{"id":4721,"date":"2010-10-25T06:21:19","date_gmt":"2010-10-24T22:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/henna-points-finger-at-criminals\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:06:37","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:06:37","slug":"henna-points-finger-at-criminals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/henna-points-finger-at-criminals\/","title":{"rendered":"Henna points finger at criminals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Renee<\/a>
Phd student Renee Jelly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u2018eureka moment\u2019 for Renee Jelly occurred when she considered how some natural dyes like henna \u2013 known for its use in temporary tattoos – can stain human skin.<\/p>\n

This gave the PhD student from Curtin\u2019s Forensic and Analytical Chemistry Group the idea to test the dyes on fingerprints to see if a wider range of tools could\u00a0be developed for crime scene investigators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe active ingredient that (allows) henna (to) dye skin is thought to be a chemical called lawsone and I wondered if it would react with fingerprints on paper,\u201d Ms Jelly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tested it and discovered that it does, and turns them a purple-brown colour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police have been lifting fingerprints from smooth surfaces such as glass since the 1890s.<\/p>\n

However, things get tricky when crime scene investigators try to visualise prints from porous surfaces like paper.<\/p>\n

Techniques have been developed to do this. But the dyes analysed by Ms Jelly produce a darker colour, with better visual contrast and visibility in a wider range of light than currently used compounds.<\/p>\n

The Australian Federal Police, Forensic Science South Australia and WA Police have worked with Ms Jelly to ensure the new developments fit the needs of forensic teams.<\/p>\n

Her supervisor Simon Lewis says the research is not about replacing existing fingerprinting technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about offering a range of complementary fingerprint reagents that are different colours and luminesce at different wavelengths,\u201d Associate Professor Lewis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police need a broad range of options depending on the nature of the surface, the age and condition of the fingerprint, and any background interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re not trying to replace the tools in the toolbox.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re aiming to increase the number and variety of tools available to the forensic investigator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on story in CITE<\/a><\/strong> by KITTY DROK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo: JAMES ROGERS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Curtin student investigates if staining powers of henna can help police lift fingerprints from crime scenes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-4721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":false,"author_meta":{"first_name":"Jarrad","last_name":"Long","display_name":"Jarrad Long"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 00:51:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4721"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=4721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}