FORENSIC POLYMER SECTION

Section Curriculum

After completion of courses in the field of chemistry and Engineering (Course „Chemical and Technological Engineering“) where students master fundamental knowledge about the structure and properties of materials most often used in everyday life, students, with the approval of the Head of Section, would be able to gain additional knowledge related to the synthesis and characterization of the polymer-based materials, more specifically of biopolymers. Also, students have the opportunity to achieve their personal aspirations in accordance with the Section matter, in order to improve and expand their knowledge. Selected students will acquire communication competence and scientific skills and will gain the theoretical understanding of basic scientific principles of synthesis, characterization and application of (bio)polymers in the field of forensics, forensic trace analysis from the perspective of the polymer science in addition to the existing methods and protocols.

Our Driving Force…

Research projects:

  1. Polymer (Bio)Materials in the Detection and Enhancement of Latent Fingerprints;
  2. (Bio)Polymers (and their Conjugates with Metallic (Nano)Particles) as Antibacterial Materials;
  3. (Bio)polymer-based preparations for fruits post-harvest storage protection.

The identification of latent fingerprints is crucial for the security agencies in order to identify persons suspected of having committed criminal acts. Latent prints, often remain as random impressions onto the surfaces of various objects. Huge progress has been made in the identification processes using rolled and plain impressions fingerprints, while detection and comparison of latent prints still remains a challenging task. In addition to the existing standardized methods, our aim is to investigate the possible utilization of natural and synthetic polymers and their conjugates with the same goal, by means of latent fingerprints detection and development.