Identification of Individual Red Blood Cells by Raman Microspectroscopy for Forensic Purposes: In Search of a Limit of Detection

• NCJ Number: 252349
• Date Published: January 2017
• Author(s): Claire K. Muro, Igor K. Lednev
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: Raman spectroscopy for analyzing body fluid traces: Moving towards a practical forensic application; Further Development of Raman Spectroscopy for Body Fluid Investigation: Method Advancement and Validation

Annotation

This study loaded an experimental Raman spectra of individual red blood cells into the authors’ previously reported models for body fluid identification, and all were correctly classified as peripheral blood.

Abstract

Traces of body fluids can be present at a variety of crime scenes. It is important that forensic investigators have a reliable and nondestructive method of identifying these traces. Of equal importance is establishing the limitations of any method used, including its detection limit. The researchers in the current study previously reported on the use of Raman microspectroscopy and multivariate data analysis to identify and differentiate body fluids. Although many studies use serial dilutions to establish limits of detection, the authors used a different approach and demonstrated that a single red blood cell is sufficient to be correctly identified as blood. (Publisher abstract modified)