Forensic laboratories

In episode seven of our Community based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season.

In episode six of our community based solutions for Substance Use Challenges, Season Just Science sits down with Doctor Terry Kerns, substance abuse law enforcement coordinator of the Nevada Office of the Attorney General.

In episode three of our Community Based solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Doctor Chris Delcher, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science and director of the Institute for Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Kentucky, to discuss how his team tracks community drug use through wastewater analysis. Much like analyzing a urine sample to determine what drugs an individual is using. Analyzing wastewater from a community offers insight into drug trends across an entire region of people.

In episode two of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Bill Barbour, Fatal Overdose Surveillance Program Manager at King County Medical Examiner’s Office, to discuss his team’s methods for rapid toxicology results after a suspected overdose death.

In episode one of our Community Based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season just sat down with Doctor Samantha Tolliver, Chief Toxicologist for the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, or DC OCME, to discuss how their agency uses their Bureau of Justice Assistances Comprehensive Opioid Stimulant and Substance Use Program, or COSSUP, funding to improve their drug testing and analysis processes.

In episode four of our 2023 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Mark Pooley, founder of Native Search Solutions, to discuss how the challenges faced by Indigenous communities impact sexual assault investigations. In the United States, many Indigenous communities are geographically isolated, which contributes to a lack of resources such as police staffing and training, healthcare, or even access to the Internet.

In episode five of our community based solutions for Substance Use Challenges season Just Science sits down with doctor Nicole Swiderski, New Jersey path to recovery grant manager and Jass Pelland, New Jersey Path to Recovery program manager to discuss how the New Jersey State Parole Board's 2021 Comprehensive Opioid Stimulant and Substance Use Program Award is supporting peer recovery and other services that help individuals with a substance use disorder navigate reentering the community after release from prison.

In episode four of our community based solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Doctor Nabarun Dasgupta, pharmacoepidemiologist and senior scientist at the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center, and Erin Tracy, research chemist in the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center, to discuss their unique approach to providing drug checking services on a broad scale.

In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Chuck Heurich, senior physical scientist with the National Institute of Justice, and Dr. Jennifer Snippen, experienced medicolegal death investigator and consultant, to discuss recent updates to NIJ's guide for the Death Scene investigator. 25 years ago NIJ released a guide to help medicolegal death investigators navigate complex scenes and cases, a document that has since evolved with the development of best practices and technological advancements.

In this 2024 Sexual Assault Awareness Month special release episode, Just Science sat down with Doctor Katherine Scafide, Associate Professor and sexual assault response researcher at George Mason University, to discuss how her team is developing methods to improve the visibility of bruises on black and brown skin tones following a sexual assault involving victims of color. During a sexual assault medical forensic exam capturing injuries such as bruises can be crucial for helping bring a case to justice.

In this 2024 Sexual Assault Awareness Month special release episode, Just Science sat down with Erin House, Special Assistant Attorney General in Michigan, Richard Johnson, Kalamazoo SAKI investigator, and Lindsey King, Kalamazoo Community Based Victim Advocate, to discuss their team based approach for investigating sexual assault cold cases. While DNA can be a helpful tool for convicting sexual assault offenders, many sexual assault cold cases do not include DNA evidence.

In episode three of our 2023 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Orlando Salinas, Lieutenant Trampas Gooding, and Jennifer Pollock from the Texas Department of Public Safety to discuss how statutes regarding lawfully owed DNA and familial DNA searches are utilized in sexual assault investigations. When an unknown DNA profile is found in samples collected within a sexual assault kit, the unknown profile is searched within national DNA databases such as the combined DNA index system, also known as CODIS.

In episode two of our 2023 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Dr. Julie Valentine, the Associate Dean of the Brigham Young University College of Nursing, to discuss the factors that contribute to low prosecution rates for sexual assault cases. In our last episode, Dr. Valentine highlighted the importance of sexual assault kit submission and DNA evidence as the groundwork for prosecution in sexual assault cases.

In episode one of our 2023 Sexual Assault Awareness Month mini season, Just Science sat down with Dr. Julie Valentine, a certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, to discuss how large-scale data collection can provide a better understanding of sexual assault cases and improve sexual assault response practices, policy, and education. Throughout her career, Dr. Valentine identified a gap in data driven practices for responding to sexual assault cases. Using her experience providing care to survivors, Dr.

In episode four of our Supporting Medicolegal Death Investigators mini season, Just Science sat down with Bridget Kinnier and Bethany Smith, the President and Executive Director of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators, also knows ABMDI, to discuss the importance of standardization and accreditation within the MDI community. Because of the complex and multidisciplinary role of a medicolegal death investigator, it is important that there are national standards of knowledge for those who work in the field.

In episode two of our Unidentified Human Remains season, Just Science sat down with Neal Parsons, a Research Forensic Scientist at RTI International, to discuss how rapid DNA analysis has become an important method for identifying unknown human remains, especially in cases of mass fatality. Rapid DNA analysis is a fully automated process of developing DNA profiles without the need for a DNA laboratory or human interpretation.

In this episode, Just Science sat down with Dr. Mohammed Almazrouei, a forensic practitioner with the Abu Dhabi Police, to discuss his dissertation work, which examines how workplace stressors may affect decision making in the field of forensic science. In their daily jobs, forensic science practitioners are tasked with making countless decisions that can make a large impact on people's lives. As a result of this experience, Dr. Almazrouei conducted a pivotal research study to examine how stress affects the way that forensic practitioners make these important decisions. Listen along as Dr.

In episode four of our Roadmap to Improving Technology Transition Season, Just on sat down with Doctor Catherine Grgicak, associate professor of chemistry at Rutgers University, Camden, and Stephanie Stoiloff, chief of the Forensic Services division at the Miami-Dade Police Department to discuss their real world experiences with introducing new forensic technology into practice. While new forensic research products are often innovative and interesting, they may not always be practical in operational forensic laboratories.

In episode two of our Roadmap to Improving Technology Transition season, Just Science sat down with Cleveland Miles, Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Division of Forensic Science, and Henry Maynard, Lead Research Scientist for the United States Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory, to discuss the importance of building partnerships in the forensic community to effectively communicate and advance forensic technology.

In episode three of our Roadmap to Improving Technology Transition season Just Science sat down with Doctor Catherine Grgicak, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Rutgers University, Camden, and Henry Maynard, Lead Research Scientist for the United States Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory, to discuss the importance of developing research infrastructure within forensic laboratories and communication channels with collaborators. Forensic research and advancement are impossible without the input of forensic practitioners.

In episode one of our Roadmap to Improving Technology Transition Season, Just Science sat down with Lucas Zarwell, Director of the Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences at the National Institute of Justice, and Doctor Jeri Ropero-Miller, Principal Scientist and Director of the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence at RTI International, to discuss a newly published roadmap that guides the transition of forensic research and technology innovations into the forensic practitioner community.