Selective targeting of fingermarks using immunogenic techniques

Latent fingermark detection remains one of the most commonly utilised forensic practices when dealing with scenes of crime or related items. Although many options are available to detect and visualise these marks, the quest for techniques with greater sensitivity and selectivity continues. This has led to many improvements in detection methods and also numerous new techniques being developed. However, these have largely only led to incremental advancements despite the desire for transformational improvements. The use of immunology in the detection of latent fingermarks is an area that has been investigated more recently as a possible proposal to provide these transformational improvements, specifically to overcome sensitivity and selectivity issues currently seen with existing methods. This paper reviews the attempts to harness the detection capabilities of immunology and utilise them in the field of latent fingermark detection. Results achieved to date have highlighted many advantages and possibilities in detection and visualisation of latent marks, including the possibility of gaining ‘intelligence’ from the marks themselves. This paper also presents a brief introduction to the use of aptamers as the next logical step in immunogenic techniques for investigation.