materials (Crinum Macowanii bulb extract) were tested for their DNA integrity to ensure that DNA remained intact upon detection for further positive identification for evidence presentation in a court of law.
Title: Forensic examination of disguised writing
Biography:
Generally in examination of handwriting, the details of handwriting characteristic features are examined in order to ascertain the authorship. In disguised writing the writer tries to hide his own handwriting features and try to portray a different type of writing style. Doing this act he/she becomes conscious to write the text content or signature on paper. As we know that writing is an outcome of neuromuscular coordination of brain to hand, so it is very difficult to do so. The document examiner in such cases of
disguised writing is faced with the challenge of recognizing the act of disguise as well as to deeply examine and find out the inconspicuous writing features left by the writer in order to fix authorship. However many of the cases related with examination of disguised writing were examined and opined by the authors. The objective of this paper is to examine the characteristic features of disguised writing. The detailed study of cases related with disguised writing will be discussed.
Abstract:
Reeta R Gupta Senior Scientific Officer-II-cum-Assistant Chemical Examiner to the Government of India holds PhD(Chemistry),Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Application, Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management, Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science having over 14 year experience in forensic document examination, also worked Assistant Government Examiner of Questioned Document Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh, Directorate of Forensic Science Services, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, Life Member of The Indian Science Congress Association, International Science Community Association and International Scientific Society- Society of Biophysics, Published number of articles in national and International Journals and conduction Research and development in the field of Forensic document examination
Title: Every contact leaves a trace: The trace of interactions
Biography:
Ann-Christine Andersson Arnten is a Swedish Police, Department of National Operations Assessment Functions
Abstract:
The theme of this conference is “Every Contact Leaves a Trace”. We all know that even the “best” criminals leave at least one trace. Sometimes we do not have the ability to examine that trace, and then our technology get more and more developed and traces found long ago can be examined and helping us solve old cases. This is natural when it comes to policing. We believe in and always look for a trace. Based on national and international research I will argue
that as police officers and police leaders we also always leave a trace in our interactions, external with citizens and internal other fellow police employees. I will also argue that these traces are important for the effectiveness of our police departments both in how we solve and prevent crimes. Moreover I will argue that depending on personal characteristics of our police officers and police leaders these traces will be of positive or negative influence.
Keynote Session:
Title: Unifying intrusion detection and forensic analysis via provenance awareness
Biography:
Yulai Xie received the B.E. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China, in 2007 and 2013, respectively. He was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2010 and a visiting scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2015. He is now an associate professor in school of computer from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China. His research interests mainly include digital provenance, intrusion detection, network storage and computer architecture.
Abstract:
The existing host-based intrusion detection methods are mainly based on recording and analyzing the system calls of the invasion processes (such as exploring the sequences of system calls and their occurring probabilities). However, these methods are not efficient enough on the detection precision as they do not reveal the inherent intrusion events in detail (e.g., where are the system vulnerabilities and what causes the invasion are both not mentioned). On the other hand, though the log-based forensic analysis can enhance the understanding of how these invasion processes break into the system and what files are affected by them, it is a very cumbersome process to manually acquire information from logs which consist of the users’ normal behavior and intruders’ illegal behavior together. We use provenance, the history of an object that explicitly represents the dependency relationship between the damaged files and
the intrusion processes, rather than the underlying system calls, to detect and analyze intrusions. Provenance more accurately reveals and records the data and control flow between files and processes, reducing the potential false alarm caused by system call sequences. Moreover, the warning report during intrusion can explicitly output system vulnerabilities and intrusion sources, and provide detection points for further provenance graph based forensic analysis. Experimental results show that this framework can identify the intrusion with high detection rate, lower false alarm rate, and smaller detection time overhead compared to traditional system call based method. In addition, it can analyze the system vulnerabilities and attack sources quickly and accurately.
Title: The interpretation of the expert opinion
Biography:
Medical expertise is essential in criminal cases concerning capital offences. Three Dutch cases will be presented in which the expert opinion led to severe discussions in court, demonstrations against the police and even to miscarriages of justice. The first case is a case in which the victim was raped and killed. Based in the opinion of an expert two men were sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment. They proved to be innocent. After a DNA match a man is sentenced to imprisonment for 15 years. A new expert claims that this man is innocent as well. The second case is the Mitch Henriquez case. He died shortly after he was arrested by the police. Four medical experts claimed that he died because of
the use of the choke holding. Three experts claimed that he died because an ‘acute stress syndrome’. Though the cause of death remained unclear, two police men were sentenced for causing the death of Henriquez. The third case is a case in which a woman was found dead at the bottom of the stairs. After an external medical examination, the forensic physician claimed that she died after a fall from the stairs. No radiological examination, nor internal postmortem investigation was done. Two experts stated that the woman was murdered by hitting her on the head with a hammer or a shoe. This led to the conviction of a man for 11 years of imprisonment.
