Portable body fluid scanners ID suspects.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

Using laser technology to catch criminals no longer is futuristic in the lab of Igor Lednev. The professor of chemistry at the University at Albany (N.Y.) has released findings in Analytical Chemistry on a method for determining a culprit's sex with up to 92% accuracy based on saliva left behind at a crime scene.

The method relies on Raman spectroscopy, a technology that measures the intensity of scattered light by shining lasers on a sample. Since no two compounds produce the same Raman spectrum, the measurements are unique, almost like a fingerprint. The process also is nondestructive, allowing for the preservation of the material for DNA analysis.

Raman spectroscopy is an analytical chemistry technique that has been around for decades. Recent advances have made the technology's measurements more accurate and commercially viable. Portable instruments (about the size of a Nintendo Game Boy) already are available for purchase, indicates Lednev, also a member of UA's RNA Institute.

Lednev's saliva findings are the first of a multidimensional Raman spectroscopy project. His team, led by Ph.D. chemistry candidate Claire Muro, also is analyzing laser measurements from four other body...