title: The recovery of latent fingermarks and DNA using a silicone-based casting material.
abstract: There are many techniques available for the recovery of fingermarks at scenes of crime including the possibility of taking casts of the marks. Casts can be advantageous in cases where other destructive recovery techniques might not be suitable, such as when recovering finger marks deposited on valued or immobile items. In this research, Isomark (a silicone-based casting material) was used to recover casts of finger marks placed on a variety of substrates. Casts were enhanced using cyanoacrylate fuming. Good quality marks were successfully recovered from a range of smooth, non-porous surfaces. Recovery from semi-porous surfaces was shown to be inefficient. DNA was subsequently extracted from the casts using QIAamp Mini extraction kits, amplified and profiled. Full DNA profiles were obtained 34% of samples extracted.
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Department of Forensic Science and Drug Monitoring, Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shalhoub
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Quinones
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ames
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Multaney
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Curtis
authors.forename: Haj
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Seeboruth
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Daniel
mesh_terms: D003487:Cyanoacrylates; D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003878:Dermatoglyphics; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016062:Porosity; D012828:Silicones; D013499:Surface Properties; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D003487:Cyanoacrylates; D012828:Silicones; D004247:DNA