Abstract:
Wilma Duijst is a Professor in forensic medicine and criminal law at the Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She is a forensic physician at the Community health service in Zwolle and a Judge at the high court in Arnhem-Leeuwarden. Her publication are in the field of forensic medicine and law. She is a member of the editorial board of a Dutch journal Expertise en recht (expertise and right)
Oral Session 1:
- Clinical Biomarker | Biomarker research | Immunology Biomarkers | Molecular | Biomarkers | Biomarkers and Drug Discovery
Chair
Thomas Bayne
Microbiome Labs, USA
Co-Chair
Jaskaran Singh
Amity University, India
Title: A scientific approach on the application of Raman effect on Raman spectroscopy to help in the detection of explosives
Biography:
Sruthi Nair and Shelvin John are currently pursuing their Bachelor’s degree in Forensic Science from Amity University, Noida, India
Abstract:
Raman Spectroscopy, one of the most leading technology used to detect explosives uses a laser light source to irradiate a sample, and generates an infinitesimal amount of Raman scattered light, which is detected as a Raman spectrum using a CCD camera. To know about the working of Raman Spectroscopy, first the knowledge of Raman Effect is important. Light interacts with matter in different ways like refraction, absorption and reflection. Refracted light changes direction while absorbed photons disappear, giving off their energy to the absorbing material. During reflection light bounces off the surfaces of materials. If you think of light in terms of photons, reflection from surfaces is a type of scattering. The easiest way to explain Raman effect also known as Raman scattering is that photons sometimes
tend to emit at a lower or higher energy than their incident state. When a photon is scattered from a molecule it is scattered elastically, i.e. they have the same frequency and wavelength as the incident photon. A very few percent of the photons scatter inelastically, i.e. they have different wavelength and frequency than the incident photon. The elastic scattering of photons is known as Rayleigh scattering and the inelastic scattering of photons is known as Raman scattering. To fully understand Raman scattering we have to know in detail about Heisenberg’s energy – time uncertainty principle. And this paper we are going to discuss in detail how the Raman Effect is application in Raman Spectroscopy and how it helps in identifying explosives.
Title: To study the difference between three types of tears: Using reverse phase- high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC)
Biography:
The precorneal film present on the human ocular surface constantly does the function of keeping the eye orbit moist and lubricated. The precorneal film has three layers; mucin layer, aqueous layer and lipid layer. Each layer is dependent on each other to keep human eye immune and together mixture of components. These chemical components get secreted in the precorneal film at a constant rate under normal condition known as Basal tears or continuous tears and gets altered when subjected to reflexes, known as Reflex tears. Humans project their
thoughts in the form of lacrimation (crying), in either a positive way or negative way, known as Emotional (psychic) tears. As each type of tear shed, are spilled on subjection to various stimuli, will change chemicals in each tear and this fact has formed the base of this study, to differentiate tears on the basis of concentration of ascorbic acid present and test this hypothesis by using statistics parameters, which on completion of this experiment was found to be true and significantly different
Abstract:
Anshumali M Gaikwad is well experienced in realm of Forensic Biology. She has received her B.Sc. & M.Sc.(Serology & DNA Analysis) from Institute of Forensic Sciences Mumbai, University of Mumbai eventually working as a Scientific Officer and Chemical Analyser for the Government of Maharashtra, India.
Title: Forensic Examination of handwriting transcribed on an unusual surface
Biography:
Forensic document examiners are, time and again, introduced with different challenges in handwriting examination which they have to deal with. One of those challenges includes examination of handwriting present on unusual surfaces such as mirror, balloon, skin etc. Several research studies have been reported on this aspect of handwriting examination, but no studies have been reported regarding the examination of handwriting
transcribed on skin surface. Hence, present study has been conducted to found out the effect of skin on handwriting features. Handwriting samples from 30 individuals were collected both on skin surface and white A4 size sheet. Multiple handwriting features were studied and compared in both the writings transcribed on skin as well as A4 size sheet.
