Articles Published by NIJ

“Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him.” Edmond Locard (1877-1966), forensic science pioneer

Humans transfer trace signatures of unique colonies of microbes on our skin to objects we touch. The tiny size of that signature make it difficult for investigators to identify an individual. Research now has made that identification more likely.

Investigators in two NIJ-supported studies have demonstrated that people carry unique microbial communities on their skin, and traces of those communities, left on touched objects, can be linked to the individual.