Forensic Science Ms MacCormack Spring 2017 Serology Forensic Science Ms MacCormack Spring 2017

What is forensic serology? Branch of forensics that tests blood serum and other body fluids. Testing would inlcude: Blood typing Characterization of unknown blood Stain patterns Paternity testing Semen identification in rape cases DNA techniques used for identification

What is blood? Blood is a circulating fluid that provides the body with nutrition, oxygen and waste removal. The average person has about 5 liters of blood in their body.

Parts of blood Blood is made up of the following: Water Cells Proteins Inorganic Salts Enzymes

Plasma Plasma is the liquid part of blood Makes up about 55% of the blood Consists mostly of water and substances dissolved in it.

Solid Particles of Blood The solid particles found in blood are: Erthrocytes (Red blood cells) – carry oxygen and CO2 Leukocytes (White blood cells) – fight infections Platelets – helps the blood to clot

Questions that a Foresenic Scientist would ask Is it blood? Luminol Test Is it human blood? Precipitin Test Can it be associated with an individual?

Luminol Test Luminol is sprayed on an area where blood could have been. If traces of blood are present where the luminol has been sprayed, the area will glow. This glowing is due to the reaction of the luminol with hemoglobin.

Luminol Tests Luminol Demonstration Detecting Blood Using Luminol

Precipitn Test Used to determine if a blood sample is human or not.

Blood splatter analysis

Types of Splatters Passive (Dripping) Transfer (Smearing) Projected

Projection Splatter Analysis There are two important determinants: Direction of the splatter Angle of impact with surface