Abstract:
Amanpreet Kaur completed her masters in Forensic Science Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India. Currently, she is pursuing PhD in Forensic science with specialization in the field of handwriting examination from Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India. She also worked as lecturer at Kurukshetra University, Haryana, India for 2 years. She had 2 publications in reputed journals and presented 4 papers at international and national conferences.
Title: Test for DNA integrity of real blood specimen
Biography:
Tarisai P. Velempini has recently completed her PhD at the University of Johannesburg. She has authored 2 journal articles, and has 2 more articles under review. She is currently working as a research assistant.
Abstract:
Human blood is composed of different components which are platelets, plasma, red blood cells and white blood cells. Moreover, all human beings have these similar blood matrices and composition. Each individual has the same percentage composition of these components. However, each individual’s blood is differentiated through deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Blood detections and their interactions with detections materials such luminol, Crinum Macowanii plant bulb (medium-polar and water) extracts and standard chemicals (tryptamine and rutin), are reviewed. Upon detecting blood using these materials, it is also vitally important to look into the blood matrix after use to ensure that DNA integrity is still intact. The process of
determining DNA integrity was adopted from simple basic procedures of DNA extraction treated with specific solvents and thus purifying the DNA isolated from human blood. So far there are numerous methods to determine DNA integrity with comet assay being amongst these1. An overview of comet assay involves the DNA damage by any destructor (temperature, instruments or chemicals), embedded on a specialized coated slide and lysed. The results expected from these tests are viewed as fluorescenting spots representing DNA integrity. Spots observed either show a whole dot or a dot with a tail to it, which are interpreted as dot representing intact DNA and the tail representing damaged DNA
Title: Sex determination from patellar bone
Biography:
Judith Jaison , completed my Masters In Medical Anatomy from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. Currently working as a tutor in AIIMS, Bhopal, India. Have published 3 papers in anatomy.
Abstract:
Sex determination is one of the most important step for identification of an individual from skeletal remains. Every human body bears certain features which are unique to itself. These unique characterstics are very helpful from medicolegal view points. Bones play a vital role in determining the age, race and sex, because they are highly dynamic. There are various sexully dimorphic bones that are used namely mandible, clavicle, pelvis, and skull . However, in forensic investigations where skeletal remains often
exhibit postmortem damage and taphonomic changes the patella may be used for the determination of sex as it is easily preserved bone. The goal of the this study is to differentiate male and female patellas based on the protocol of Dayal And Bidmos. Six variables from the patella were recorded using a standard Vernier caliper to the nearest 1/100 of a millimeter. The study was conducted on the patellar bones obtained from Dr. S.N. Medical college, Jodhpur.
Title: DNA analysis after having washed bloodstains which attached to the clothes at crime scene
Biography:
Katsuya Honda has completed his PhD at the age of 30 years from University of Tsukuba, and then, nominated as Associated Professor of Osaka University School of Medicine. Subsequently, he was appointed as the Director of Department of Legal medicine, University of Tsukuba, Japan from 2001. He has published more than 200 papers in the field of DNA analysis. He succeeded in the DNA analysis of the serious affair called Ashikaga case (1990) and the Hakamada case (1966) and proved their false accusation.
Abstract:
The trace amount of blood that have been transferred from the person to the evidence by “touching”. These samples tend to have low amounts and poor quality of DNA. However, blood-stain and saliva-stain has relatively larger quantity of cells than epithelial cells. In any case, high level of collection and analyzing technique are required in analysis of a trace amount of sample. Hence, we tried to DNA analysis from a cloth with old bloodstain after dry cleaning. Because the blood was invisible to the naked eye, we use a specific light device (Pollilight-Flare Plus, Hitachi) to identify the small spot of bloodstain. Then a small cut of cloth was submitted for DNA
extraction after processing by anti-H lectin agglomeration with blood cells. DNA extraction were done by a Maxwell 16 (Promega). DNA was typed using the PowerPlex® Fusion System (PPF; Promega). In additon, short-range PCR (D-loop) was performed to generate a DNA library spanning the human mitochondrial genome (Nextera DNA Library Prep Kit, Illumina). After comparing the reference sample (slayer origin), an almost complete profile was identical to bloodstain. Furthermore, we found complete matching of mtDNA sequence between bloodstain and slayer’s.
