Rin Ruby (Masters candidate; Ken Czerwinski Group) successfully defended their thesis this spring. Known for its impressive discriminatory power, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fingerprinting stands as the “gold standard” of forensic investigation. However, complications arise when such evidence is contaminated with radioactive material. While nuclear facilities can decontaminate samples prior to forensic analysis, conventional methods for radiological decontamination – such as mechanical cleaning and chemical washes – may degrade the quality of the forensic evidence. Therefore, Rin's researched focused on the efficacy of commercially available DNA extraction kits in treating radiologically contaminated biological. They used human whole blood samples; spiked with cerium – a common surrogate for plutonium – and processed them using the ChargeSwitch® Forensic DNA Purification Kit. You can read about their findings when they are published here.